FOR THE RECORD

FOR THE RECORD

Just when it seemed Bernie Kerik's legal troubles might have ended with his guilty plea in The Bronx six weeks ago, up pops a report of a Federal investigation of his role at the Correction Foundation.

A New York Times story Aug. 4 cited law-enforcement sources as saying that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan has subpoenaed the foundation's bank records with an eye toward possible financial improprieties on Mr. Kerik's part.

The former treasurer and sole signatory on the foundation's checks, Fred Patrick, pleaded guilty in 2003 to using $137,000 from its funds to pay his phone bills, which included extensive charges for collect calls from jail inmates to himself and other parties. That probe was sparked by stories by Daily News reporter Russ Buettner that indicated that $854,000 in spending by the foundation hadn't been properly accounted for, and that one longtime foundation trustee resigned when he asked for financial records and was denied them.

There have long been clouds over the foundation's operation that extended beyond Mr. Patrick's wrongdoing. It was shortly after Mr. Kerik became First Deputy Correction Commissioner in 1995 that he told the cigarette companies that were able to sell their products in the jail system to provide cash rebates rather than the athletic equipment they had been supplying as a token of gratitude.

That money, rather than being transferred to the city's general fund, on Mr. Kerik's instruction was placed in the coffers of the Correction Foundation. This was one of the peculiar aspects of the operation; another was why Mr. Patrick continued as the fund's chief operating officer even after he left his ranking job in the Correction Department to become Mayor Giuliani's Juvenile Justice Commissioner and later work as an NYPD official at the start of the Bloomberg administration until his arrest. A Department of Investigation closing memo about the foundation's operation that was issued after Mr. Patrick's guilty plea said very little about the $717,000 remaining from the unaccounted-for $854,000 that Mr. Buettner had cited, except to note that a spokesman for the City Comptroller's Office had stated that the money should have been transferred to the city's general fund. It concluded that allegations of improprieties beyond Mr. Patrick's were "unsubstantiated," but used the caveat of stating that this was based on a "preliminary review."

DOI spokeswoman Emily Gest declined comment when asked about the fund and the Times's story about a probe that until now had seemed to have faded away with Mr. Patrick's conviction.

"It's not our policy to confirm whether or not we're looking at something," she said.

Mr. Kerik's attorney, Joseph Tacopina, told The Times that he would not comment on what he characterized as "a rumor."

In the past, Mr. Kerik has insisted that he had no role in the operation of the foundation. This runs counter to the image he always projected as both Correction Commissioner and Police Commissioner as a hands-on official who held his subordinates accountable for everything that happened on their watches. It also raises questions as to why he took such an interest in the cigarette money.

But as Mr. Kerik has so amply demonstrated over the past couple of years, if there is something funny going on involving him and U.S. currency, there usually is a logical explanation just waiting to be discovered if investigators approach the task sincerely.

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The centigrade climbed a few degrees higher last week in Manhattan's Greeley Square when a contingent of firefighters who posed for this year's FDNY Calendar of Heroes showed up to sign autographs for their many adoring fans.

Among the firefighters who took off t-shirts for charity was Mark DeRosa, 22, from Ladder 18 on Pitt St., whose chiseled physique is prominently displayed on this year's cover.

The 12 months feature equally handsome firefighters, smiling and flexing provocatively, usually while posing in front of a city landmark. The beefcake calendar is for a good cause - all proceeds go to the FDNY Foundation, which funds training, recruitment and fire safety initiatives for the Fire Department.