The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 23

Friday December 3 2004 The Sacramento Rpp A23 Kerik: Stint training Iraqi police praised FROM PAGE A1 and more are expected Previously Bush announced new choices for the departments of Commerce Education Energy Justice and State In another development US Ambassador to the United Nations John Danforth submitted his resignation after less than six months on the job There was no immediate word on a possible replacement i Kerik a onetime beat cop and narcotics detective with a black belt in karate has risen rapidly through the ranks He hit the political trail this fall stumping for Bush and delivering a prime time speech at the Republican Convention leading some to speculate that the Giuliani protege might have his eye on elected office Most recently Kerik traded in New York for Iraq leading the effort to build up the Iraqi police force "Baghdad as he was dubbed in some of the New York tabloids won praise from Bush of his leadership his knowledge and his experience he was able to stand up a police force in Baghdad in a very quick period of Bush said in an appearance with Kerik at the White House in October 2003' But some officials grumbled privately that Kerik left before the job was finished and seemed more interested in the TV lights than the actual training and recruiting of an Iraqi police force Kerik will inherit a sprawling 2-year-old department of 180000 federal employees that has had its share of growing pains from incompatible computers hiring freezes low morale turf battles with the Department of Justice and a color-coded terror alert level that has become fodder for late-night comedians Kerik 49 is a sharp departure from the usual mold of Bush appointees A childhood trouble vice president at Giuliani Partners the New York-based consulting firm that the former mayor set up with a number of top aides after leaving office In a show of bipartisan backing Sen Charles Schumer D-NY issued a statement of support for Kerik who will likely face Senate confirmation hearings in January "Coming from New York Bernie Kerik knows the great needs and challenges this country faces in homeland Schumer said has a strong law enforcement background and I believe will do an excellent job in fighting for the resources and focus that homeland security needs and deserves in our post-911 A senior administration official said Bush found Kerik to be an attractive choice because of his professional experience and that the president also admired him as a self-made man and liked his forthright style maker he dropped out of high school enlisted in the Army and later worked as a private security guard in Saudi Arabia and a jail warden in Passaic County NJ In 1985 he joined the New York City Police Department becoming an undercover narcotics officer who sported a ponytail and diamond earrings when he worked the streets He went on to run the New York City Correction Department where he established a reputation as an energetic reformer before taking over as police commissioner in 2000 After helping to oversee the response to the Sept 11 attacks he left office a few months later at the end of second term as mayor and went to Iraq last year at the behest of the White House Kerik who penned a best-selling autobiography Lost about his blue-collar roots his work in law enforcement and his mother who abandoned him as a young boy now is a senior GftDTO: Station operations will be combined with KMAX faulted his wife Sally who is living in their St Louis home years ago I married the girl of my he wrote at this point in my life what is most important to me is to spend more time with November" Grenell said said to me that there are many people who can be United States ambassador to the UN but there is only one person who can be Sally Bush named Danforth to the UN post last summer to replace career diplomat John Ne-groponte who became US ambassador to Iraq Since then Danforth has earned high regard among fellow diplomats and UN officials for his approach to multilateral diplomacy at a time when US relations with traditional global partners have been strained by the war in Iraq The New York Times and Cox News Service contributed to this report weeknight sports anchor Still news operation has performed well The station is even claiming victory in the late-news ratings category in the November sweeps period that closed Wednesday According to preliminary Nielsen data hour-long 10 pm weeknight newscast generated a 766 rating while 30-minute 11pm newscast drew a 744 rating The numbers can be somewhat misleading though as more people watch television at 10 pm than at 11 parent company also made headlines during the presidential campaign when Sinclair directed its stations to air a controversial documentary that was critical of Sen John Kerry In response to announcement shares of Sinclair rose $104 to $841 a share on the Nasdaq Stock Market and Viacom increased 50 cents to $3606 a share on the New York Stock Exchange The Freedom du Lac can be reached at (916) 321-1 115 or jdulacsacbeecom Bee staff writer Jon Ortiz contributed to this report president has gotten to know him very well over the past few years and has great trust in the official said speaking on the condition of anonymity because Bush has yet to make his decision public Kerik also has been a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq better to fight terrorists in Iraq than in New York or he said recently departure came as a surprise even to foreign policy aides within the White House He informed Bush of his decision in a Nov 22 letter that became public late Thursday Danforth spokesman Richard Grenell said the decision absolutely nothing to do with" the changes on the Bush foreign policy team insisting that the move was precipitated by strictly personal concerns In his letter Danforth wrote that a lot of thought and he had decided to return to private life to spend time with human nature to not expect that would be Lemon said widely believed that the joint operation will be run by Bruno Cohen who was installed by Viacom in June as the vice president and general manager at KMAX Cohen previously worked as executive vice president at the 24-hour financial cable news network CNBC and also ran flagship station in New York WNBC-TV A rare breed among TV executives in that his background is not in sales but rather news Cohen was once news director at KPIX-TV the Viacom-owned CBS affiliate in San Francisco Cohen was unavailable for comment as was his KOVR counterpart Dan Mellon The sale was announced Thursday morning in staff meetings at both stations where sources said the news was generally well-received It was especially so at West Sacramento headquarters where gripes about miserly ways have dominated the newsroom culture: Under ownership the station lost its helicopter satellite truck and no secret that we like stations in top 20 markets What's particularly exciting is that we have a UPN station in Sacramento that already does quite well 55 Dana McClintock senior vice president of communications for Viacom's television division no secret that we like sta-tions in top 20 Dana McClintock senior vice president of communications for television division said in an interview particularly exciting is that we have a UPN station in Sacramento that already does quite well has a very strong news presence in the mornings with six hours of live news every day You marry that with the CBS station and I think we can do some good things for the viewers of And for bottom line analysts said can operate two stations and cut their overhead cost particularly marketing managing and all the other back office functions associated with running television said Joe Bonner who follows Viacom for Argus Research in New York a hefty It was unclear exactly what impact the sale might have on staffing levels at KOVR and KMAX as McClintock the Viacom executive would not discuss the issue Jim Lemon the KOVR news director said certain to be angst in his newsroom about the future FROM PAGE A1 dined comment Thursday With the transaction New York-based Viacom will dramatically increase its presence in the 19th-largest TV market The global media giant already owns and operates UPN affiliate Channel 31 (KMAX) as well as six radio stations including KHTK (1140 AM) KSFM (1025 FM) and KNCI (1051 FM) KOVR is one of the crown jewels of the Sacramento broadcasting landscape a major network TV affiliate with a broad-reaching VHF signal and a notoriously lean news operation that generates strong ratings and considerable ad revenue is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country and the acquisition of this CBS station will significantly enhance our presence in this very attractive Fred Reynolds president and chief executive of television stations group said in a statement In a separate statement Sinclair President and Chief Executive David Smith said his company agreed to sell KOVR as part of a plan to shed assets were either at a competitive disadvan- Neither Sinclair spokesman Mark Hyman nor the treasurer Lucy Rutishauser returned calls Thursday Sinclair has owned KOVR since 1996 when the company bought nine TV and 34 radio stations from River City Broadcasting of St Louis for $12 billion With the latest ownership change operations will be combined with those of KMAX to create ninth the industry term for one ownership of two stations in the same market Viacom already owns and operates both the CBS and UPN stations in San Francisco Los Angeles Philadelphia Boston Dallas Detroit Miami and Pittsburgh -eight of the 20 largest TV markets unlikely that Viacom will ever sell or trade any of those stations and would try to get Cuban government permission to leave Like the others released this week Garcia was among 75 dissidents who were rounded up in March 2003 His release comes as the European Union reviews diplomatic sanctions against the island nation or in markets where Sinclair was unable to own two stations Frank Boyle a TV and radio station broker in Stamford Conn said decision to sell was something of a surprise even if $285 million is very full he has been a keeper not a Boyle said of Smith suggests that the company may be a little heavy on the debt side I bet that if you could open up their books probably find that carrying some debt the other hand this is a good time to sell Smith would rather have an independent station (like a WB UPN or Fox affiliate) Independents have less programming dictated to them more control and more (advertising) spots to freed early Thursday following a medical checkup at a Havana prison hospital his sister Esper-anza Garcia told the Associated Press by telephone She said he suffered from emotional problems and a cyst on a kidney Garcia said he was granted a US immigrant visa years ago Cuba releases dissident journalist from prison ASSOCIATED PRESS HAVANA Cuba freed an independent journalist from prison Thursday the sixth dissident released this week as the communist government 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