Would Rudy pardon his "Scooter?"

What's up with "disgraced former NYPD Commissioner" Bernie Kerik, right hand man to Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, and George W. Bush's top pick for Homeland Security chief?

He's looking at jail time, that's what.

The potential deal was uncovered by NewsChannel 4, which reported prosecutors offered to end a federal investigation into alleged tax fraud, conspiracy to eavesdrop and mortgage fraud in connection with his Bronx apartment.

Prosecutors also say he should have declared the gift of the use of a midtown Manhattan apartment on his tax returns. Allegations about the midtown apartment surfaced after Kerik was criticized for using an apartment near Ground Zero for romantic trysts, the station said.

The eavesdropping charge stemmed from ex-Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro getting caught on tape asking Kerik, who now runs a security firm, to plant a listening device on the family boat to see if her husband, Albert, was having an affair.

Kerik faced a national scandal when he was nominated by President Bush in 2004 for homeland security chief. He bowed out when it was discovered that he had skirted taxes on his family's nanny-housekeeper, who may have been in the U.S. illegally.

A Daily News investigation revealed that Kerik accepted cash and gifts from Interstate Industrial, an allegedly mobbed-up construction company, effectively ending his candidacy.

Last year, Kerik pleaded guilty to accepting $165,000 in renovations to his Bronx apartment from a contractor with suspected mob ties. He was the city correction commissioner at the time. Kerik also owned up to a $28,000 loan he received from a real estate developer. He didn't have to go to jail.

Boy, has this loser got it all or what? Heckuva job pickin' 'em, Mr. Pretzelnit!

At any rate, even at a time when we're finding out that the Bush gang is firing U.S. Attorneys who don't go lightly on Republicans caught with their hands in the cookie jar, the feds still want prison time for Kerik.

So, in light of the debate swirling around that other now-convicted Republican toady still clinging desperately to his civil rights and clogging up the court system with frivolous appeals, the operative question for Rudy is this: If elected, would you pardon Kerik?

Or is there actually such a thing as a Republican operative who's too dirty to touch?