Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Publisher Judith Regan, fired last year from News Corp.'s HarperCollins unit, claims her dismissal was part of a ``deliberate smear campaign'' aimed at protecting presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani.

Regan, former president of HarperCollins' ReganBooks division, sued her former employer for defamation in state court in New York, seeking at least $100 million in damages. She claims in her complaint that News Corp. tried to destroy her reputation because she has information about former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik that would be harmful to ex-New York Mayor Giuliani and his presidential campaign.

``The smear campaign was necessary to advance News Corp.'s political agenda, which has long centered on protecting Rudy Giuliani's presidential ambitions,'' Regan said in the complaint filed yesterday.

Regan, who published Kerik's autobiography ``The Lost Son,'' was fired from HarperCollins in December 2006 after she backed O.J. Simpson's book, ``If I Did It.'' In the book, Simpson described how he could have killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

News Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch canceled publication of the Simpson book and a Fox broadcast special starring Simpson in November 2006, saying it was an ``ill- considered project.'' Regan's suit also names HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman as a defendant.

ReganBooks Division

Regan claims in the suit that she generated more than $1 billion in book sales for News Corp. HarperCollins shut its ReganBooks unit in January.

Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for News Corp., said in a phone interview yesterday that ``the claims are preposterous.'' He declined comment further on the complaint.

Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for Giuliani's campaign, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Kerik couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

In her complaint, Regan said she built a ``publishing and media juggernaut'' whose imprint sold ``tens of millions of books'' after she left Simon & Schuster to join News Corp. in 1994. She said News Corp. had a ``double standard,'' set her up as a scapegoat for the O.J. Simpson controversy, and fired her without cause, fabricating numerous stories that she was a ``disgraceful and unethical publisher.''

Murdoch personally approved the Simpson book and suggested paying $1 million for the project, Regan claims in her suit. When the controversy erupted over the project, the defendants planted false stories in the press to discredit her, Regan said, including one allegation that she was fired because she made anti-Semitic comments and had claimed to be the victim of a ``Jewish cabal'' in the book industry.

Charge Fabricated

``The charge was completely fabricated,'' Regan said in her complaint.

While not specifying what information she has about Kerik, who she claims had a ``personal relationship'' with her, Regan said that an unidentified News Corp. executive told her to withhold information and documents from investigators in their probe of the former police commissioner.

Kerik, who was appointed to the post by then-New York City Mayor Giuliani, was indicted Nov. 9 by a federal grand jury on charges of tax evasion, conspiracy and lying to the White House. He pleaded guilty last year to state charges that he accepted thousands of dollars in gifts while in office.

Kerik turned down a 2004 offer by President George W. Bush to run the Homeland Security Department, a post Giuliani recommended him for, after it was disclosed that Kerik failed to pay taxes for a nanny that worked for him.

Cash and Gifts

Federal prosecutors accuse Kerik of receiving cash and gifts for lobbying regulators on behalf of a New Jersey construction and waste-management firm and lying to investigators -- including those who were vetting him for the cabinet-level post on behalf of Bush -- and tried to conceal his crimes, prosecutors alleged.

Regan claims News Corp. executives attempted to ``preemptively discredit her'' to protect Giuliani and because of the ``damaging information'' they believed she possessed.

``It is now widely accepted that one of Giuliani's major political vulnerabilities is his association with Bernard Kerik,'' Regan said in her suit.

``A senior executive in the News Corp. organization told Regan that he believed she had information about Kerik that, if disclosed, would harm Giuliani's presidential campaign,'' according to the complaint. ``This executive advised Regan to lie to, and withhold information from, investigators concerning Kerik.''

Best Sellers

Regan published books about radio talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern, as well as a book about porn star Jenna Jameson. All were best sellers for either Simon & Schuster or ReganBooks, she said in the complaint.

News Corp. Class A shares rose 91 cents to $22.24 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. Net income fell to $732 million, or 23 cents a share, in the first quarter, from $843 million, or 27 cents, a year earlier, New York-based News Corp. said in a Nov. 7 statement. Sales rose 19 percent to $7.1 billion.

The case is Judith Regan v. HarperCollins Publishers LLC, 603758/2007, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York State Supreme Courthouse in Manhattan at phurtado@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 14, 2007 00:10 EST