With the passing of Ted Kennedy, it appears the family’s well-known ability to circle the wagons and protect the familial legacy as well as each other may also be slipping away.
What else can you make of former congressman Joe Kennedy’s seemingly incendiary and bitter statements about the John F. Kennedy Library ignoring his father Bobby’s historic contributions and centering all attention on the late president?
“There is a very large building, and there is a remembrance of President Kennedy and there’s one for Senator Edward Kennedy,” Joe Kennedy told the New York Times. “But there is nothing out there for Robert Kennedy.”
Kennedy, whose mother, brothers, and sisters have refused to turn over 63 boxes of his father’s previously classified records and documents to the library, dismissed an offer by library officials to name a 30,000-square foot addition after the late attorney general and former New York senator.
“They offered to put the name on a hallway,” Kennedy said, revealing a schism between his family and the keepers of the flame, who include his cousin Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and his aunt, Vicki Kennedy.
It was a statement that says volumes about both the growing gap in the fractured Kennedy family as well as the disintegration of generations-long allegiances. The story in the Times is also an apparent slap at the Boston Globe, which in January carried a story about Bobby Kennedy’s family’s refusal to allow unfettered access to the records without researchers detailing their intent. The Globe editorialized against the decision and called on the family to open up the documents to all, arguing, as many have, the majority of the records are property of the government, not the family.
Kennedy Library director Thomas Putnam has gone on the defensive, saying the archive has been sensitive to the feelings of Robert Kennedy’s family and has made every effort to include his legacy and his place in some of the country’s most historic moments, from the Cuban missile crisis to the Civil Rights Movement.
But the behind-the-scenes – and far more interesting – story is the disintegration of longtime alliances, both within the larger Kennedy family and without. The Times story this week completes the break between the Kennedys and Globe that goes back generations to when Globe editors allegedly downplayed Ted Kennedy’s academic cheating problems at Harvard and the paper was, over the years, the favored outlet for leaks from all members of the sprawling family.
The Bobby Kennedy family quietly decided to release the records on March 1 and Dan Kennedy did some digging and found there was no report of the release in either the Globe or Times. The Globe carried the Times story inside but you can bet editor Marty Baron, who despises getting beat on Boston stories, especially by the mother ship, was incensed.
There have also been been growing rumors of a split between Vicki Kennedy and Joe Kennedy, both of who had either considered or been urged, depending upon whom you believe, to run for the Senate seat after Ted Kennedy died.
It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall this weekend when Patrick Kennedy gets married at the Hyannis Port compound in what is an intimate gathering for family only.
–JACK SULLIVAN
BEACON HILL
The state’s Supreme Judicial Court justices know how to get attention. Their announcement late yesterday that the just-signed budget would force them to close 11 courts drew heavy coverage in the Globe, CommonWealth, and elsewhere. The Worcester Telegram in its story focuses on proposed court closures in Leominster and Westborough. State Sen. Jennifer Flanagan of Leominster says, “We are still trying to address it, and there is not a need to panic.” The proposed Leominster closure also gets attention from the Sentinel and Enterprise. Meanwhile, the Salem News focuses on the proposal to relocate the Gloucester court to Salem. Republican Sen. Bruce Tarr calls the Gloucester shutdown “totally unacceptable” in the Gloucester Times.
The Herald reports that disability benefits for convicted public employees resume after they leave jail.
It’s one big happy family on Beacon Hill as Gov. Deval Patrick signs municipal health care reform, CommonWealth reports. The deal wins praise, the Lowell Sun reports.
Maurice Cunningham, writing on CommonWealth’s website, says the real “culture of corruption” on Beacon Hill is the way lawmakers shut citizens out of decisions that affect them.
Brian McGrory questions why state transportation chief Jeff Mullan is getting a pass on the latest controversy plaguing the Big Dig.
The Patriot Ledger calls on the state to tighten up enforcement of boat mooring regulations in the wake of a CommonWealth story showing haphazard application of the laws by some local harbormasters.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua is running Spanish-language ads on radio, TV, and social media urging residents not to support a recall effort against him, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council is using its 68-page report on the proposed Whole Foods supermarket to extract some concessions from the organic mega-grocer before it moves into the former Hi-Lo space. Via Universal Hub.
Quincy city councilors unanimously approved Francis Orlando, a 25-year-old aide to state Treasurer Steve Grossman, to fill the seat on the council left vacant by the resignation of longtime Ward 2 Councilor Dan Raymondi, who resigned to become the city’s DPW commissioner.
The Berkshire Visitors Bureau is one of sixteen regional tourism offices that will receive a funding increase in this year’s budget, the North Adams Transcript reports.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell floats a plan that would let President Obama raise the debt limit without Congressional approval.
Newsweek, in a report entitled “The Billion-Dollar Bank Heist,” says the financial services industry is buying off Washington and killing reform efforts.
Time reports on research indicating singles have significantly less saved for retirement than couples.
The Springfield Republican publishes a column written by South Hadley native Lt. Col. Mark E. Borowski, who is currently serving in Afghanistan.
Agawam will implement a section of Massachusetts law that forces Medicare-eligible retirees to switch from the town insurance plan to Medicare, the Springfield Republican reports.
ELECTION 2012
Even as he stated he is running for reelection, US Rep. Stephen Lynch says he hasn’t ruled out a challenge to Sen. Scott Brown.
Mitt Romney’s heavy-handed security outside his North End presidential campaign headquarters isn’t being viewed as very neighborly by residents who have been blocked from using the building’s parking lot to drop-off their kids at a local summer youth program.
The Newton Tab looks at Setti Warren’s efforts at juggling roles as mayor and US senate candidate in an editorial.
President Obama has so far raised more cash for his reelection campaign than all of the Republican candidates combined.
Obama’s favorability ratings in the Arab world have dropped, reports the Washington Post.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The five top executives at Danversbank will share more than $38 million in severance pay, bonuses, stock options, retirement plans, and tax and insurance payments as a result of the firm’s mergers with People’s United Bank, the Salem News reports.
The difference between 2 percent and 3 percent economic growth could be big in terms of jobs, particularly if productivity keeps rising by 2 percent a year, WBUR reports.
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA’s Red Line breakdown may not be good press for the authority, but the incident – and others like it – are making the case for greater state support. The Herald notes in its report that the two stranded trains included cars that were 20 to 42 years old. The T has also begun selling ads on its website and is planning to sell naming rights for stations. Paul Levy, on his blog, says such incidents were foreshadowed in his recent article for CommonWealth.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Today’s continuation of the bail hearing for Whitey Bulger’s girlfriend Catherine Greig could feature testimony from relatives of Bulger’s alleged victims.
A Barnstable police officer and Little League coach was arrested and charged with drunken driving and child endangerment after the 9-year-old player he was taking to a game in Dighton jumped from the car in Swansea and sought help from a resident after refusing to get back in the vehicle.
A Lowell police officer pleads innocent to raping prostitutes, the Sun reports.
Rob Haneisen dismisses calls for “Caylee’s Law” that are popping up around the country, arguing the proposals are more about punishment than protection of children.
BETTY FORD
The roster of attendees at yesterday’s memorial service for Betty Ford made for a fittingly bipartisan show of respect and affection for the late First Lady.
