Patrick J. Kennedy

Patrick Joseph Kennedy, the U.S. representative for Rhode Island's First District, is, in many respects, exactly what one would expect of a young Kennedy: committed to progressive policies, haunted by an often-scandalous personal life, and full of the swagger that comes with membership in the country's longest-lasting political dynasty-he is the son of Ted Kennedy and the nephew of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy.

"I don't need Bush's tax cut," he told a group of Young Democrats in 2003. "I have never worked a fucking day in my life."[1] (According to CBS News, Kennedy's office later called the comment "a self-deprecating joke that fell flat."[2])

In fact, Kennedy has had a long career of government service, propelled in part (as Kennedy will admit[3]) by his family name. He was elected to the Rhode Island state house in 1988 when he was just 21 years old and still a student at Providence College.[4] He rose to prominence in Providence where he chaired the House Rules Committee and sponsored a bill that required a seven-day wait to purchase firearms. He was re-elected twice.[5]

In 1994, at the age of 27, Kennedy was one of only six Democrats elected to Congress as Newt Gingrich's Contract With America gave Republicans a strong advantage. At the time of his election, he was Congress's youngest member.[6] The pace of Kennedy's successes in Washington was as meteoric as it was in Providence. In 1999, he was selected by House leadership to serve as the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the main fundraising body for Democratic House members, and (buoyed by support for Democrats after the Republicans' unpopular impeachment proceedings) Kennedy raised about $100 million for the 2000 election cycle-more than twice as much as the DCCC raised in 1998.[7] He was rewarded for this achievement with a seat on the influential Appropriations Committee, the committee responsible for budget allocations.

But Kennedy's achievements-like those of his father, Ted-were tempered by his personal foibles. While attending the prestigious private high school Phillips Andover, Kennedy became addicted to cocaine and enrolled in a rehab facility.[9] In 2006, Kennedy was involved in two car accidents and, after allegations of drunk driving, he admitted to an Oxy Contin addiction and to problems with depression, alcoholism, and substance abuse. He has also shared how he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.[10] Kennedy paid a settlement of $25,000 to a Los Angeles airport security guard who accused him of assault.[11] Kennedy also received public scrutiny after "The Providence Journal" reported that the Coast Guard had to escort a female companion of Kennedy's off his yacht after a fight.[12] Kennedy was also accused of causing tens of thousands of dollars to a rented yacht and refusing to pay for the damages.[13] While Kennedy remains popular in his district and routinely wins more than 60 percent of the vote[14], these personal shortcomings may have led to his decision not to run for Senate or another higher office.

However, within his district, Kennedy remains popular and he has been able to use his drug and alcohol problems to his advantage electorally. "The additional press I have gotten from this has obviously given me a bigger platform," he told The Boston Globe in 2006.[15] The Globe further reported, "when voters in the First Congressional District are asked how they feel about their congressman being on one year's probation, they praise him for being in recovery."[16]

This willingness to forgive and see their congressman in a positive light is not complete altruism on behalf of Kennedy's constituents. Kennedy has brought home many barrels of pork to his district-his seat on the Appropriations Committee helped him win $80 million of federal money for his district in 2006 and more than $650 million between 2001 and 2006[17]-and his political ideology is well aligned with his affluent, liberal district.

The First is the denser of Rhode Island's two districts and traces the state's coast and the border with Massachusetts. It includes the small-sized cities (pop. 40,000 to 75,000 each) of Pawtucket, Woonsocket, and (part of) the capital, Providence. It is historically an area of heavy manufacturing and the industry is still is a large employer in the southern part of the district. In Providence, Brown University and Providence College (Kennedy's alma mater) are large employers. Raytheon, a maritime defense contractor, and a Naval station in Newport are also large employers. The principal industry, however, is health care. Of the First's top 13 employers, five are hospitals and one is CVS Pharmacy, Inc.[18]

While the small, rich coastal hamlets tend to vote Republican, the "students and government workers push the First's political lean to the left."[19] Sixty percent of voters in the district are registered Democrats and 35 percent are registered Republicans. But the district has gone for Republican governors and senators in the recent past-Republican Senator Lincoln Chaffee won the district's vote in 2000. Racially, the First is rather homogenous-80 percent of the district was white in 2000. Like Kennedy, the majority of the district is Roman Catholic.[20]

With his emphasis on health care, civil rights, and economic equality issues, Kennedy is squarely in agreement with his mainstream New England district. He is a pragmatic liberal and, in 2002, he voted-at odds with his father, Ted, and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party-to authorize the Iraq war.[21] (The importance of defense contracting in his district may have played a roll in this; in 2006, Raytheon was his fourth largest donor.[22]) But, for the vast majority of votes and issues, Kennedy has sided with the party orthodoxy. Kennedy voted with the Democrats on civil liberties issues; he has voted to ban torture, to block FBI access to library records, and to disallow warrantless wiretaps. From 2003 to 2006, the nonpartisan Congressional Quarterly reported that Kennedy voted with his party 96 percent of the time.[23]

On foreign policy, Kennedy has migrated away from his initial support for the Iraq war. In 2006, Kennedy voted "No" to "affirm U.S. commitment to war in Iraq and reject setting a withdrawal date for troops."[24] He has also voted against selling civilian nuclear technology to India and against the construction of a physical barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border.[25]

These positions, in part, have helped him maintain the strong support of his district. After defeating his Republican opponent in 1994 with 54 percent of the vote, Kennedy has won his reelection bids with at least 60 percent. In 2006, he won 69 percent of the First's vote-almost three times as many votes as his Republican rival, Jonathan Scott.[26]

Kennedy's popularity has allowed him to cut a wide path for himself in Congress and follow areas of legislation in which he has had personal experience. One such area, mental health legislation, lies at the cross roads of his personal battle with addiction and his district's emphasis on health care. According to his Web site, "he has led the fight to pass mental health parity in the House, ending discrimination in health insurance."[27] He has fought to classify substance abuse as mental illness for insurance purposes, and he has proposed legislation that would change the name of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to the National Institute on Alcohol Disorders and Health.[28]

Another legislative policy that Kennedy has focused on, also derives from personal experience. He has been a crusader for limiting assault weapons and for imposing more stringent restrictions on who can obtain firearms. In his efforts for this legislation, he has summoned the memory of his uncles John and Robert, who were killed by firearms. "Families like mine know all too well what the damage of weapons can do," he said in a floor speech to Congress in 1996.[29] He has sponsored legislation to "strengthen and reauthorize the assault weapons ban."[30]

Many of the bills that Kennedy sponsored are of the banal variety: related to symbolic gestures for his district and for the health care industry. He has moved to designate a "National Health Information Technology Week," a "National Health Information Technology Week," and a "School Social Work Week." He has proposed a bill that would "establish a program to provide financial incentives to encourage the adoption and use of interactive personal health records" and one to "amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a program of grants for the detection and control of colorectal cancer."[31] Kennedy, in the habit of the House, has chosen to specialize in one issue-health care-and focus on legislation related to it.

In the mid-1990s Patrick Kennedy was a political phenom blessed with a famous surname and the same progressive policies and promising future that his father and uncles brought to Washington a generation prior. His personal demons played a roll in curbing his ambition to higher office. But he has come to terms with his problems and has parlayed his life experiences to his advantage: he has gained the sympathy and-more importantly-the respect of his district by addressing his problems head on. Aided in no small part by his ability to bring hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money, he has become a popular congressman destined to serve his district for as long as his father has served as senator of Massachusetts.

[1] Lynch, Dotty. "Washington Wrap." CBS News. June 27, 2003.

[2] Ibid.

[3] "When we're going around the country, [the Kennedy name] helps get your calls returned," he said. He also "rewarded major donors with visits to the family's fabled compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. "-

"Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy." CQ's Politics in America 2008. 2007. CQ Press: Washington, DC. p. 893.

[4] Ibid.

[5] "About Patrick J. Kennedy." Representative Patrick J. Kennedy. Retrieved 15 September 2008.

[6] "Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy." CQ's Politics in America 2008. 2007. CQ Press: Washington, DC. p. 893.

[7] Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, op.cit., p. 893.

[8] Ibid, p. 892.

[9] "Approval Ratings Fall for Rhode Island Rep. Kennedy." Fox News. April 19, 2001. Retrieved 15 September 2008.

[10] Miga, Andrew. "Rep. Patrick Kennedy Enters Drug Rehab." Associated Press. May 5, 2006.

[11] Approval Ratings Fall for Rhode Island Rep. Kennedy, op. cit.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Approval Ratings Fall for Rhode Island Rep. Kennedy, op. cit.

[14] Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, op.cit., p. 893.

[15] Jacobs, Sally. "Despite woes, Kennedy strong in R.I. Public rehab forges bonds with voters." The Boston Globe. November 5, 2006.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] "Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy," op. cit. AND

"Rhode Island 1^st District." Congressional Districts in the 2000s. 2003. CQ Press: Washington, DC.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid.

[21] "Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy," op. cit., p. 892

[22] "Patrick J. Kennedy." Center for Responsive Politics. < http://www.opensecrets.org/ politicians/summary.php?cycle=2006&cid=N00000360> Retrieved 15 September, 2008.

[23] "Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy," p. 892-893.

[24] Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy," op. cit., p. 893

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid.

[27] About Patrick J. Kennedy. "Representative Patrick J. Kennedy." Retrieved 16 September, 2008.

[28] "Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy," op. cit., p. 892

[29] Ibid, p. 893

[30] About Patrick J. Kennedy, op. cit.

[31] "Rep. Kennedy, Patrick J." The Library of Congress: Thomas. Retrieved 17 September, 2008.