Joe Kennedy denies any angling for Ted Kennedy’s seat

Former Bay State congressman Joseph P.Kennedy II is dismissing as “gossip” claims in a new book that he and Edward M. Kennedy’s wife are battling behind the scenes to succeed the ailing senior senator.
“Whatever rumors and gossip may be out there, I can assure you that every member of the Kennedy family is pulling together behind our uncle, whom we all love dearly,” Kennedy said. “Even President Obama acknowledges that Sen. Kennedy continues to do outstanding work on national health insurance, national service, and a whole range of issues important to the American people.”
But author Edward Klein writes in his new book, “Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died,” that Joe Kennedy views himself as the “heir apparent” to the Senate seat held by his uncle since 1962. The book also paints Kennedy’s wife, Victoria Kennedy, as “an interloper” who has her sights on the seat.
A source close to the storied clan also dismissed the report, saying, “Joe Kennedy doesn’t have any interest in coming back into politics at this point, despite people’s best efforts to pursuade him. I think he’s happy in his life. I don’t think there’s any issue between Vicki and Joe.”
The source also refuted reports of behind-the-scenes jockeying to succeed the senator, who has brain cancer.
“No one is talking about anything beyond the present situation,” said the source. “Anyone who is loyal to Sen. Kennedy is not discussing any eventuality. Whoever’s saying this stuff doesn’t have any real knowledge of what’s going on.”

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Clan bicker over Ted Kennedy’s Senate Seat

May 5, 2009

Ted Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, and his nephew, former congressman Joe Kennedy, are getting set for a bruising battle over who will succeed the ailing senator, according to a new book excerpted in the new issue of Vanity Fair magazine.
“Vicki is seen by all as an interloper and she is deeply resented by Ted’s children and many of the newphews,” Edward Klein writes in his new book, “Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died,” due in stores next month.
“Joe, who sees himself as the only serious heir apparent, particularly loathes her control over his uncle and hence the family. Joe inherited his father’s ruthless gene. He is nothing if not aggressive. And anybody who tries to get between him and Ted’s Senate chair is in for a fight.”
The excerpt, which appears in the June issue of Vanity Fair, covers the 12 months since Kennedy, 77, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.
Klein, a former Newsweek and New York Times [NYT] editor, is the author of four other salacious Kennedy books, including “The Kennedy Curse” and “Just Jackie,” which were not exactly kind to the famous clan.
The Ted tome contains some new details about the day the senator was rushed to the hospital with what turned out to be a malignant brain tumor. According to Klein, Kennedy was stricken as he played with his dogs, Sunny and Splash, on the beach in Hyannisport.
“According to one family friend he fell in the sand and realized he could not move.”
The senator’s sad diagnosis - a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe - set off a series of events that roiled America’s once-royal family, Klein says.
As Ted began to seek a successor, a rivalry developed between his wife, his nephew and his niece, Caroline Kennedy. It was Ted who insisted that Caroline make a bid for the seat Hillary Clinton would vacate so there would be “a Kennedy in the Senate” after he was gone.
But her disastrous campaign and New York Gov. David Paterson’s public reluctance to appoint the Camelot princess to succeed Clinton, humiliated and infuriated Caroline.
So much so that her three children sat her down and told her they didn’t like what politics was doing to their mother. She withdrew her candidacy that night, Klein said.
Klein also contends that Kennedy’s grim diagnosis has driven him back to a bad habit: drinking. Subsequently, he claims, Vicki and her father hatched a scheme to relocate the senator and his beloved sailboat Mya to Florida for the winter to get him away from enabler pals.
Vicki’s father, Edmund Reggie, had a friend who was trying to sell an estate on Biscayne Bay in Miami and that’s where Ted and Vicki spent the winter, Klein says.
The author also contends that Kennedy “had been drinking the night before” his seizure at President Obama’s inauguration.
The senior senator’s staff did not return an e-mail seeking comment.

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Citgo continues support of free heating oil plan

It turns out you'll be able to call Joe for free oil after all.

Venezuelan company Citgo Petroleum Corp. said yesterday it plans to continue supporting a program run by Joseph P. Kennedy II that provides free heating oil to 200,000 low-income households in 23 states, including Massachusetts - just two days after Kennedy said Citgo was indefinitely suspending the program.

(...) "We never stopped the program," Citgo chief executive Alejandro Granado said twice at a press conference yesterday in Citizens Energy's office in South Boston.

Citizens, which had publicized it would start taking applications on Jan. 5 from people who needed help heating their homes, said it thought Citgo's indecision meant the program would be suspended.

"We were put in a position where we were unable to take the applications," Kennedy said. "It took a few days longer than we could manage."

(...) Kennedy would not say whether he talked to Chávez this week, but the former Massachusetts congressman said he discussed the situation with several members of Congress and "did what was necessary to make this work."

US Representative Bill Delahunt, Democrat from Quincy, who helped negotiate the original deal with Chávez at a meeting in Caracas several years ago, said he and other members of Congress personally contacted Chávez after learning the program was in jeopardy.

"It's really important to continue the program," Delahunt said. "In New England, it has been extraordinarily helpful to get low-income people through the tough winters we have had." Delahunt said he thought the program could also pave the way for better relations between the United States and Venezuelan governments. Chávez has been a critic of the US government.

Granado said he talked to Chávez yesterday morning and was given the go-ahead to continue the program. Citizens said it will start accepting applications on Jan. 19 and expects home deliveries to begin two to three days later.

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Citizens Energy giveaway imperiled as Venezuela halts its oil donations

January 6, 2009

If you call Joe for oil this year, expect to be disappointed.

Joseph P. Kennedy II, the president of Citizens Energy Corp., said yesterday the Venezuelan oil company Citgo Petroleum Corp. has suspended contributions to the Boston nonprofit's program that provides free heating oil to 200,000 low-income residents and Native American tribes in 23 states, including Massachusetts.

The former Massachusetts congressman, who publicized the three-year-old program in television commercials urging people to call 1-877-JOE-4-OIL, said Citgo will stop participating indefinitely because of plunging oil prices and the global economic crisis, which have crimped its revenue. Last year, Citgo provided roughly $100 million in free fuel, 90 percent of the program's funding.

At a press conference yesterday, Kennedy said Citizens Energy likely will be forced to cut about 20 percent of its heating oil distribution in Massachusetts and halt the program altogether in other states unless it can per suade Citgo to change its mind or can raise money elsewhere to buy oil and fund grants. In addition, he said Citizens would have to lay off 20 staffers.

Kennedy said he has repeatedly reached out to the Venezuelan government, which owns Citgo, in an effort to persuade the company to resume oil donations. He also urged people to write to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Citgo is the US distribution arm of Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, which Chávez indirectly controls.

"We are doing everything we can," Kennedy said. "We're not ready to give up."

Citgo declined to comment and the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C., could not be reached to comment.

Since Citizens Energy launched the free oil program, critics have complained that Kennedy's commercials amounted to propaganda promoting Chávez, a leftist leader who has been highly critical of the United States' economic and foreign policies. Chávez has also cultivated ties with other countries at odds with the United States, including Iran and Cuba. In a speech at the United Nations in New York two years ago, he called President Bush the "devil."

"Maybe now, instead of acting as propaganda tool of socialist dictator Hugo Chávez, Joe Kennedy can focus on simply helping those who couldn't afford to question the real cost behind his heating oil," said Barney Keller, spokesman for the Massachusetts Republican Party.

Kennedy, however, said other US oil companies refused to contribute to the program, even when they recorded booming profits in recent years. And Chávez's ire is directed at Bush, he said, not Americans in general. He added that he doesn't believe Citgo's withdrawal was timed to coincide with Bush's departure from the White House in two weeks.

"It's a financial issue, that's all," Kennedy said.

Mark Sawyer, an associate professor at the University of California in Los Angeles who has written articles and taught classes on Latin America, said the program was part of Chávez's efforts to build goodwill in the United States and other countries.

"He tried to communicate directly with segments of the American population with the understanding that Americans are not monolithic in their perspectives," said Sawyer.

But with the decline in oil prices, he said, Venezuela will have to cut back on its philanthropic programs, reducing Chávez's political influence beyond his country's borders.

Last year, the program offered eligible families up to 100 free gallons of heating oil, and issued grants to Native American tribes to help pay for oil. Citgo had gradually increased its level of funding over the past few years.

Some say the impact of Citgo's decision to stop participating is mitigated by the dramatic drop in heating oil costs. The average price in Massachusetts - currently $2.26 a gallon - is down 52 percent since July, when it peaked at $4.71, according to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. A year ago, the average cost was $3.32 a gallon.

At the same time, state and federal governments have stepped up subsidies to struggling families through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
"For the first time ever, the program is fully funded," said Susan Kooperstein, a spokeswoman for Action for Boston Community Development Inc., a nonprofit that provides services to low-income residents.

Last year, Kooperstein said, the agency was able to give the city's poorest families a maximum of $865, which bought more than a tank of oil. This year, the maximum has been raised to $1,305, which now buys more than three tanks.

Kooperstein also said the income threshold for assistance has been increased, from $42,400 for a family four to more than $53,000.

"We can now serve people who fall through the cracks," she said.

Residents who need help paying for heating oil can call the state heating assistance hotline at 800-632-8175. Citizens Energy also plans to continue operating a natural gas assistance program, in partnership with Distrigas, that provides a $150 utility bill credit to eligible households.

Citizens, which Kennedy founded in 1979, also runs a number of other energy programs, including those focused on wind and biofuels, energy efficiency, and electricity transmission.

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http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/01/06/citizens_energy_giveaway_imperiled_as_venezuela_halts_its_oil_donations/

NYC’s Triborough Bridge renamed for Robert F. Kennedy

Several generations of Robert F. Kennedy’s family gathered today for a ceremony renaming one of the city’s major bridges in honor of the slain senator and U.S. attorney general.
Kennedy’s wife, Ethel, sons Joseph and Robert Jr., and daughter Kerry were joined today by dignitaries including former President Bill Clinton in a park at the foot of the Triborough Bridge. They were joined by his niece, Caroline Kennedy.
"I love that the city he knew and cared about returned his devotion," Ethel Kennedy said in prepared remarks.
Kennedy, who would have turned 83 on Thursday, was assassinated in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The senator "was about wanting to make life better for others," said Gov. David Paterson, who handed Ethel Kennedy a framed copy of the bill he signed renaming the bridge.
Kennedy "operated on a grand scale," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "He united us as New Yorkers and as Americans. America would not be the country it is without Robert F. Kennedy and all the Kennedys."
The bridge, which opened in 1936, is the first major public work dedicated to Kennedy in the state he represented from 1965 to 1968. It is a complex of three spans that connect Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens.

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Joe Kennedy’s rousing talk fuels speculation

Former Congressman Joe Kennedy gave a funny, poignant, stirring speech that brought the Massachusetts delegation to their feet here yesterday and had more than a few in the room wondering if the one-time gubernatorial candidate might be contemplating a political comeback.
“It’s interesting that he’s here,” said one pundit. “What do you think it means?”
Former state party chairman Phil Johnston insisted that Kennedy addressed the DNC delegates only because Johnston asked him. But others raised the possibility that Joe, who was once seen as heir apparent to uncle Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, might be thinking about that scenario again.
The senator, who is battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, has vowed to return to Washington and fight alongside Barack Obama when (in Ted’s words) Obama is elected president. But the great unspoken truth is that Kennedy may become too incapacitated to continue his Senate duties as the cancer progresses.
“No one wants to talk about it, but everyone’s talking about it,” said another Demmie insider.
The Dems were a little too cute for their own good back in 2004. Facing the possibility that Sen. John Kerry could be elected president, the party didn’t want GOP governor Mitt Romney to have the chance to appoint a successor. So the Dems engineered a quick change in the rules and now there has to be a special election to fill any open Senate seats.
But if Joe Kennedy is interested in the job, he has one huge obstacle in his way - Ted’s wife, Vicki, has sent strong signals that she would like to succeed her hubby should the sad occasion arise.
Not only that, but most members of the state’s congressional delegation, who have seen little upward mobility in decades, would certainly want to give the race a good close look. And Gov. Deval Patrick, if he is not tapped by Obama, is also considered a candidate for the post.
But the bottom line may simply come down to this: Ted Kennedy will likely anoint his successor, and right now, the smart money is on Vicki.
“It will be whatever Ted wants it to be,” said another plugged-in delegate.
Joe, who hasn’t done much politicking in recent years, arrived at the Massachusetts DNC delegation breakfast with wife, Beth, and twin sons Joe and Matt. He began his speech by thanking the delegates for the “beautiful tribute” to Ted on the opening night of the convention.
“He is fighting the toughest fight of his life,” RFK’s son told the gathering, “and the boost you gave him put a smile on his face that is something that nothing can touch and no one can take away.”
Kennedy, who runs Citizen’s Energy - a low-cost heating oil program for the poor - joked that the big turnout at yesterday’s event was the result of state party people promising that “anyone who wants a free tank of heating oil should just come down to the breakfast.”
He then gave an impassioned pitch for Obama and change that brought delegation members to their feet and left U.S. Rep. Nikki Tsongas (D-Lowell), who followed Kennedy to the podium, with a tough act to follow.
“I’d like to thank Joe for making my life very difficult up here,” she said.
Kennedy left the hotel with a huge grin on his face. Make of that what you will . . .
File Under: Not-So-Average Joe.

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Coakley, Joe Kennedy, Romney top early list of possible successors for Sen. Kennedy By Jeremy P. Jacobs

While many will say it is premature for the question and the results are far from decisive, a recent poll shows that Joe Kennedy, Mitt Romney and Martha Coakley are the early favorites to succeed U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Hyannis Port) when he concludes his career.

The 7NEWS/Suffolk University poll asked respondents who they would like to take Kennedy's place in the U.S. Senate. (...) Kennedy has not made any indication of if or when he intends to vacate his Senate seat.

In the poll, 12 percent of respondents said would like former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Brighton) to take his uncle's place in the Senate. Eleven percent of respondents said they would prefer former governor and recent presidential contender Mitt Romney (R) for the seat. The same percentage opted for Attorney General Martha Coakley (D-Medford).

It should be noted that a plurality of respondents, 47 percent, said they didn't know who they would want to succeed Kennedy. The poll was conducted between July 31 and Aug. 3 and interviewed 400 respondents. There was a 4.9 percent margin of error on the poll.

If you want to read more, please visit http://www.politickerma.com/jeremyjacobs/705/coakley-joe-kennedy-romney-top-early-list-possible-successors-sen-kennedy