Posted on 07/24/2004 5:48:24 PM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
BOSTON - When a young John Kerry launched his first election campaign in 1972, he tapped his 21-year-old brother, Cameron, to serve as his political director.
More than three decades later, the soon-to-be Democratic presidential nominee — now surrounded by a cadre of high-paid, high-powered political professionals — still relies heavily upon his little brother as a top adviser, fund-raiser, sounding board and confidant.
Over the past two years, the Massachusetts senator has consulted with Cameron before making the most monumental decisions of his presidential quest: how to vote on the Iraq war resolution, whether to fire the manager of his flagging campaign last fall and his selection of a running mate.
"I play a little bit of a free safety," Cameron Kerry, 53, a Boston lawyer, told The Associated Press. "I advise here and there. I speak at fund-raisers. I'm more accessible than John is, so a lot of people will turn to me to communicate problems or ideas. I'm sort of a complaint department."
Cameron Kerry, who converted to Judaism 20 years ago, also has become an informal liaison to the Jewish community, meeting with groups in Florida and other key states. Earlier this month, he traveled to Israel on Kerry's behalf to meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
In Cameron, Kerry has an adviser whose loyalty is bound in blood, who can be trusted to tell the brutal, unvarnished truth as only a brother can.
"Kerry's brother has been one of the mainstays of his political life," said Paul Alexander, a magazine writer who recently published "The Candidate" about his time on the campaign trail with Kerry. "What makes him important is that he's able to be direct and honest with his brother in a way no one else can be."
Cameron is the youngest of four Kerry siblings, preceded by Margaret, John, and Diana. With a diplomat father, the Kerry family moved frequently as children, from Massachusetts to Washington, to Berlin in 1954, when Cameron was four. Soon thereafter, the two brothers parted, when John was sent to boarding schools in Switzerland, Massachusetts and ultimately New Hampshire.
In 1972, after graduating from Harvard, Cameron joined his brother's unsuccessful congressional campaign and has remained an integral part of his inner circle ever since.
Seven years younger, Cameron has been content to work in the long shadow cast by his brother. With dark curly hair and a slight frame, he lacks many of Kerry's distinctive physical characteristics.
"He's very much behind the scenes. He doesn't pull rank on anyone," said Phil Johnston, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
Cameron briefly tried journalism and worked on other candidates' political campaigns before deciding on a career in law.
While Cameron's sedate past indicates that he will not join Roger Clinton or Billy Carter in the ranks of notorious presidential brothers, Cameron is also no Jeb Bush and has no designs on seeking his own political victories.
He lives in the Boston suburb of Brookline with his wife, Kathy, and two daughters, 18 and 14. When The Boston Globe last year revealed the Kerry family's previously unknown Jewish roots — their paternal grandfather was born Jewish — Cameron said his daughters, wife and in-laws got a laugh out of it. Cameron had converted from Catholicism in 1983 after marrying his Jewish wife.
He is on "partial leave" from Mintz Levin, a leading Boston firm that has represented several cable and telecommunication companies with interests in legislation John Kerry has voted on. The Center for Responsive Politics says the firm has been John Kerry's single largest contributor over the past 13 years, donating about $250,000 to his campaigns.
Cameron Kerry denies he has used this relationship to influence his brother's votes, saying, "Those are separate spheres. My clients understand that and my partners understand that. I don't even think my brother knows who my clients are."
Cameron's only brush with scandal came in 1972, when he and another staffer on Kerry's congressional campaign were arrested for breaking into the basement of the building where his brother's headquarters was located. They said an anonymous phone caller had threatened to cut the campaign's phone lines. Charges were dropped.
Cameron Kerry has had no formal role in his brother's campaigns since 1982, when he managed Kerry's campaign for lieutenant governor.
In October 2002, when Kerry consulted him about the vote on President Bush Iraq resolution, Cameron said he advised him to "make his decision based on what is right and not on politics."
Kerry voted to give Bush the authority to use force to compel Saddam Hussein's compliance with United Nations edicts.
When Kerry's campaign sagged a year later, Cameron pushed Kerry to hire a new campaign manager. Kerry's campaign has been on an upswing since then.
Holy Watergate, Batman, did Kerry learn from nixon or vice versa?
Huh? Wasn't there a campaign hq breakin, in Cameron's "sedate" past?
Kerry can't do anything original, he copied it of course. Kerry's "LowellGate" was in September, just a couple months after the Watergate break-in.
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