People serving in the military who come from "priveleged" backgrounds (such as children of Congressmen, diplomats, etc) receive a special designation. So, every commander knows this person has political influence. Are you surprised that some commander will sign-off on a medal even if they think it is BS?
I'm not the least bit surprised. That's probably how he got his first PH -- after his CO turned him down, someone higher up the chain of command rubber-stamped it for him.
Google for the words "kerry", "kennedy", and "yacht" to see how special he was. An MSNBC article near the top of the search results has a picture of him sailing with John Kennedy. This was during the summer before he went to college. He was a full-time Teddy campaign volunteer and dated some relative of Jackie Kennedy that same summer.
MAJOR political influence.