Posted on 09/20/2002 11:13:37 AM PDT by aShepard
Kennedy chief of staff fired over lobbying
Political observers say Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy ousted Dean J. Martilli because Martilli's failure to fully disclose his past lobbying activities could become a campaign issue.
09/19/2002
BY JOHN E. MULLIGAN
Journal Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy yesterday accepted the resignation of his chief of staff, whose failure to disclose his past dealings as a Washington lobbyist had become a political liability.
Kennedy portrayed his top staffer, Dean J. Martilli, as the victim of unfair criticism by his little-known Republican opponent, David W. Rogers. But he said, "I thought it was wise for Dean to move on," so that his reelection campaign can focus on public policy issues.
Martilli's ouster is the second such Kennedy staff upheaval in 18 months. It comes less than seven weeks before Rhode Island voters decide whether to grant Kennedy a fifth term in the House.
The episode also represents a strange twist in the continuing drama of Kennedy's career.
Rather than press on with his lavishly financed campaign and ignore the attacks, which have received scant attention from the news media, the famous congressman responds in the splashiest way possible.
He sends his chief of staff packing.
"They're nervous," Moakley said of Kennedy and his circle. "Rhode Island voters are very skittish about insider connections and the emerging scandals at the State House," she said. "To the extent that there is any related criticism" that Martilli skirted "the spirit of the law" on congressional ethics, Kennedy has a problem, she said.
Moakley and Darrell M. West, a Brown University political scientist, both said the issue of Martilli's lobbying is not enough to defeat Kennedy but will increase scrutiny of the congressman.
They also stressed that they view public financial disclosure laws as a serious policy matter. "The purpose of these rules is to give voters information on the financial interests of congressional staffers so that people can judge where that person is earning his income and what interests they have," said West, "or conflicts of interest."
When he hired Martilli in April 2001, Kennedy agreed to pay him $97,300 a year in public funds to be his chief of staff -- just below the level that would have triggered the personal financial disclosure statement demanded of members of Congress and their principal aides.
Separately, Kennedy paid Martilli from campaign funds -- $82,930 since his hiring -- for work on his reelection. In an interview yesterday, Kennedy defended the arrangement, saying it complied with the law. "There's nothing wrong with it," said the congressman.
"There is absolutely no reason for a chief of staff making a lot of money not to file a financial disclosure statement," countered West, an expert on the influence of money on the Congress. Such disclosure "is pretty routine in congressional offices across the country," even though Martilli's arrangement was apparently legal, West said.
Martilli also failed, for most of his tenure with Kennedy, to file another public document required under congressional ethics law, a statement of his work and income as a lobbyist prior to joining Kennedy's staff.
In fact, Martilli denied that he had been a lobbyist when Rogers, Kennedy's Republican opponent, raised questions about the issue early last month. He said, rather, that he had been a "consultant."
But on Aug. 28, Martilli quietly filed a back-dated form acknowledging that he had been a lobbyist before joining Kennedy's staff. The form said his clients included Picerne Properties, a national real-estate concern based in Warwick.
This guy Rogers is a great pubbie choice, businessman, ex Navy Seal, articulate, and savvy. He's getting great press on this issue.
What a POS!
The only good Kennedy was killed in Dallas... IMHO.
There's so many Kennedys in or seeking office. The Kennedy sense of entitlement for power has become something akin to an imperial privilege.
It's offensive the way they roll over other American citizens who dare to get in their way. Patrick is one of the worst Kennedy offenders, besides the terminally liberal Teddy, that is.
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