OT: Drive like a Kennedy

From The Boston Herald Aug 31, 2005

Paralyzed victim of Joe K crash: Skinflint won't help By Laurel J. Sweet and Maggie Mulvihill Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - Updated: 07:42 AM EST

Joseph P. Kennedy II, who built upon his family fortune with a lucrative career of his own since leaving politics, allegedly told a Hyannis mother he left paralyzed for life in a car crash 32 years ago that he is ``broke'' and won't be her financial crutch any longer.

``I'm broke. I work for a non-profit. I'm not a bottomless pit,'' the chairman of Citizens Energy Corp. and former congressman allegedly told Pamela Burkley, whom he knew in their star-crossed youth on Cape Cod as Pam Kelley - his late brother David's girlfriend.

Kennedy denies through his lawyer that he made the remarks.

Though she acknowledges Kennedy, 52, has thrown some $50,000 her way over the years, Burkley, 50, told the Herald, ``I feel like he thinks I'm a piece of trash sitting in a wheelchair.''

The divorced mother of a 16-year-old girl said she earns $57,000 a year as executive director of the Cape Organization for Rights of the Disabled and suffers from recurring bladder cancer. ``I'm realizing my body is starting to give out on me,'' she said.

``I just want to live my life and plant my plants, play with my dogs and watch my daughter grow up. As I age, I'm getting nervous and less independent. And I'm tired.''

Steve Kidder, a friend and attorney for Kennedy, said Burkley's portrayal of slain U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy's son as cold and uncaring is wrong.

``The quote that she is attributing to Joe simply did not happen,'' Kidder responded emphatically.

In a statement released to the Herald through Kidder, Kennedy said, ``I have a very strong sense of responsibility for Pam and her circumstances. I have helped Pam many, many times over the years, and Pam knows I will continue to do so in the future.''

Burkley netted $668,000 from an insurance policy on the Jeep Kennedy flipped Aug. 13, 1973, snapping her spine and injuring five other teens heading to a Nantucket swimming hole.

The middle-class daughter of a builder and a real estate agent told a reporter at the time: ``There's no way I'd be able to spend that money if I lived to be 102.'' She decided not to sue.

But just eight years later, her trust fund was gone, invested in a house, medical expenses and land in Kezar Falls, Maine.

Kennedy was found guilty of driving to endanger and fined $100. A fawning judge told him, ``Use your illustrious name as an asset to do a lot of good.''

In the years since, Burkley struggled with depression, thoughts of suicide, and battled drugs and booze.

``Once I got sober,'' she said, ``I just flew. And I'm so proud of that and what I've done for myself, my community and my family. That's what I've spent the last 32 years doing and I don't see him owning any of this.''

Kennedy, meanwhile, has continued to live well.

Kennedy is the owner of nearly $2 million in real estate, including a rambling six-bedroom colonial in Brighton assessed this year by city officials at $741,600. In April 2003 he also took out a $1 million loan to purchase a 1,800-square-foot condo in an exclusive waterfront gated community in Key Largo, Fla., for which he and his wife, his former congressional aide Beth Kelly, paid $1.275 million, public records show

In addition, Kennedy owns two boats - a top-of-the-line, 35-foot fishing vessel he moors in Florida, and a 22-foot white sloop he keeps on Cape Cod, records show.

Entities related to his Citizens Energy Corp. paid him more than $400,000 in 2003, the last year for which records are available

Another option of the game is to drive like David Kennedy and pick up drugs along the roadway.