Kennedy Refuses To Disclose Finances

Extremely wealthy and of famous pedigree, the Kennedy who wants to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate refuses to disclose basic data required of any candidate, especially information relating to her vast fortune and companies she has a stake in.

In fact, John F. Kennedy’s daughter (Caroline) has successfully avoided disclosing her financial data for years even as she held public-sector jobs that required it. Kennedy’s hometown newspaper reports that she twice utilized loopholes to avoid making her enormous assets public and she’s still holding out even though she wants Governor David Paterson to appoint her to Clinton’s vacant Senate post.

As chief fundraiser for the New York City Department of Education, Kennedy decided to forgo a $90,000 salary to avoid filing mandatory disclosures with the city’s Conflicts of Interests Board. A few years later she convinced her New York City lawmaker buddies to help her skirt a state law requiring that board members of all nonprofits affiliated with a city government submit detailed disclosure forms.

New York City officials actually went before a state assembly committee to argue that the Fund for Public Schools, a public nonprofit that Kennedy chaired, was exempt because the group was legally part of the Department of Education and not a city agency. State lawmakers went along with the bogus argument, even though an elected city official—the mayor—has control over public schools in New York City.

Now Kennedy, who has no political experience, wants more special treatment as she tries to slip into the U.S. Senate without even being elected. If she were actually running a Senate campaign, Kennedy would have to file a 10-part, publicly available report disclosing her financial assets, credit card debts, mortgages, book deals and the sources of payments exceeding $5,000.