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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
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