Ex-Kennedy aide lobbies for late senator’s institute

A former senior aide to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has taken to K Street to promote the senator’s legacy.

Jay McCarthy, of the Liberty Square Group, began lobbying for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate on March 1, according to recently released lobbying disclosure records. So far, the firm has earned $5,000 in fees working for the institute.

During more than seven years with the senator, McCarthy served as a senior adviser and political director, helping with Kennedy’s 2006 reelection race.

{mosads}He is lobbying on the Defense and Labor/Health and Human Services appropriations bills, according to disclosure forms.
McCarthy joined Liberty Square in February this year after working for Kennedy’s appointed replacement, former Sen. Paul Kirk (D-Mass.), as a senior adviser. The lobbying and political consulting firm was founded in 1999 by another former Kennedy aide, Scott Ferson, an ex-press secretary to the Massachusetts Democrat.

“This is a labor of love,” McCarthy said. “We are seeking additional federal funding, and we are aggressively raising private funding for the institute. It is going to be the pre-eminent civics education facility in the nation.”

Kennedy’s institute — which will be built on the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts, adjacent to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library — has already taken in more than$38 million in federal funds, according to data from Taxpayers for Common Sense compiled by Legistorm. That money came from earmarks placed in spending bills in 2008 and 2009 by a host of lawmakers, including Kirk, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.).

Kerry is seeking another $10 million earmark for the institute this year to set up an educational development program, according to documents posted on Kerry’s website. Markey has made a separate $20 million earmark request for the institute.

Institute officials said they hope to raise $150 million for the facility, with about $60 million coming from the federal government and $90 million from private donors. 

“The center is less about Sen. Kennedy’s legacy and more about his vision. The mission of the center is going to be civics education, which is under-appreciated and under-funded,” said Joe Ganley, a spokesman for the institute. “It is a rare public-private partnership that is recognizing the importance of civics education while leveraging significant private dollars.”

The institute has raised about $45 million from private donors so far, according to officials. Some of those funds have come from pharmaceutical companies, insurance firms and unions.

According to a 2008 progress report released by the institute, its biggest private donor was Amgen, with a $5 million contribution. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts gave $1 million. In addition, two labor groups were large donors: The Service Employees International Union gave $2.5 million and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America donated $1 million, according to the report.

The institute, which is expected to cost $60 million to build, will include museum space, a library and classrooms. Through its programs, lectures and other events, it will attempt to educate the public on the legislative process, foster debate of current political issues and encourage participation in the electoral process. It will offer on-site training sessions for Senate staff and host “Summer Senate” for high school students to participate in mock hearings and draft legislation.

The institute, for which fundraising began in 2008, was a long-term project of the Massachusetts senator, and several past Kennedy aides are involved.
Stephanie Cutter, formerly a senior Kennedy strategist who is now handling the White House’s communications strategy on the new healthcare reform law, is a director, according to Massachusetts corporation records. So is Nick Littlefield, an ex-Kennedy aide who is a lobbyist at Foley Hoag for various pharmaceutical companies.

Ranny Cooper, president of Weber Shandwick Public Affairs and a former Kennedy chief of staff, is another institute director, along with David Burke, another ex-chief of staff for Kennedy.

Designs for the facility are expected to be finished soon. A groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for the fall.