Plum Crazy

US Senator John F. Kerry's insistence that he has been "clear as a bell" in never having claimed Irish ancestry is undercut by a statement introduced the day after St. Patrick's Day 17 years ago in which he identified himself as Irish-American.

"For those of us who are fortunate to share an Irish ancestory, we take great pride in the contributions that Irish-Americans, from the time of the Revolutionary War to the present, have made to building a strong and vibrant nation," Kerry told Senate colleagues in a March 18, 1986 statement. Kerry's remarks, recorded in the Congressional Record, were part of his introduction of a St. Patrick's Day message by then-Boston mayor Raymond L. Flynn that the senator wanted printed in the publication.

Kelley Benander, a Kerry aide, said the senator did not make the statement in person, but rather his staff prepared a written statement that was submitted to the clerk for recording. She said Kerry never saw the statement.

"John Kerry did not deliver these remarks nor did he see this line," Benander said. "Anyone familiar with Capitol Hill knows that it is common routine for statements to be inserted in the Congressional Record rather than being delivered on the Senate floor. These particular remarks were drafted by a staffer who made an understandable and common but erroneous assumption."

Benander said Kerry, as a US senator, has made numerous statements and speeches about Irish-American political figures and issues in which he never claimed to have Irish heritage.

Ronald F. Rosenblith, Kerry's chief of staff at the time the 1986 Senate statement was printed, blamed a staff error. "This is not the type of statement that Senator Kerry would have seen, and the error was an unfortunate staff mistake," Rosenblith said.

Much discussion of Kerry's ethnic heritage has emerged in recent weeks, after a Globe story revealed that, despite widespread perceptions that he had Irish ancestry, Kerry's roots were Austrian through his father, Richard Kerry. His mother came from Boston blue-blood background.

Some observers have suggested the lack of clarity about his family origins reflects Kerry's ill-defined identity and tendency to leave misimpressions that are politically advantageous to him. Others find the story of Kerry's background, which includes an Austrian immigrant grandfather who committed suicide at a Boston hotel, a poignant and painful personal tale of a man learning only late in life about where he came from.

Kerry's claim of Irish ancestry in the Senate statement contradicts his strong assertions to the Globe last month that he never suggested he had Irish blood and sought to correct any published reports that said otherwise.

"I'm sure some people see the name and, `Hey, I think it's this or that' but I've been clear as a bell," Kerry told Globe reporter Michael Kranish, who had researched his genealogy. "I've always been absolutely straight up front about it."

It is not the only time Kerry's supposed Irishness has turned up in statements attributable to him. A draft of remarks prepared for Kerry when he was Massachusetts lieutenant governor includes this passage: "As some of you may know, I am part-English and part-Irish. And when my Kerry ancestors first came over to Massachusetts from the old country to find work in the New World, it was my English ancestors who refused to hire them."

The four-page draft, which the Globe has obtained, is untitled and undated but refers to civil rights-related events of 1984, his final year as lieutenant governor.

After the Globe's inquiry, Benander said she spoke late yesterday to both Kerry and Jonathan Winer, the former aide who penned the remarks. They recalled the draft, but "neither ever remember it being used," she said.

More is at the link above.