Kerry's brother mulls a run
He weighs campaign for secretary of state
Cameron F. Kerry, the younger brother and a close political adviser to US Senator John F. Kerry, said yesterday he is laying the groundwork to run for the 2006 Democratic nomination for secretary of state.
Kerry, a Boston lawyer who has operated in his sibling's shadow for more than three decades, said he met with Secretary of State William F. Galvin yesterday to inform him of his decision to run for the office, but assured him it was dependent on Galvin's vacating the post to run for the Democratic nomination for governor.
Galvin, who is serving his third term, has said he is seriously considering the gubernatorial race. He is expected to make a decision by early fall. He declined to comment on his meeting with Kerry.
In an interview with the Globe, Kerry said he is establishing an official political account to collect donations and has assembled several of his brother's top presidential campaign fund-raisers in New England to help him raise a campaign war chest. He said he plans to begin traveling around the state to meet Democratic activists and other potential supporters.
''I need to get a head start to level the playing field," the 54-year-old Kerry said, pointing out that, if he runs, he will be competing against political office holders who have the resources to hit the ground running if Galvin decides to leave his position.
''I am not an incumbent with a war chest built up over the years," he said. ''I don't have a base that I have been running from for years. I want to be ready."
A decision by Galvin to leave the office he has held since 1994 would set up a scramble for his job, considered by ambitious lower office holders as a plum job in its own right and a potential steppingstone for the governorship or US Senate. Among those most often mentioned by political strategists are state Senator Mark C. Montigny, a Democrat from New Bedford who has $867,000 in political funds. Another is state Representative Peter Koutoujian, Democrat of Waltham, who had $207,000 at the beginning of the year. Norfolk Sheriff Michael Bellotti has also expressed interest.
Kerry said he will draw on some of the state's best political fund-raisers, including those in his brother's presidential campaign who smashed records in raising cash in New England. They include Boston lawyer Joan Lukey, Brookline businessman Jon Rotenberg, former national Democratic Party finance director Alan Solomont, and former national Democratic Party chairman Steve Grossman. He will also get support from Kerry insider Robert B. Crowe and longtime political activists Marty Xifaras of Marion and Jack Corrigan of Brookline.
Asked by a reporter if his brother will be endorsing his candidacy, Kerry, who has played key roles in his brother's political battles, said, ''John will be helpful and be as nice to me as I have been nice to him." But he said he it is unclear what role the senator would play in his campaign. ''I need to get started on my own," he said.
Senator Kerry praised his brother last night.
''I'm 100 percent supportive of whatever he decides to do," the senator said said in a written statement to the Globe. ''I love my brother, and I know he has the tenacity and passion to fight for the issues he cares about so deeply."
Cameron Kerry's first introduction to a political campaign was in 1972, when John Kerry tried to win the Fifth Congressional District seat. He won the Democratic primary, edging out several local state representatives from Lowell and Lawrence, but lost the general election. It was a rough-and-tumble fight in which the Sun newspaper in Lowell attacked Kerry for his anti-Vietnam war activities and in which the local Democratic establishment undercut his candidacy.
The race also produced an embarrassing incident that has dogged Cameron Kerry for years. He and another aide, Thomas J. Vallely, saying they had a tip that someone was cutting their communication network for primary day operations, broke into a basement that contained their headquarters' telephone cables. They were arrested and charged with breaking and entering. A year later, the charges were dismissed.
''When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible," Kerry said jokingly, borrowing from George W. Bush's position in the 2000 presidential campaign. ''It was a rash thing to do."
Kerry said his experience of heading up election law issues for his brother's campaign, from the failed 1972 congressional race to last year's presidential campaign, puts him in a unique position. The secretary of state oversees the state's elections, among other responsibilities.
''I believe there are important dimensions to the job," Kerry said. ''Take election laws. You don't have to look far to see what impact the secretary of state can have on our democratic process."
Kerry, who earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University in 1972, graduated magna cum laude from Boston College Law School in 1978. Since 1983, he has worked at Mintz Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, where he is now a partner, focusing on civil litigation, environmental issues, and communications regulation. 