Patrick Kennedy says he’s not going to allow South Jersey machine to smear his wife

Former Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-Rhode Island) strongly pushed back on criticism that he was funding a super PAC  to help his wife, Amy Kennedy, win the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 2nd district.

“In South Jersey we’re dominated by a machine that doesn’t give anyone else a fair shot, but Amy does have a shot because her last name is Kennedy,” he told the New Jersey Globe.  “They use scurrilous material to attack her.  There’s no way my wife is going to fall victim to that kind of a smear.”

Kennedy defended his decision to contribute $500,000 to Blue Organizing Project to boost his wife’s chances, even though Amy Kennedy has publicly asked the super PAC to stay out of her race.

“I wish people were half as concerned about where Brigid Harrison gets her money,” said Kennedy. “My wife may be beholden to me, but Brigid is beholden to George Norcross.”

The scion of one of America’s most storied political families says that he has personally given six figure contributions to multiple campaign over the years.

“I’ve been proud to raise money for Democrats,” Kennedy said.  “Republicans have a lot of money.  We can’t have (Jeff) Van Drew swearing allegiance to Donald Trump.”

Amy Kennedy entered the race in January, weeks after Van Drew refused to support Trump’s impeachment and announce that he was switching parties and running again as a Republican.

So far, super PAC has spent $75,000 on ads attacking Harrison and $40,000 on polling.

It’s not clear whether Blue Organizing Project plans to shut down, and Kennedy wouldn’t say if he will ask for his money back.

“I haven’t decided yet,” he told the Globe.