The funds should come from private sources not the public

Kennedy Institute funding denied
But groundbreaking in spring

By Hillary Chabot

Photo by Edward M. Kennedy Institute

The founding president of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate yesterday said he is giving up on seeking federal funds for the legacy project, $30 million short of the total the institute has requested from Congress.

“We had this request in and we felt that either we get it this year or we don’t, and we’re not going to go back,” said Peter Meade, president of the institute. “I doubt we’re going back to ask for any more.

The institute, a $150 million project to honor the liberal lion, already has nabbed $38 million in federal dollars. (my emphasis)

Why don't the Kennedy's fund it themselves? Because, they feel entitled to your money.

Bay State pols U.S. Sen. John Kerry and U.S. Rep. Edward Markey had sought another $30 million this year, only to see it get slashed down to $8.5 million as an anti-earmark tide swept over Capitol Hill.

The final $8.5 million died along with the Senate Democrats’ $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill this week.

“Sen. Kerry has always believed that the Kennedy Institute will become one of the nation’s preeminent civic educational institutions,” said Kerry spokeswoman Whitney Smith, who added that the project, backed by federal funding “combined with the lion’s share of private funding, will make a difference in Massachusetts for generations to come.”

Markey’s spokeswoman, Giselle Barry, said the congressman had pushed for federal funding because the institute “will also be a source of tourism dollars once completed and serve as a unique educational destination for UMass students.”

The additional taxpayer funds would have been used toward the endowment and to create a civics course, Meade said.

The two-story, 40,000- square-foot institute will stand adjacent to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum at Columbia Point. It will include a replica of Ted Kennedy’s Washington office, as well as classrooms and a digital library.

“We’re still breaking ground this spring,” said Meade, who added that construction is slated to be completed by 2014.