A Kennedy Campaign Conundrum
Believe it or not, the race I think I will enjoy watching the most this election season may also be the one I least enjoy, the Marion County Prosecutor’s race. As you know Republican incumbent Carl Brizzi will face Democratic challenger Melina Kennedy. Both are smart, capable attorneys as I have written before. And we pundits have labeled this as the one of the most important races in Indiana this year. There are very high stakes involved and no candidate can afford too much of a screw up. And while I don’t think what I am about to write will derail the Kennedy campaign, this certainly won’t help.
One of the big criticisms against Kennedy is her experience, or lack thereof, in trying cases. She has a lot of policy experience, but not a lot of flight time in the courtroom. And a check of the Indiana Roll of Attorneys only adds to that problem for the Democrat. Allow me to explain. An attorney can only practice in Indiana if they are considered to be on the “active” roll. An attorney on “inactive” status cannot practice law. An attorney remains on active status by paying their annual dues ($105), taking the proper amount of Continuing Legal Education classes (CLEs) and not doing anything unethical and getting disbarred. A notice goes out to attorneys in August that they have to pay their bar dues by October 1, or pay a late fee to be returned to active status.
The potential problem for Kennedy is that for nearly nine months, September 18, 2004 through June 6, 2005, Kennedy was on the inactive list. She left the Mayor’s office in September 2005, created an exploratory committee for prosecutor in October 2005 and officially field for prosecutor on February 1, 2006. Kennedy would not have been able to legally serve as prosecutor one year prior to forming her exploratory committee.
Usually when attorneys go on “inactive” status it is because they leave the state, the profession or have committed some misconduct. Sometimes, like me earlier this year, they forget to pay their registration fee. They send in a check and get back on the list. I sent mine after getting the letter in the mail and am in good standing in the State of Illinois. To the best of my knowledge, none of those circumstances apply to Kennedy, which makes the nine-month absence rather odd. Why would someone who is considering running for Prosecutor, who knows experience will be an issue, take a nearly nine-month absence from the active list? She was still in the Mayor’s office while inactive. While she could not practice law, she was still a key aide to Mayor Peterson in the area of economic development.
Kennedy did become a mother in January, but many women have children and maintain their law license and never go on the inactive rolls. This will likely be a major campaign issue. It goes to the issue of experience and it also poses some questions as to why would Kennedy go on the inactive list and renew four months before forming a committee to explore running for County Prosecutor? She had been rumored to be a candidate for months to challenge Brizzi. One could speculate that she was planning to leave the profession and take up motherhood, but was later convinced by the powers that be to run for prosecutor so she renewed her license. But that’s speculation.
I asked the Kennedy camp about this entire situation this afternoon. The response from campaign manager Andy Miller and spokesman Tim Moriarty was essentially, “It doesn’t matter.” They maintain that Kennedy’s work in the Mayor’s office fighting domestic violence and promoting economic development are experience enough. They also point to her work on the State Supreme Court and the fact she is in good standing now. They argue Kennedy’s experience speaks for itself and they don’t see how not being able to practice law for close to nine months is an issue.
While the Democrats don’t think it’s an issue, the Republicans will likely make it one. Marion County GOP Chairman Mike Murphy said “the nine-month lapse reveals Kennedy was not serious about being prosecutor or a lawyer.” This is just the beginning.
I doubt if this issue will kill her campaign, but it won’t go away and it definitely doesn’t help, unless you’re talking about her opponent. If I were the Melina Kennedy, I would use a better argument than “it doesn’t matter” because trust me, it will.
