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Egan, Kennedy confrontation set for Friday

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Ray O’Hanlon

Richard Egan, the troubled Bush White House selection to be the next U.S. ambassador to Ireland, is to meet with Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy Friday to discuss their views on the Northern Ireland peace process.

Kennedy has voiced doubts over Egan’s qualifications for the Dublin job and his concerns have been echoed by fellow Senate Democrats Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Joe Biden of Delaware.

Egan’s required confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has also been put on hold due to a probe by the Federal Election Commission into Egan’s political contributions in 1999 and 2000.

"Senator Kennedy is looking forward to having a chance to sit down and discuss the issues with Mr. Egan," Kennedy spokesman Jim Manley told the Echo.

Mark Fredrickson, vice president for corporate communications at Egan’s Massachusetts-based EMC Corporation, echoed Manley’s sentiment.

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"A lot of stabs have been taken by the press at trying to work out why there might be a problem with Mr. Egan’s nomination. Dick himself is not speculating," Fredrickson told the Echo.

"But he is looking forward to sitting down with Senator Kennedy and getting the [confirmation] process going. He [Egan] has complied with all that was asked of him by the White House and State Department and is really looking forward to getting over to Ireland."

The meeting between Egan and Kennedy is set for Washington, D.C., Friday morning.

The FEC probe, meanwhile, would appear to be grounded in Egan’s generosity to politicians in both main parties, although primarily the GOP.

The Boston Globe reported that Egan’s political contributions during last year’s various election campaigns exceeded the limit laid down by the FEC.

An individual is allowed contribute up to $25,000 in any one calendar year under federal law.

The Globe reported that Egan contributed a total of $85,100 in what it called the 1999-2000 election cycle. That total was made up of $27,000 in contributions in 1999 and $58,100 last year.

It is not uncommon for contributors to exceed campaign guidelines by small sums, but Egan’s contributions to various politicians and election committees did go well beyond the legal bounds.

Some of the money has already been returned by the GOP and it is expected that once explanations are forthcoming, and more money presumably returned, that Egan’s problems with the FEC will end.

His political problems on Capitol Hill, however, are entirely separate.

Sen. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, confirmed to the Boston Globe that it was going to take a "little time" to look into Egan’s contributions records.

"Until it’s settled with the FEC, we don’t move on nominees," Biden said.

But Biden also expressed his concerns about Egan as ambassador to Ireland in the context of the peace process. In doing so, Biden is in lockstep with Kennedy and Dodd, who, unlike Kennedy, is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Dodd last week issued a statement saying that Northern Ireland was at a critically important crossroads and that made the post of U.S. ambassador to Ireland "tremendously important."

Dodd said he would reserve judgment on Egan’s nomination until he had "a chance to examine Mr. Egan’s record and qualifications in greater detail and to learn about the nominee’s views on U.S.-Irish affairs."

Dodd later added that he was not yet satisfied that Egan would bring to the position of U.S. ambassador "all the tools he needs."

Kennedy’s office has similarly reserved its position. Kennedy has not moved to openly place a block in Egan’s path, but his apparent reservations have been widely reported.

What is actually the root of those reservations remains unclear and this has led to much press speculation.

The Globe cited possible pique on Kennedy’s part given that Egan failed to make a courtesy call after President Bush nominated the 65-year-old billionaire to the Dublin post in March.

There have been suggestions that Kennedy is reminding fellow Democrats that he is the natural leader of Irish America on Capitol Hill and that the way to demonstrate this is to target the Bush White House policy on Ireland.

Such a view is, it could be argued, backed up by Sen. Biden’s assertion that Northern Ireland has fallen off the Bush administration’s radar screen. Kennedy and Biden are politically close, as are Kennedy and Dodd.

Another view is that Kennedy is angry over the fact that Egan donated money to the libertarian candidate for Senate in Massachusetts during last year’s election campaign.

The question of money does loom large, and not just because of the FEC investigation. Egan, though he has donated to both Democrats and Republicans, is most of all a highly significant six-figure GOP fund-raiser.

Democrats he has contributed to include Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, Rep. Martin Meehan and the late Rep. Joe Moakley.

His contribution to these politicians were in the range of $1,000 each. Kerry received two such donations in recent years.

Another Democrat listed on the FEC web page as having received a donation from Egan is Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Sen. Kennedy’s son. Patrick Kennedy’s received sum of $200 was, however, the lowest amount donated by Egan to any candidate, according to FEC records.

Egan, meanwhile, enjoys strong backing from the White House, while a number of leading Irish-American business figures in Massachusetts, including Tom Flatley and John Cullinane, have spoken out in support of his nominiation in recent days.

Egan’s spokesman, Mark Fredrickson, further defended Egan with regard to his knowledge about Ireland.

"Dick is a voracious student and a legendary reader and is taking this nomination very seriously," he said.

Egan’s computer data storage company, EMC, is based in Hopkinton, Mass. and is worth an estimated $9 billion. Egan is chairman emeritus of the company but is still actively involved in its operations.

The company has a plant outside Cork that employs 1,600 people, a fact that has also raised questions as to whether there might be a conflict of interest between Richard Egan, diplomat, and Richard Egan, businessman.

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