CONFESSIONS OF PATRICK THE SAILOR MAN

Kennedy Pokes Fun At Annual R.I. Roast

WASHINGTON - In a performance making Boston's raucous St. Patrick's Day
political breakfast look tame, US Representative Patrick Kennedy last week
keynoted a Rhode Island political roast in which he joked about his cocaine
use, his boating problems, and the backside of a Boston television reporter
he dated.

The Rhode Island Democrat, son of US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, told a
crowd of more than 500 at the 28th Annual Providence Follies the pressure
had been lifted from him now that US Senator Lincoln Chafee had been
elected. The son of the late US Senator John Chafee, like Kennedy, has
admitted past cocaine use.

''Now when I hear someone talking about a Rhode Island politician whose
father was a senator and who got to Washington based on his family name,
used cocaine, and wasn't very smart, I know there's only a 50-50 chance
it's me,'' Kennedy said. A story about the Feb. 23 performance was
published in the Capitol Hill newspaper ''Roll Call,'' and Kennedy's staff
confirmed its accuracy yesterday.

Turning to the subject of his former girlfriend, WHDH-TV (Channel 7)
reporter Caterina Bandini, the congressman joked that if he was going to be
accused of kissing the media's butt, ''it might as well have been a nice ass.''

Kennedy also poked fun at reports of allegations he had damaged rental
boats and of the Coast Guard rescuing an unhappy woman guest on one of his
trips.

Kennedy, who was the evening's surprise, final guest, arrived dressed in a
sailor's uniform escorting a woman on each arm. He opened and closed with
political renditions of the ''Gilligan's Island'' theme and ''Popeye the
Sailor Man,'' which he changed to ''Patrick the Sailor Man.''

Kennedy spokesman Larry Berman said the performance, held at Venus de Milo
restaurant in Swansea, Mass., ''was all a spoof. It was all done in good fun.''

Jeff Neal, a spokesman for Chafee, said the Republican senator agreed.
Chafee admitted in 1999 that he had used marijuana and cocaine in college
amid questions about alleged drug use by President Bush.

''It was all in the spirit of what the Providence Follies are all about,''
Neal said. The annual event is organized by The Providence Journal's
editorial union to raise money for scholarships.

Bandini was on a day off yesterday and could not be reached.

While Kennedy biographer Darrell West told Roll Call the cocaine joke was
Kennedy's first public admission of his cocaine use, the congressman told
the Globe for an article in June 1999 that he began to abuse cocaine and
alcohol as a teenager at Phillips Academy in Andover, after his parents'
divorce. He eventually entered a rehabilitation program in Spofford, N.H.
In the interview, he attributed his problem to the pressures of growing up,
particularly as a Kennedy.

Berman said the congressman developed his routine with help from Charlie
Hall, a Rhode Island comedian, and did not believe the jokes to be in poor
taste.

''Patrick's been pretty much widely praised for being a good sport,''
Berman said. ''He was just making light of what he and Lin Chafee have
already admitted.''