Rep. Kennedy May Get Key Post With a Little Help From a ‘Friend’

Breaking an unwritten rule against senators’ intervention in the internal affairs of the House, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) has gone to bat for his nephew, Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.), in a hot race for a highly prized seat on the House Appropriations Committee.

Sources close to the senator said that he has made telephone calls to key Democrats on behalf of his nephew, the 36-year-old son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, who has just completed his first term in Congress.

“Joe is going to win it--with a little help from his friend,” the Boston Herald quoted Sen. Kennedy as saying.

Associates of the senator said he made the telephone calls because he has always “been supportive of Joe” in his political career.

The winner will be known next week after House Democrats meet to select leaders and fill committee vacancies created by retirements, deaths and defeats.

The race pits Joseph Kennedy against Rep. Chester G. Atkins, 40, a two-term veteran of the House who was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the Massachusetts Senate before his election to Congress, and Rep. Bruce A. Morrison (D-Conn.), 44, a one-termer.

Under the complex selection procedure, 17 Democratic members of Congress or delegates from the New England states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico will recommend a candidate to fill the seat left vacant by the departure of Rep. Edward P. Boland (D-Mass.).

Their choice almost certainly will be ratified by the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, chaired by Speaker Jim Wright of Texas, who made an early commitment to accept the choice of the region to fill the Boland vacancy.

Joseph Kennedy was reported to be confident of victory on a second ballot, assuming that Morrison will be the low man on the first ballot and will drop out of the contest.

It would take eight other votes, besides his own, for the younger Kennedy to get backing from his region that presumably would be tantamount to final selection by the Steering and Policy group.

A spokesman for Atkins refused to comment on the race or on Sen. Kennedy’s unusual role in it. Morrison could not be reached for comment. Members of Congress, however, customarily refrain from taking any role in committee choices in the other chamber.

Congressional sources said Sen. Kennedy was seeking to influence delegates from Washington, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to support his nephew.

The 57-member Appropriations Committee is one of the most powerful in the House and it normally requires both considerable seniority and highly placed House patrons to win a spot on the panel.