[350HP930]

Well, unlike your blog piece the boston globe article was quite good. I find an interesting contrast between your interpretation of what he did while a prosecutor . . .

Originally posted by fintstone
After graduation, he was a prosecutor for almost 3 years, but spent very little time trying criminals….despite his “fighting crime” commercials. Due to his political skills, he was promoted to an administration position only one month after receiving his license (ahead of more seasoned attorneys) to practice and actually only took two felony cases before a jury. What he really did was run the reelection campaign for the current DA who was ailing and whom Kerry hoped to succeed in office. After being reelected, the DA essentially dismissed Kerry in 1978. Fortunately…there were other offices to run for and a rich wife for support.

And what the globe has to say about the same time period . .

For almost 21/2 years in the late 1970s, Kerry guided the transformation of the DA's office. As first assistant to Droney, a wily pol afflicted by Lou Gehrig's disease, he reformed a plodding, hidebound operation.

He became the alter ego of Droney, whose mind was sharp but who suffered impaired speech and mobility as he faced a tough reelection challenge in 1978.

"John Kerry in effect became the legs and voice John Droney no longer had," recalled Peter W. Agnes Jr., then a young lawyer in the office and now a superior court judge. "He provided youth, vitality, and charisma."

With a $3.8 million infusion of federal funds he helped obtain, Kerry nearly tripled the staff, and many of the new hires were women. He launched initiatives that were innovative at the time: special units to prosecute white-collar and organized crime, programs to counsel rape victims and aid other crime victims and witnesses, and a system for fast-tracking priority cases to trial. He also directed the investigation that led to the first conviction of Somerville's Howie Winter, one of the state's notorious gangsters. Despite his administrative duties, Kerry managed to try some cases and won convictions in a high-profile rape case and a murder.

"I won't say everybody loved him, but he was always there and probably the most natural trial lawyer on his feet I ever saw," said J. William Codinha, who succeeded Kerry as first assistant and who remains a close friend.