Kennedy declines to make financial disclosure

Carolyn Kennedy (pictured) who has asked New York Governor David Paterson to appoint her to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton, is declining to provide a variety of basic data, including companies she has a stake in and whether she has ever been charged with a crime.

If she were running for election to the Senate, Ms. Kennedy would have to file a 10-part, publicly available report disclosing her financial assets, credit card debts, mortgages, book deals and the sources of any payments greater than $5,000 in the last three years.

Ms. Kennedy declined on Monday to reply to those and other questions posed by The New York Times about any potential ethical, legal and financial entanglements. Through a spokesman, she said she would not disclose that kind of information unless and until she becomes a senator.

But several ethics experts, good-government advocates and scholars, who called Ms. Kennedy’s situation highly unusual — because of her overt pursuit of the job, her celebrity and her lack of previous political experience — urged her to reveal information on her finances now, if only for appearances’ sake.

Some wonder if Ms. Kennedy’s unwillingness to disclose personal information suggests she lacks the stomach for the kind of intrusive questions that could come her way as a candidate in 2010.

So far she is unwilling to answer reporters questions.

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