FUND-RAISING NO-NO

Jean Kennedy Smith, the former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, is fined by the Justice Department for “soliciting a $1 million donation from the Irish prime minister to help fund a program at the Kennedy Center. Smith, who served as ambassador for five years and is a longtime member of the center’s board, violated a federal conflict-of-interest law by making the solicitation in August 1998, near the end of her appointment in Ireland.” – Washington Post 09/23/00

RABBLE-ROUSING

  • Stephen King portrays himself as a giant-killer fighting the publishing industry. “If King’s publishing history were one of enslavement and injustice, you could understand him wanting to disturb the sleep of his persecutors. But Big Publishing just happens to have published, distributed, and marketed 225-million copies of his thirty-eight books, helping to hoist him up the scale of absurdly rich American entertainers.” – Saturday Night (Canada)