b"SPECIAL FEATUREKennedy, right, with former Jewelers Mutual CEOsubsequently gone to federal prison for his Ron Harder on a Jewelers Mutual agent reward trip to Ketchikan, Alaska, in 1993 misconduct. They were just a bad bunch of people, a very bad bunch of people. After five years at the State Commission of Investigation, Kennedy followed his boss to the New York City Department of Inves-tigation (DOI), where he served as assistant commissioner.Though his job was mainly administrative, his diplomatic naturea personality signature to this dayearned him the thankless task of aiding in background checks on government officials and interviewing them about the results, asking questions like, why havent you paid federal income taxes in five years? You would sometimes find very bad things, and then you would have to talk to them about it and they didnt like this at all, Kennedy recalls, laughing. They absolutely did not like this. It was the early 90s by this point and Ken-He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issue,nedy was still living on the Upper West Side with his wife and two young which at that time included a Democratic senator from Pennsyl- sons. He had to live in New York City proper in order to keep working vania named Joe Biden, and served on a Congressional Advisoryfor the DOI but was finding it increasingly difficult financially. Committee on the issue.Plus, the city was in the midst of a budget crisis and the depart-He also was frequently quoted in Computerworld and Sciencement was forced to let go of one-third of its staff, an unpleasant Magazine, all tasks that, in retrospect, were a perfect warmup forexperience that signaled to him that it was time to move on, again. the duties he would fulfill at JSA a decade later. When I left, or was planning on leaving, the New York City De-Kennedy liked the job but the Scientists Institute for Publicpartment of Investigation, in talking to my commissioner, she want-Information, couldnt really pay the bills after a while. They haded to help me get my next job. We were talking and she said, What financial issues, so it was time for me to move on. would you want to do? and I said, Id like to run a small nonprofit After the nonprofit institute, he gave academic life a try, workingand if it could deal with crime, that would be perfect. as chairman of the criminal justice department at Jersey City StateSo, there you go. That its, Kennedy says. There wouldnt be College (now New Jersey City University), but ultimately found itmany jobs like that in the whole world, but I got one of them so Im too repetitive. happy with it. From there, he took a job as assistant counsel at the New York State Commission of Investigation, a now-defunct agency that spe- ANOTHER NONPROFIT OPPORTUNITY cialized in government corruption.Kennedy first learned of the Jewelers Security Alliance through a The most high-profile case Kennedy workedContinued on page 56on was the investigation of misconduct by the police and district attorney in Suffolk County in the 80s, which Newsday once described as the most turbulent era for county law enforcement. The commissions investigation culminated in a 200-page report that ultimately spurred then-Governor Mario Cuomo into action. It was semi-successful in that the governor appointed a special prosecutor to go after the people, Kennedy says. The special prosecu-tor, they really didnt want to go after them though. It was like a political issue and I was really triggered. But ultimately, the [Suffolk County] DA resigned and his minions who worked for him, one of them became the DA and that person has 54 RETAILER HALL OF FAME 2024 Kennedy, right, with the late Helen Buck, JSA's longtime office manager and director of member services"