People who know Keven McKenna know he is not a stupid man. Whether or not the Providence attorney, ex-state representative, and Harold Stassen of Providence mayoral races uses good judgment is another question.
Thrice married, McKenna calls himself “pro-family.” He has denied that he was “divorced” from his first wife, Ann B. Morgan. And he is right: he sought (and received) a rarely used District of Columbia “civil annulment.”
McKenna later married Marlene Marcello who ran for state Treasurer, losing to Republican Nancy Meyer. Marcello’s often abrasive style and her husband’s antagonistic manner did not help her candidacy. Keven McKenna’s hometown newspaper, The Westerly Sun, described in a November 1992 opinion piece the native son’s election night tirade outside his wife’s campaign suite at the Providence Biltmore Hotel. As her pounding at the polls became obvious, McKenna allegedly said to members of the press, “Get the fuck out of here before I stone you. I don’t want any sluts from the media here.”
Nice family values talk.
The couple eventually divorced (no civil annulments in Rhode Island, I guess) and Marlene Marcello McKenna faded into political oblivion, fighting serious illness. In 2001, she admitted to stealing $186,200 from clients and pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud.
Keven McKenna, meanwhile, was a serial loser in runs for mayor of Providence. He has also made a career of writing tomes on what he sees as the ignorance and unconstitutional behavior of the Rhode Island judiciary. All this while he practices law daily before the same benches he routinely berates, insults, and dismisses publicly.
McKenna now faces the possibility of jail time for charges of contempt of court. He has refused to pay an $11,000 judgment against him. The fine was imposed by Chief Judge George E. Healy, Jr. of the Workers Compensation Court, who ordered McKenna to pay $400 per week to a former paralegal who accused him of assault.
“They are aiding and abetting a crook,” McKenna said, adding, “I am not paying a crook.”
McKenna also says he is “not in contempt of court. The court is in contempt of court.”
At least he didn’t call the judge a “slut.”
McKenna avoided yuletide jail time and leaving his bride of two months, Sheila A. Bentley (formerly Cianci and once First Lady of Providence) alone for the holidays when state Supreme Court Justice Francis X. Flaherty — full of holiday cheer — granted him a stay of an order of incarceration previously issued by Judge Healy.
Where McKenna will be spending Valentine’s Day is still up for grabs since his self-defeating judgment calls could fill more space than my editor will grant. Suffice to say his innate intelligence is too often (and tragically) held hostage by his dominant “loose cannon” gene.
In the winter of his life, McKenna might want to consider the wisdom of more positively focusing all that energy — for his benefit and for the benefit of those around him. A mind is (still) a terrible thing to waste.
Related:
Split atop the RI Tea Party, 2009 had some redeeming qualities - really, Ready to rumble, More 
- Split atop the RI Tea Party
The Rhode Island Tea Party, a right-wing assemblage best known for its tax day rally against government spending on the State House steps, was until recently run by three women — Colleen Conley, Marina Peterson and, to a lesser degree, Nan Hayden. But no more.
- 2009 had some redeeming qualities - really
Let's get serious: For many Portlanders, 2009 was a crap year.
- Ready to rumble
Last summer, the upcoming race that got most Bay State politicos salivating was the run for governor.
- Finally, a GOP gubernatorial contender!
Speaking of the GOP, it appears the party has a candidate — at last! — for the gubernatorial race, provided he doesn't wimp out like Rory Smith did when he realized he was in a no-win, not-ever situation.
- Library woes
In an attempt to save four Boston Public Library branches that are slated to close due to budget shortfalls, some state legislators from Boston have threatened to block all state funding the library receives if it shutters any of its 26 branches.
- Mayor-Select Marie?
Tom Menino, just a few months into an unprecedented fifth term as Boston’s mayor, has raised eyebrows by hiring State Representative Marie St. Fleur of Dorchester to the newly created, $120,000-a-year position of chief of advocacy and strategic investment.
- GOP’s state convention delivers the bland brand
Massachusetts Republican candidates for office this November might be well-advised to legally change their names and appear on the ballot as “Someone Else,” “Another Option,” or “Available Alternative.”
- Notes from a Borderland
What we learn from immigrants
- Moneybags Menino
Inside Boston’s political back rooms, there is a growing suspicion that Mayor Thomas Menino is sitting on millions of dollars — tens of millions, maybe as much as $400 million — that could be used to save vital city services, such as, among many examples, four branch libraries and eight community centers that are slated to be shuttered.
- Boston tucks away a $125 million windfall
As debate continues over the city’s finances — and whether the city of Boston can afford firefighters’ raises, branch libraries, community-center staffing, and other costs in tight times — the city is planning to quietly tuck away a one-time windfall of more than $125 million.
- The powerless rise
I’m an even-tempered guy. I don’t lose my cool more than, maybe, once or twice a day.
- Less
Topics:
This Just In
, Elections and Voting, Politics, Politics, More
, Elections and Voting, Politics, Politics, Media, Criminal Sentencing and Punishment, Local Politics, Harold Stassen, News, Nation, government, Less
