01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, May 7, 2006

BY GREGORY SMITH
Journal Staff Writer

From East Woonsocket to East Providence, it seems that almost everyone you meet knows all about U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy's problems with drinking, prescription drugs and driving.

In a smattering of interviews yesterday in his congressional district, average citizens were willing to cut him slack.

"At least he's telling the truth about it and that means a lot. He's not hiding it," said Edith Benoit, 71, of East Providence. "You've got to give him credit for that."

Said Steven Fairley, of Woonsocket, "He's human just like the rest of us. . . . We all have issues."

When asked about Kennedy outside the Sears store at Walnut Hill Plaza in East Woonsocket, shoppers smiled and nodded, or frowned, in recognition of Patrick Kennedy, the hot news story.

"We all make mistakes," allowed Louis Conca, 85 and a voter, of Woonsocket.

Kennedy is suffering in his private life, and that should not reflect on his public life, said Edgar Oliveira, of Woonsocket, a voter.

But not everyone was unconditionally forgiving of Kennedy, who has been in and out of drug rehabilitation and allegedly was given special treatment when he crashed his car into a security barrier in Washington, D.C.

"I think there can't be more coverups," declared Patricia Tsouvalos, of Woonsocket, a voter. "Hopefully he does get help," but "I think he needs to have due process and be accountable."

Added Oliveira, "They say, three strikes and you're out."

A North Smithfield resident, Anne Poirier, thinks enough is enough.

"I don't empathize one bit," she said. "He's had a silver spoon in his mouth for far too long. . . . It's a little amazing. Has he ever really had a job?"

At the other end of the parking lot, in front of the Shaw's supermarket, John Rotatori of Woonsocket, a voter, wants Kennedy to stay in office.

"It was pretty courageous of him to come out and admit" what should be a private matter, Rotatori said as he loaded groceries into the bed of his pickup truck.

"We all have problems that we deal with day to day," he said.

Some said that the Democratic congressman's admitted addiction is just another manifestation of a curse that has visited misfortune on a Kennedy family otherwise blessed with wealth and fame.

"That's what everybody says, the Kennedys are cursed," said Isabel Monteiro of Pawtucket, who was about to enter the Marshalls store on Taunton Avenue in East Providence.

Said Benoit, who also was shopping, "It's too bad because they've had a lot of trouble, a lot of tragedy."

Benoit, a widow who has been a poll worker and a school lunch worker, had her picture taken with Kennedy and a coworker in the lunch program when Kennedy visited the school. She is worried about ever-higher apartment rents and expects that she probably will vote for Kennedy again.

"We'll see how he makes out, whether he stays sincere," she said.

Bob Ready, of Providence, who also said he votes, admires the Kennedys' achievements.

But he cautioned, "At the end of the day I think we're all judged by our individual actions. . . . The elections will allow the people to make a decision whether he should stay in office."

Monteiro, whose grandmother had a picture of John F. Kennedy hanging on the wall of her house in Cape Verde, where Monteiro grew up, said of Patrick Kennedy, "He's a good person. He's got a good heart."

Monteiro, a Democrat, said she would vote for Kennedy again.

"I can't afford to be a Republican," she declared.

gsmith@projo.com / (401) 277-7334