His first appearance after 28 days of rehabiltation at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic for drug and alcohol abuse is at a Brown University conference on addiction and mental illness.

12:16 AM EDT on Tuesday, June 6, 2006

BY JOHN E. MULLIGAN
Journal Washington Bureau

PROVIDENCE -- Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy was greeted with warm ovations and thorny questions yesterday during his first public appearance since the pre-dawn car crash that drove him into treatment last month for alcohol and drug abuse.

The forum, Kennedy noted more than once, was almost too fitting for coincidence: a Brown University conference on addiction and mental illness that the congressman had helped to organize long before his May 4 crash.

Kennedy, 38, made a speech at Brown's Salomon Center after concluding 28 days of rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic's addiction center in Minnestota. Then he faced reporters across College Green at Faunce House.

The Rhode Island Democrat emphasized that he has embraced the "one-day-at-a-time" approach to recovery from addiction that was pioneered by Alcholics Anonymous.

"I recognize that 'concluded' is not a word that I'll ever be able to use when it comes to my aftercare," he said.

Kennedy also emphasized his willingness to face the legal consequences of the accident in which he drove his Mustang convertible into a security barrier after taking prescription sleeping pills and stomach-ache drugs.

Kennedy, clad in a navy suit, royal blue shirt and red tie, spoke for roughly 35 minutes, and answered questions for just over 30 minutes. His speech, attended by Rep. James R. Langevin and Democratic Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse, in clear and forceful terms, was frequently interrupted by applause from the mental-health professionals in attendance.

Kennedy sought to make the point that his struggle with mental illness and alcohol and drug abuse have much in common with the those of millions of similarly afflicted Americans.

Kennedy, a self-described pain-pill abuser and binge drinker for most of his adult life, left the Mayo Clinic late Friday and spent the weekend with family members in suburban Washington.

That experience produced a poignant moment during yesterday's news conference when Kennedy described the simple joys of playing "sharks and minnows" in the pool with the young children of his sister, Kara Kennedy Allen, and some of his cousins.

"I just wouldn't have enjoyed that" during the active throes of his addiction, Kennedy said.

Kennedy described some of the steps he has undertaken to ensure that this recovery -- he "relapsed" after a stint at Mayo over the Christmas holidays -- is successful.

He said, for example, that House colleague Jim Ramstad, a Minnesota Republican, a long-recovering alcoholic, has agreed to be his sponsor in recovery.

Kennedy also said he intended to "90 in 90," as members of AA and other 12-step programs refer to attending 90 meetings in 90 days.

Kennedy was greeted yesterday by a full-page advertisement in The Providence Journal that expressed support from members of the state's medical, mental-health and drug-abuse treatment communities. Several politicians were among the 50 signers of the ad.

Kennedy, who plans to return to a full schedule in Congress today, spoke in a clear, forceful voice at both events yesterday. He appeared to be at ease with the task of reporting on the state of his addiction to a roomful of medical experts on the topic -- and, later, to a battery of cameras and reporters.

But he portrayed some possible signs of stress: a slight tremor of the hand, a few beads of sweat on his upper lip, some contradictions in his responses to questions.

Early in the news conference at Faunce House on Brown's College Green, for example, Kennedy pointedly declined to state in clear terms whether he has an alcohol problem.

"I have trouble with anything mood-altering," he said.

But later, Kennedy dropped his guard on the drinking issue. "I'm confirming," he said, that "I've had alcoholism and addiction."

Kennedy sounded another note of ambiguity on the potentially serious legal issue of whether he consumed alcohol on the night of his accident.

"I was not drinking that night," Kennedy said flatly at one point, citing what he described as the testimony to "prosecutors" of an unnamed female friend who was with him for much of the night.

But Kennedy alluded to, and then minimized, the report of an unnamed waitress that had served him drinks. "The most she served me, if she did, was one drink."

Kennedy was asked later if he is certain that he did not drink during a night of a car crash that he cannot remember.

"I'm positive," Kennedy said, that "alcohol was not involved in my accident."

"It doesn't matter" whether he was impaired by alcohol or drugs, Kennedy said. "I fully expect to accept any charge on, you know, driving while intoxicated because it's the same thing."

Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the Capitol Police declined to disclose any details about the investigation of Kennedy's accident, except that it is continuing.

In the end, Kennedy suggested by word and demeanor, his first day back in the world was much the same uneasy blend that any addict or alcoholic must face.

He still has to face the consequences of his accident, among other challenges, Kennedy said, but he will face them full of the spiritual hopes that he nurtured during his time at the clinic.

Kennedy said it has become clear to him that there is "a divine spiritual power that's at work" in his life and evident in the fact that he helped set up the Brown seminar more than a year ago. "And it so happens that I come back from rehab after 28 days of treatment and the first event that I have is my conference on addiction and mental health?

"I mean it's a little too close to be total coincidence."

HEAR Rep. Patrick Kennedy's speech at the Brown conference yesterday, and look back at coverage of his car accident and its aftermath, at:

http://projo.com/pkennedy

jmulligan@belo-dc.com / (202) 661-8423