Riverkeeper drowning?
RIVERKEEPER — the environmental group Robert F. Kennedy Jr. championed for 33 years — is said to be struggling to raise money now that he’s quit.
Tickets to the May 17 Fishermen’s Ball fund-raiser at Chelsea Piers — bumped up to $1,250 from last year’s price of $1,000 — aren’t selling well, sources said.
“People bought tickets . . . because of Robert Kennedy Jr., to see him and his famous friends and hear him speak,” said one longtime supporter. “Without him, there is no reason to go.” The benefit, which has drawn the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Yoko Ono and Arnold Schwarzenegger, is honoring Alec Baldwin this year, but “Mr. Baldwin’s attendance is subject to change,” the group’s Web site says. “Bobby wrangled all the celebrities. It was really a glamor- ous, A-list event,” another regular attendee said. “It’s not going to be the same.”
A Riverkeeper spokesman said, “We are finding revenue tracking similar to last year, and we’re looking forward to yet another fantastic event.”
Kennedy, 63, who lives in California with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, resigned in March as the group’s chief prosecuting attorney, saying, “The weekly commute has been hard on my family to say nothing of my carbon footprint.”
The father of six has been dealing with parenting issues. Last year, daughter Kyra, 21, was shipped off to a strict boarding school in Italy after partying at Coachella, and son
Conor, 22, was arrested for brawling outside an Aspen, Colo., club. Anne Hearst, who left the board two years ago because of “time restraints,” told me, “I remain a big supporter.”