Choosing sides: Local lawyers help the presidential campaigns

By Olivia Clarke

David Narefsky first got involved in politics at age 13 when he supported Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

Narefsky stuffed envelopes, and did age-appropriate office work in Humphrey’s campaign office.

Fast-forward about 40 years and Narefsky, now a partner at Mayer Brown, is still involved in presidential campaigns. He assists Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign with fundraising, and provides his expertise on transportation issues.

“I’ve been involved in races at every level,” Narefsky said. “I just feel real strongly about the importance of personal involvement.

“I think it is a critically important election for the country. I really hope people treat it with the seriousness it deserves. The last couple elections have reminded us that every vote really does count.”

This is the first presidential election since 1928 where an incumbent president or vice president did not run in the primary. And this election could turn into a lawyer’s election.

Barnes & Thornburg partners Craig S. Burkhardt and Richard R. Boykin

USA Today reported in September that the three leading presidential candidates in each of the parties have law degrees, and most have practiced law. Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama, and John Edwards; and Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney all went to law school.

These campaigns have enlisted the support of the local legal community. Each leading presidential campaign was contacted about recommendations of local lawyers who are volunteering their time. These lawyers went beyond writing checks, and instead volunteer their legal expertise, and fundraising skills to the cause.

Rudy Giuliani

As a sophomore at the University of Illinois, Craig S. Burkhardt was the college campus coordinator for Jim Thompson when he ran for reelection as Illinois governor in 1978.

Working around the state, Burkhardt met with college students, and helped form students-for-Thompson clubs at the major Illinois ­universities.

Later in life he held different roles, including general counsel for the Illinois Republican Party, and counsel to the Republican Leader of the Illinois House of Representatives.

“Lawyers, by the nature of their profession, are people who are good organizational thinkers. Lawyers traditionally have had a duty to serve not only in providing complimentary legal services, but also in advancing their local community,” said Burkhardt, a partner at Barnes & Thornburg. “Involvement in politics is a natural means by which those duties can be accomplished.”

The White House appointed Burkhardt in 2003 to serve as chief counsel for technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce. He received the additional and concurrent respon­­sibility in 2005 of heading the office of chief counsel for industry and security, also at the Department of Commerce.

Burkhardt and his wife, Barbara posing with Rudy Giuliani, at an event at the firm

During that time he supervised the World Trade Center building collapse investigation, and developed deeper respect for Giuliani because of his leadership as New York City’s mayor.

He met Giuliani in the late ’80s when the politician gave a speech to the Illinois House Republicans, and he saw him again at the ­Republican National Convention in 2002.

“I was there when he gave his speech to the Republicans in 2002,” he said. “It was really dramatic. It was really the most impactful speech of the whole convention. At that point of time I thought that if he ever decided to run [for president], he would be someone I would try to be of assistance to.”

The Giuliani campaign contacted Burk­hardt around February 2007. His leadership in the Republican National Lawyers Association established him as an organizer of Republican lawyers, which, he said, could be why the ­campaign wanted his help.

Now a national vice-chair of Lawyers for Rudy, he helps provide policy advice to the campaign and recruits other lawyers. He’s provided his ideas to the campaign in areas like climate change and election law.

As Midwest chair of Lawyers for Rudy, he has responsibility for helping form, and run the Lawyers for Rudy groups in the Midwest.

“I really believe that it’s an obligation for citizens to identify and promote those candidates that they think would do a good job in political office because it furthers the country, and also enhances the strength of our political system,” he said. “We need good people in politics. Lawyers are privileged to have received their legal education, and are particularly obligated to get involved in the political system.”

While Winston & Strawn Chairman Dan Webb regularly gets involved in local and state politics, he never really participated in presidential politics.

But he has known Giuliani for years. When Giuliani was U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, they became friends. While they haven’t stayed close, Webb said he admired his leadership as mayor, especially during Sept. 11.

Webb now helps raise money for Giuliani’s campaign, and is a member of a national advisory board that offers advice on legal and judicial issues. He gave guidance on the selection of judges, and court system reform. He recently joined Giuliani in Iowa and campaigned with him for the day.

“I honestly believe this nation is at a crossroads, both domestically, and in terms of foreign affairs,” Webb said. “Whoever we elect has to be a true, strong, trusted leader.”

Hillary Clinton

Richard R. Boykin, a partner at Barnes & Thornburg, attended a meeting this summer in Washington D.C. with Clinton and about 10 other people.

Those who attended were undecided about which presidential candidate to support.

Boykin asked Clinton about the state of black men in the United States, and talked about the incarceration rates, health care, and education issues in the black community.

He enjoyed the meeting, and met again with her about a month later. He eventually agreed to help her campaign.

Now the Seventh Congressional District coordinator for the Clinton campaign, he oversees a staff of about 300 volunteers who are encouraging district-wide support for Clinton. He’s also a member of the ­campaign’s Illinois finance team and Illinois steering committee.

“I’m coordinating all the activities for the seventh district for Clinton,” he said. “It ­covers a pretty good geographic area, and I’m obviously working with some talented people who will be assisting in the effort of turning this out for Hillary.”

This is not his first political involvement. As an undergraduate at Central State University in Ohio in 1988, he supported the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s run for the presidency, and participated in a group that rallied student support for Jackson.

He volunteered on both of President Clinton’s presidential campaigns. He was U.S. Rep. Danny Davis’ chief of staff from 1997 to 2006, and his finance chair from 2004 to 2006.

Growing up in the Englewood community, Boykin said, “I would constantly see inequalities with respect to law enforcement and the way they treated people in the community. Law is something I want to use as a tool to ­actually change the world and make things a little bit better,” he said.

“My dad, at an early age I would see him every morning reading the newspaper and looking at the news. I sort of got inspired. The guy who really inspired me in politics is the late Harold Washington. He really galvanized me and motivated me. I really liked what he was doing in terms of trying to turn the city around.”

Boykin introduces Hillary Clinton at a firm reception honoring the senator.

Lee Miller, joint chief executive officer of DLA Piper, became involved in politics as a student at Georgetown University, but drifted away from it over the years.

Two of his friends encouraged him to get involved in politics again, he said.

Miller attended several dinners where Clinton was present, and developed tremendous respect for her. He now co-chairs a lawyers committee that tries to enlist other lawyers’ support for Clinton.

“I think it is important for people to be ­involved in this election cycle,” Miller said. “It is very much a bi-partisan commitment in the firm, and it’s really a personal commitment.

“The firm supports it because it is important that national and global firms like ours are tied to the community locally, nationally, and globally. We look at it as a matter of social responsibility.”

Fred Thompson

James J. Stamos said lawyers have the ability to offer their expertise to political campaigns, without sacrificing too much of their time.

Volunteering on a campaign gives people a more concrete way to be part of the process than just writing a check, said Stamos, a partner at Stamos & Trucco.

Stamos was one of the lawyers who helped manage the anti-fraud vote effort in 1983 for Richard M. Daley’s mayoral campaign.

Each lawyer supervised five wards where they feared voter fraud could occur, he said. He would help with similar efforts in later campaigns in the ’80s.

“It was actually a great thrill, and we probably succeeded in making Harold Washington mayor,” he said, referring to the 1983 election.

He participated in John Glenn’s presidential run in 1984 as a counsel to the campaign, and worked on Joe Biden’s and Bob Kerrey’s campaigns in the ’80s and early ’90s, respectively.

He assists Thompson’s campaign with the management of its petition drive. But he said he is only one person among many people who are helping.

Illinois is a very difficult state for a presidential candidate to get on the ballot, Stamos said.

And petitions are very easy to do incorrectly, unless experienced people assist with the process. The State Board of Elections is also very helpful, he said.

When asked what he wants to accomplish by volunteering, he said, “I hope I help my candidate win. That’s really it.”

Barack Obama

Bob Rivkin said many lawyers are inspired to get involved in something greater than themselves, and the day-to-day activities of their careers.

“I think a lot of folks of my generation, I’m in my 40s, became lawyers not to become a specialist in corporate debt, or bankruptcy, or even intellectual property, but to serve some larger mission that history and the U.S. has shown lawyers have been able to serve,” said Rivkin, a vice president and deputy general counsel for Aon Corp.

He and his wife have known Obama and his wife, Michelle, since the early ’90s, and they’ve supported the politician since his first campaign for public office.

He now serves on Obama’s national finance committee, and helped set up some of the campaign’s policy development groups. He and other Obama supporters plan to head to Iowa around New Year’s to gear up for the Jan. 3 caucus.

The campaign has a good professional staff that must deal not only with its marquee ­issues, but also the issues of the day and sometimes make rapid responses, Rivkin said.

“But that leaves a lot of issues that [Obama] will need to deal with, and there are not enough resources to deal with them solely by his internal staff,” he said. “The campaign has set up a whole series of policy committees.”

Kirkland & Ellis Senior Partner Jack S. Levin does not align himself with a party, but instead chooses candidates with a strong intellect, good judgment, and experience.

When Levin was on the Harvard Law School Visiting Committee, he met and talked with Obama, who was then attending Harvard. Alumni serving on the committee don’t typically interact with students, but people were talking about Obama’s skills, he said.

Their paths crossed again when they both taught at the University of Chicago.

And as a state senator, Obama sponsored bills designed to bring more venture capital and entrepreneurial business to the state.

When the Illinois Venture Capital Association hosted a dinner and gave Levin a lifetime achievement award, Obama presented the award to Levin because they both attended Harvard and were on the Harvard Law Review.

Levin later agreed to support Obama’s U.S. Senate run.

“I gave fundraisers at the law firm, and my home,” Levin said. “In those days it was very comical. In those days, I could invite 100 people, and we were lucky to get 50 to come because nobody had ever heard of Barack Obama. He was the unknown guy with the funny name.”

When Obama announced he was running for president, Levin agreed to serve on his ­finance committee, and he offers policy advice to the campaign.

“All of this is not because he is a Democrat,” he said. “All of this is because I think he is the best candidate, by far, for this job. I reserve the right to support Democrats, Republicans, or Independents - whoever I believe is the best. Neither party has a monopoly on intelligence and ability.

“Look at the number of candidates on both the Democratic and Republican sides. It is shocking what a free-for-all it is. It is very hard for the public to see the talent. Amidst the tremendous clutter, it is hard to pick out the few shining stars.”

Mayer Brown Partner John Schmidt met Obama in late 1991 when Obama ran a voter registration drive that focused on the minority community. Schmidt chaired the drive’s financial efforts.

Schmidt supported him during each of his political campaigns, and now helps with fundraising as a member of this campaign’s national finance committee. He also co-chairs the campaign’s national lawyers committee.

The first political campaign he got involved in was Gene McCarthy’s 1968 presidential campaign. He also assisted Paul Simon’s presidential run in 1988, and in 1992 co-chaired the Illinois finance committee for Bill Clinton’s campaign.

“It is a satisfying experience to be supporting somebody you believe in,” he said.

“It’s an absolutely unique office in this country. You have only one national office holder. I think the president has more impact on national life than any other single public office holder by a long shot.”

Mitt Romney

Kirkland Partner Richard Porter decided to help raise money for Romney’s presidential run, but he said he doesn’t hold any illusions that he plays an important advisory role in his campaign.

“The reality is that presidential campaigns are actually each a small business,” Porter said. “There are never more than a few people who work closely with the candidate or who have any significant influence over the direction of the campaign.”

Prior to this campaign, he worked for President George H.W. Bush’s 1988 campaign as the chief domestic policy writer.

After he won, Porter served at the Treasury, and then as special assistant to Bush and executive secretary of the Domestic Policy Council from 1990 to 1991. He also was counselor to Vice President Dan Quayle from 1992 to 1993.

He and several members of his firm helped Romney in 1994 when he ran against Ted Kennedy for the U.S. Senate, and some of Porter’s fellow partners work with Bain Capital, which Romney co-founded.

“I still feel it is really important to get the right people in office, even though my expectation for how much the world is going to change is relatively low,” Porter said.

“We live in a dangerous world, and it is ­essential that we get people in office who will keep our country safe and won’t mess up the economy in the process.”

Ty Fahner, a partner and former chair of Mayer Brown, said he decided a couple months ago to help rally support and raise money for Romney’s campaign.

Two friends of his - Terry Graunke, a principal at Lake Capital, and Dan Rutherford, a state senator - help run the campaign and encouraged him to support Romney.

“I suppose that I spend maybe 10 to 15 hours a week raising money, not only for Gov. Romney, but also for the Illinois Republican Party because I am the finance chairman of the Illinois Republican Party,” he said. “So I wear two different hats.”

Fahner said he’s attended every Republican National Convention since 1980, except for one because he was involved in a trial at the same time.

“The stakes are so big these days,” Fahner said. “Everything that touches a lawyer’s life, from pro bono to health care to representation of corporations, you want to know how the person leading the country feels about all of this because they are going to set the tone.

“I think that everyone should be involved. If they want to stand up and say what’s right or wrong with our country, then they should be involved.”

Joe Biden

Todd A. Smith, a name partner of Power Rogers & Smith, has helped Biden’s different campaigns, off and on, for about 20 years.

Now co-chair of Biden’s national finance committee, Smith said, raising money can be challenging with the number of candidates, and the media’s focus on certain politicians.

Involved in politics since the ’70s, he volun­teered for State Sen. John Cullerton’s state representative campaign in 1978, and went door-to-door handing out literature. And in 2004 he knocked on doors in support of former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, who was running for reelection.

Smith said participating in campaigns continues to be an exciting experience.

“If you are going to have any input beyond your vote, maybe actually be heard by these folks, ask them questions, get them to commit on issues, find out where they stand, and maybe get them to think twice,” Smith said, “you have to be involved beyond your vote.”

John D. Cooney, a partner at Cooney & Conway, got to know Biden in 2004 when the U.S. Senate’s judiciary committee wanted to pass a bill that Cooney believed would hurt his clients who suffer from asbestos-related injuries.

As a member of the committee, Biden spoke out against aspects of the bill during committee hearings and on the floor of the Senate, Cooney said. And he introduced an amendment to the bill.

Cooney said he’s been a supporter of Biden’s run for the presidency from the very beginning.

When he was considering running, Cooney and about four other people met with Biden at his Delaware home and talked about the philosophical aspects and practical realities of running for president.

He is raising money for Biden’s campaign, and reaching out to lawyers nationwide and telling them about the candidate.

“I think it is unbelievable that any lawyer is not involved in politics, regardless of their politics,” he said.

“We’ve chosen as our profession the study of law, and the practice of law. To not be involved in the process that makes the law seems to be preposterous,” he said.

“Who knows better than lawyers how the law affects people? Who has better insight than those who have seen the law in action?”

John McCain

Winston & Strawn Partner Rich William­son has been a personal friend of McCain’s for about 20 years.

Williamson provides McCain’s campaign with advice on foreign policy issues. He, for example, recently spoke with him about Sudan and Darfur. And he is running as a delegate for McCain.

“Like any presidential campaign, there are ups and downs and unexpected twists,” William­son said. “But we are still in the opening act. It is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Williamson held numerous positions, including serving as Ambassador and U.S. Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights; Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs; and Assistant to the President for ­Inter­governmental Affairs during the Ronald Reagan administration.

He was also chair of the Illinois Republican Party.

Lawyers are involved in the narrative of the nation, Williamson said, and “I think who the leader of the free world is, particularly now at this time with terrorist threats and the challenges from Iran’s nuclear breakout, is important not only for me but for my children, and it will be important for their children’s children.”