Posted on 06/02/2007 8:11:59 AM PDT by Politicalmom
While Fred Thompson stole the spotlight from the declared Republican presidential candidates when he all but entered the race this week, the former senator from Tennessee will have a tougher time cutting into their advantages in top staff and cash.
But one of his fledgling campaign’s first staff hires, election lawyer Michael Toner, will help establish the campaign’s fundraising operation.
Should Thompson officially enter the race, Toner is expected to be his general counsel, a vital position for top campaigns. Good general counsels help candidates contract for services, get on state ballots and avoid the bad publicity and fines that come from violating campaign and other laws. The best can give their bosses an edge by developing innovative fundraising or spending strategies that test the outer reaches of campaign rules.
Toner is uniquely equipped to navigate the rules, since he helped write them as a member of the Federal Election Commission from 2002 until March of this year. And representing what could become a top-tier presidential campaign would be a profitable way for Toner to jump-start the election law practice he formed after leaving the commission.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for instance, has paid nearly $80,000 from his campaign so far to his election lawyer, Trevor Potter, who, like Toner, once chaired the FEC.
Federal revolving door laws prohibit Toner from representing Thompson before the commission for one year. But he’ll still be able to share his insider knowledge of the nuances of the rules and the way his former colleagues apply them.
And that’s not the only reason Toner is an important “get” for Thompson.
Thompson will base his decision on whether to run partly on his ability to assemble a campaign team, said his spokesman Mark Corallo. “That’s another part of testing the waters: Can you get a lot of great people who are willing to give up their lives and do this?” said Corallo.
Toner, who established a new election law practice at the firm Bryan Cave LLP after leaving the FEC, was general counsel of President Bush’s campaign in 2000.
Toner’s decision to join Thompson suggested to Corallo that there is more elite talent that has yet to align with anyone in the crowded GOP field. “The right [candidate] can attract top-notch people,” Corallo said.
Thompson is still a long way from a fully operational national campaign, which can require more than 150 staffers with a variety of skills and experience.
But there aren’t many lawyers with what it takes to represent a presidential campaign. “Sen. Thompson has done very well for himself by getting a lawyer of [Toner’s] quality,” said Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias.
A partner at the elite Democratic election law firm Perkins Coie, Elias represented the 2004 presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). This presidential cycle, he’s representing the campaign of Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), while another Perkins Coie partner, Bob Bauer, is onboard with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
Toner declined to comment for this story, but when he left the FEC for Bryan Cave, he told The Politico he intended to build an election law practice patterned after Perkins Coie’s.
Though he hasn’t achieved that yet, representing Thompson could help Toner establish Bryan Cave as one of the go-to Republican firms in the clubby -- and lucrative -- election law industry, in which firms typically represent candidates from one party or the other.
A Politico analysis of Federal Election Commission records show congressional and presidential campaigns from 2000 through 2006 cut checks totaling $8.8 million to the top 15 campaign finance law firms.
Through the first three months of this year, here’s how much the leading presidential candidates have paid their election law firms:
John McCain/R/Caplin & Drysdale (Trevor Potter): $78,812
Rudy Giuliani/R/McDermott, Will & Emery (Bobby Burchfield): $44,040
Mitt Romney/R/Patton Boggs (Ben Ginsberg): $36,211
Barack Obama/D/Perkins Coie (Bob Bauer): $20,000
John Edwards/D/Ryan, Phillips, Utrecht & MacKinnon (Lyn Utrecht): $14,513
Hillary Rodham Clinton/D/Ryan, Phillips, Utrecht & MacKinnon (Lyn Utrecht): $6,400
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Another interesting article, Politicalmom. Thanks!
Interesting that Clinton and Edwards use the same lawyer.
“Ms. Utrecht was Counsel to four of the 2004 presidential primary campaigns (Edwards, Dean, Graham, Moseley Braun), Gore/Lieberman 2000, Clinton/Gore ‘96 and ‘92, the 1992 Harkin for President campaign, and the 1984 Mondale campaign. She has represented numerous Senate campaigns including the Hillary Rodham Clinton for US Senate Committee.”
Sheesh...and look at what they’re paying her. She’d do better renouncing her citizenship and going to work in Nancy Pelosi’s vineyards.
Edwards was widely seen as the Clintonistas’ preferred candidate during the 2000 primaries. It’s probably a big reason why he was selected as Kerry’s running mate.
Make that 2004 primaries, of course..
The Law never bothered the Clintons, so why would they heed it now?
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