I was watching some of last night's Democratic presidential debate when I heard Hillary Clinton take John Edwards to task for receiving lots of donations from (gasp!) trial lawyers. It was then that it occurred to me that all three of the Democratic candidates debating were lawyers. Clinton practiced at the Rose firm in Arkansas. Edwards was a North Carolina trial attorney who obtained a number of big verdicts and settlements for his clients, most notably $25M for a three-year-old who was disemboweled by the suction of a pool drain. Barack Obama was a lawyer in Chicago, where he represented community organizers and handled voting-rights cases. He became a constitutional law lecturer at the University of Chicago and a state senator.
Two out of the three went to Ivy League law schools -- Clinton (Yale) and Obama (Harvard). Edwards went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In any event, it was a spirited debate. Since it's a political topic, I won't weigh in too deeply. It's just as well, anyway. I kept flicking between the debate and "The Lobotomist" -- the PBS "American Experience" airing that night on the controversial father of the lobotomy operation. I don't know if public television purposely ran something about lobotomies opposite a presidential debate -- but the irony was not lost on me. I was tempted to give them a piece of my mind ...
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Lawyers seeking council seats are rare
Right or wrong, people tend to presume that most political candidates are or were lawyers. That’s probably because most of the presidential candidates in both parties have a current or past legal practice.
But what about at the more grass-roots level of city council candidacy? A look at the 30 candidates vying for the 14 open council seats in various Ramsey County wards next Tuesday shows only one attorney: Kennedy & Graven shareholder Chuck Long, who’s running in Falcon Heights.
The rest of the candidates come from a wide variety of industries, with a lot of small-business owners included in the mix. The council level of politics still seems to be the domain of the concerned citizen, regardless of his or her professional background.
Does this mean lawyers tend not to become interested in running for office until the stakes get a little – or a lot – higher?
But what about at the more grass-roots level of city council candidacy? A look at the 30 candidates vying for the 14 open council seats in various Ramsey County wards next Tuesday shows only one attorney: Kennedy & Graven shareholder Chuck Long, who’s running in Falcon Heights.
The rest of the candidates come from a wide variety of industries, with a lot of small-business owners included in the mix. The council level of politics still seems to be the domain of the concerned citizen, regardless of his or her professional background.
Does this mean lawyers tend not to become interested in running for office until the stakes get a little – or a lot – higher?
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Need a will? Have an ex-U.S. Senator do it
I was flipping through my St. Louis Park Sun Sailor (hey, all news is local, right?), when I came across an ad from an attorney seeking business. A big banner on the front of the ad trumpets the fact that I can get a simple will for $100! Wait, something about the face is familiar. Can it be? It is! It's Dean Barkley!Barkley, of course, ran Jesse Ventura's successful Independence Party gubernatorial campaign in 1998. He was later rewarded with an appointment as the director of the Office of Strategic and Long Range Planning. After Ventura left office, Barkley continued to work in matters political, including chairing the ultimately unsuccessful campaign of Texas Independent gubernatorial hopeful Kinky Friedman in 2006.
Looking at the Sun Sailor ad, I notice in big prominent letters above Barkley's face it refers to him as Senator Dean Barkley. Lest you forget, Barkley became a U.S. Senator for two months or so when Ventura picked him as an interim appointment to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Paul Wellsone.
In any event, the Minnesota Monitor recently reported that Barkley has been approached by DFLers in the 6th District about the possibility of challenging Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann. Barkley reportedly expressed interest if the DFL would support him as an independent candidate. The Monitor also confirms reports that Barkley, whose 23-year marriage ended in divorce last year, has placed his profile on the dating website Match.com.
So, if you need a will -- or are a woman between the ages of 30 and 56 who is smart, funny and likes to be spontaneous and passionate -- give Barkley a call.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Founding Father's Day
I was recently thinking about the unfortunate tendency in Washington politics today for politicians to throw each other "under the bus" when faced with adversity. Since there has been a lot of adversity lately, we have been seeing quite a bit of roadkill.
What, oh what, would the Founding Fathers think if they could witness such political carnage?
Honestly, it probably wouldn't surprise them. Then-president John Adams threw fellow Federalist Party member Alexander Hamilton under the proverbial stagecoach when Adams agreed to a peace treaty with France, heading off a war that Hamilton had vigorously advocated for. Hamilton later returned the favor by publishing a rant attacking Adams' character and enunciating reasons why Adams should not be re-elected president, which he wasn't. Then-Vice President Thomas Jefferson also threw President Adams under the stagecoach when Jefferson and the opposition party he founded (the Democratic-Republicans) paid off newspaper editors to write nasty things about Adams. (Ah, for the good old days when folks would actually pay off us editors!) And, of course, Vice President Aaron Burr shot Hamilton in a duel precipitated by nasty things Hamilton had published about Burr. Nursing their petty grudges, Ben Franklin's congressional enemies made sure the good doctor never received a dime for the expenses he incurred as an ambassador in France, where he helped procure the aid that was instrumental to America winning the Revolutionary War and negotiated the treaty that brought the conflict to its conclusion.
So, as the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun. However, while the Founding Fathers had their personal and partisan squabbles, they were still able to pull together and find the time to build a great country. While there is probably an equal amount of bad going on in Washington these days, there doesn't seem to be even a tenth as much good being done. For example, this session Congress dedicated a seemingly inordinate amount of time and effort to immigration reform and so far has wound up doing nothing at all. Regardless of how you feel about the various proposals that have been out there, not doing anything is probably not the best response to the problems that exist.
Congress is apparently making a last-ditch effort this week to do something about immigration reform this session. Let's hope that something constructive results.
What, oh what, would the Founding Fathers think if they could witness such political carnage?
Honestly, it probably wouldn't surprise them. Then-president John Adams threw fellow Federalist Party member Alexander Hamilton under the proverbial stagecoach when Adams agreed to a peace treaty with France, heading off a war that Hamilton had vigorously advocated for. Hamilton later returned the favor by publishing a rant attacking Adams' character and enunciating reasons why Adams should not be re-elected president, which he wasn't. Then-Vice President Thomas Jefferson also threw President Adams under the stagecoach when Jefferson and the opposition party he founded (the Democratic-Republicans) paid off newspaper editors to write nasty things about Adams. (Ah, for the good old days when folks would actually pay off us editors!) And, of course, Vice President Aaron Burr shot Hamilton in a duel precipitated by nasty things Hamilton had published about Burr. Nursing their petty grudges, Ben Franklin's congressional enemies made sure the good doctor never received a dime for the expenses he incurred as an ambassador in France, where he helped procure the aid that was instrumental to America winning the Revolutionary War and negotiated the treaty that brought the conflict to its conclusion.
So, as the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun. However, while the Founding Fathers had their personal and partisan squabbles, they were still able to pull together and find the time to build a great country. While there is probably an equal amount of bad going on in Washington these days, there doesn't seem to be even a tenth as much good being done. For example, this session Congress dedicated a seemingly inordinate amount of time and effort to immigration reform and so far has wound up doing nothing at all. Regardless of how you feel about the various proposals that have been out there, not doing anything is probably not the best response to the problems that exist.
Congress is apparently making a last-ditch effort this week to do something about immigration reform this session. Let's hope that something constructive results.
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