Radical-in-Chief by Stanley Kurtz

Author:Stanley Kurtz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2010-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

Need a Lawyer

A couple of months later, in a September 30, 1993, report on New Party activities to Danny Cantor, Keith Kelleher returns to the difficult issue of finding an affordable lawyer for the party. Kelleher notes that Sarah Siskind was planning to speak with “Barack” about doing legal work for the New Party, “but I have had no response from either of them” for a month. Kelleher then calls the task of finding a New Party lawyer a “major problem,” noting that other potential candidates had been scared off for fear of offending the Democrats.167

A month later, on November 2, 1993, a memo from Keith Kelleher to Madeline Talbott appears to indicate that Kelleher has finally heard back from Obama. Kelleher has located a couple of attorneys willing to do legal work for the Illinois New Party. The problem is that none of these lawyers will work for free. Kelleher appears to think that Obama might help to lighten the cost of choosing one of these prospective attorneys, Steve Saltsman:

He [Saltsman] said that we would control what his price will be by the stuff we ask him to do. He also said he could meet within the next week with us and/or the candidate. I did not ask Saltsman if he could work with Barack or have Barack do a lot of the work but Saltsman was open to teaching our members and staff to do a lot of the legal legwork, so he may not have a problem working with Barack.168

While Keith’s (presumably Keith Kelleher’s) meaning here cannot be known with certainty, the most reasonable interpretation, I think, is that Obama has let Kelleher know that he is—or may be—willing to do pro bono legal work for the New Party, so long as it does not involve openly taking on the role of the New Party’s attorney in Illinois. Kelleher clearly seems to think that the New Party would be able to save money on legal fees if Saltsman were to farm out some of his work to Obama. So it seems likely that Obama finally did get back to Kelleher and express a willingness to do at least some pro bono work for the party on a quiet basis.

If it’s true that Obama gave at least a qualified indication of willingness to do legal work for the New Party, it also seems likely that Obama would have taken advantage of the opportunity to meet with Joel Rogers about the party’s broader aspirations. Keep in mind that Obama did enthusiastically accept the New Party’s endorsement in his first run for office in 1995–96. Given that, Obama’s active consultation and cooperation with the party’s leaders in 1993 seems all the more likely. Documents indicate that Steve Saltsman did eventually do legal work for the New Party.169 It’s unclear how long Saltsman’s work continued, or whether Obama was ever involved. At a minimum, however, Obama seems to have given Kelleher reason to expect cooperation on a pro bono, or at least low-cost basis.

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