JD Journal » Democratic National Committee

Paul Kirk Appointed to Fill Kennedy’s Seat

joshua — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:52:19 +0000

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has appointed Paul Kirk to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Edward Kennedy. Kirk has a long history with the Kennedy family, dating back to his involvement in Bobby Kennedy’s presidential bid. He had both personal and professional ties to Senator Edward Kennedy and has served as the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

His appointment is an interim appointment and expires in January, 2010, after a special election is concluded.

UPDATE: A Republican challenge to the appointment has been rejected in federal court. The Republican party contended that Governor Patrick lacked the authority to expedite the appointment. The appointment was made under a new law passed this week giving the Governor the power to appoint an interim Senator until the special election, but under Massachusetts law new legislation takes 90 days to go into effect. The Governor can declare a law an emergency and implement it immediately, as was done in this case. The Republican Party argued that this power was not absolute and the use of it in this case would do irreparable harm. Judge Connolly denied the request for an injunction saying “The (Republican) Party has not shown that it has a chance to succeed on the merits and, therefore, any risk of harm to the party will not outweigh the risk of harm to the governor and the commonwealth.”

Wolf Block Groups Join Nelson Mullins

Erik Even — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:15:24 +0000

Lawyers from the Washington, DC and Boston offices of now-defunct Wolf Block will join the Columbia, South Carolina office of Nelson Mullins.

Those resurfacing at Nelson Mullins include five Boston partners, including Wolf Block Public Strategies CEO Robert Crow; two associates and two lobbyists from Boston; and a lobbyist from Washington.

Crowe was co-chairperson for finance for the Democratic National Committee during the 2004 presidential campaign, and is co-chairperson of Senator John Kerry’s finance committee and political action committee.

Wolf Block’s partnership dissolved the 106-year-old firm on March 23th.

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP is a large US law firm and lobbying group based in Columbia, South Carolina. In 2007, the National Law Journal ranked the firm the the largest in South Carolina and 111th largest in the United States. The firm also ranked 127th in profit per attorney on the 2007 Am Law 200 survey.

Dean Joins McKenna Long & Aldridge

Erik Even — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:56:56 +0000

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean has joined McKenna Long & Aldridge as an independent consultant, for the firm’s government affairs practice in Washington, DC.

As a senior strategic adviser and independent consultant, Dean will consult with clients on a variety of public policy issues, with a focus on health care, energy, and public-private partnerships at the state and local level.

The firm says he has no intention of lobbying on behalf of clients. He also has no intention to scream.

The move to the private sector comes shortly after President Barack Obama bypassed the former governor of Vermont as his choice for secretary of Health and Human Services, in favor of Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.

“I was pretty clear that I would have liked to have been Secretary of HHS but it is the president’s choice and he decided to go in a different direction,” Dean said in an online interview.

Atlanta-based McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP was ranked the 100th largest law firm in the country by the National Law Journal in 2007. The firm also ranked 141st in profit per attorney on the 2007 AmLaw 200 survey.