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The GCs' Choice: ObamaBarack Obama is the favorite for campaign donations from the highest-paid general counsel

reprinting date: 01-07-2008

　　By Amy Miller(Corporate Counsel)
　　The nation's best-paid general counsel have a clear favorite in the presidential race: Barack Obama. In the run-up to the primary season, the Illinois senator received more money from the in-house legal elite than any other candidate. The Democratic contenders for the White House are doing well as a group, outraising Republican candidates by almost a 2-to-1 margin in the contest for GC cash.
　　These are just some of the findings from a Corporate Counsel review of Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan research group. At press time the CRP's Web site listed contributions made through Oct. 29. We looked at donations made by the 100 best-paid GCs in the country, as ranked on Corporate Counsel's most recent compensation survey. (Since we compiled that ranking for our August 2007 issue, 13 general counsel have either retired or changed jobs.)
　　A total of 29 GCs in the top 100 have contributed to a presidential candidate so far (five gave to more than one campaign). Eight legal chiefs gave Obama a total of $20,600; Hillary Clinton raised $14,500 from six; and Christopher Dodd netted $13,000 from eight. Republican candidates have lagged far behind. John McCain received $10,900 from six general counsel; Rudy Giuliani got $6,900 from three; and Mitt Romney pulled $6,900 from four. GCs showed no love for Democrat John Edwards (a former trial lawyer who routinely bashes corporate America) or Republican Mike Huckabee (who's been vigorously attacked by the Club for Growth, a conservative pro-business group).
　　Democratic candidates have outpaced Republicans in overall fund-raising, not just among GCs. At press time Clinton had raised the most money for her campaign, with a total haul of $91 million, though Obama was only about $10 million behind her. Romney led the Republican candidates with $63 million, followed by Giuliani with $47 million.
　　Obama received his biggest GC contributions from David Drummond of Google Inc. and Michael Fricklas of Viacom Inc. (Drummond gave the maximum donations permitted under federal law -- $2,300 for the primary campaign and $2,300 for the general election.) None of the legal chiefs who contributed to Obama returned calls for comment.
　　But Gregory Craig, a Williams & Connolly partner who's backing Obama, maintains that corporate lawyers like the rookie senator because he's a moderate and not wedded to a particular ideology. Shortly after Obama won his seat in 2004, for example, he was one of only 17 Democratic senators to vote for the business-backed Class Action Fairness Act. Obama "identifies situations that need to be corrected and goes in open-minded and evenhanded," Craig argues.
　　Einer Elhauge, a Harvard University law professor who is advising Obama on legal policy, also points to the candidate's stance on antitrust issues. "He has a more careful, nuanced policy," says Elhauge, who adds, "There's a hard-nosed idealism about him." In a recent statement posted on the American Antitrust Institute's Web site, Obama said that he would ensure that antitrust enforcement doesn't undermine businesses.
　　Ironically, Obama's fund-raising success in corporate America may also be attributable to his very public declaration that he won't take money from lobbyists. Thomas Quinn, a partner and lobbyist at D.C.-based Venable, speculates that more executives may be giving directly to Obama's campaign since they can't make contributions through a third party.
　　Two of the candidates doing well with GC donations haven't been so strong in overall fund-raising. McCain, the top pick of legal chiefs from the Republican field, did so poorly last year that at one point he considered taking public funding for his primary campaign.
　　Even more striking, Dodd's third-place showing in GC contributions stands in contrast to his fifth-place ranking in overall fund-raising among Democrats. Dodd's success with legal chiefs is partly due to his chairmanship of the Senate banking committee. Of the eight GCs who have contributed to his campaign, five are from companies in the financial services industry, including Thomas Russo of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Louise Parent of American Express Co.
　　While the presidential contenders have already raised considerable funds, the haul will soar even higher as the general election approaches. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, candidates are on track to raise an unprecedented $1 billion for the 2008 race, up from $853 million in 2004. CRP researcher Douglas Weber says that's because candidates began their campaigns earlier this time; plus neither party has an incumbent or a clear front-runner.
　　And for the first time since 1972, all of the leading presidential candidates in both parties have announced that they will not participate in the public financing system for the general election. Not only will they be able to solicit private contributions, they won't face any spending limits, either.
　　Once the parties choose their nominees, many GCs who backed a losing candidate in the primaries will have to pick another horse for the general election. That doesn't bother William Barr, the legal chief at Verizon Communications Inc. Barr, an attorney general under the first President George Bush, was the only GC in our survey to contribute to Fred Thompson. "I like a number of the [Republican] candidates," Barr says. "I'd be glad to support whoever the [GOP] nominee is."