Last night T.J. Donovan announced a list of over one hundred Vermont lawyers who have already endorsed his candidacy. The list contains leading members of the bar from Democratic firms, seasoned prosecutors and defense attorneys, and leading public sector lawyers. The group is chaired by Ellen Mercer Fallon, a partner with Langrock, Sperry, and Wool, the firm where Supreme Court Justice Beth Robinson was a partner before her ascension to the Supremes; and L. Randolph Amis, an attorney in private practice in Burlington.
If you read the press release, reprinted at VtDigger.org, you'll see that the list is dominated by Chittenden County lawyers, although the list contains lawyers from around the state.
Some of the more interesting names:
Former Republican Attorney General and recent Democratic State Senate candidate Kim Cheney.
Former Sanderista John Franco.
Former State Senator Steve Reynes and former Representative Sandy Baird.
Ritchie Berger of Dinse, Knapp, and McAndrew, who blew up the sexual harassment case against the former UVM hockey coach and who represented David Blittersdorf in a libel suit against Brian Dubie and his campaign.
Big name defense attorney David Sleigh.
This is another move that shows how serious TJ is about his campaign. Nobody's going to win this election with 100 votes, but the fact that TJ has been able to enlist such a wide-ranging list of lawyers in just a few weeks is the first step in an effective organization.
This is starting to look interesting.
Addendum by jvwalt:
Co-chair Ellen Mercer Fallon was also former Counsel to Governor Madeleine Kunin and former head of the state bar; co-chair L. Randolph Amis is a former Burlington City Councilor who's held a number of party posts at the local and state levels.
A cursory glance at the list also reveals two lawyers named Obuchowski — Joe and Raymond. Relatives of a certain former House Speaker and current member of Governor Shumlin's cabinet. I presume?
Additional detail about attorney Ritchie Berger, mentioned above by Jack: One of his partners in Dinse Knapp is none other than Shapleigh Smith, our current Speaker of the House who, as you may recall, gave a lot of thought to running for AG himself.
Seriously? 100 lawyers in only a few weeks? Is there any reason not to expect someone qualified for the job to get 100 endorsements from colleagues in a few minutes? This is a don’t-forget-to-invite list, not a list of people for whom difficult deliberations resulted in heart-felt endorsement. Let’s hear about it when that list has 1000 names on it, including attorneys on few other lists that include the candidate.
This is starting to look uninteresting.
Although there is thought to be some relationship, the two lawyer Obuchowskis are not closely related to the former Speaker.
Where do I sign up for Sorrell?