DAILY REPORT 
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Candidates try to drum up support
By Alyson M. Palmer, Staff Reporter

From presidential races on down, the power of endorsements is fleeting. Howard Dean landed Al Gore for the 2004 Democratic primaries but fell early in the primaries.

Here in Georgia, even though Gov. Sonny Perdue would not officially endorse them, he let it be known that he would vote for state Supreme Court challengers G. Grant Brantley and J. Michael Wiggins. But they failed to oust, respectively, Justices Leah Ward Sears in 2004 or Carol W. Hunstein in 2006.

Nonetheless, the seven candidates seeking an open seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals are trying to nail down supporters.

Given the crowded field, no contender has become the clear candidate for any well-defined group, such as Republicans, Democrats, plaintiffs' lawyers or criminal defense attorneys.

One experienced observer, Atlanta lawyer Marc B. Hershovitz, says that Douglasville lawyer Perry J. McGuire and state Sen. Michael S. Meyer von Bremen, D-Albany, must be considered front-runners because both have waged successful political campaigns before—in both cases, for the state Legislature.

Lawrenceville divorce lawyer Tamela L. Adkins may have a leg up because her last name comes first alphabetically and will be at the top of the ballot, which will catch the eye of voters first. Putting support behind that name are some prominent plaintiffs' lawyers.

But Adkins does not appear to be universally supported by the personal injury bar. Other plaintiffs' lawyers are supporting other candidates, such as Decatur appellate lawyer Christopher J. McFadden and Atlanta attorney Bruce M. Edenfield.

“What lawyer is endorsing what lawyer for the Court of Appeals race is really inside baseball,” said Hershovitz, who managed the 2002 re-election campaign of state Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham. “Mike and Charlie who run a construction business may never even hear, or even care if they do, that some lawyer says this other guy's going to be good for the Court of Appeals.”

But, Hershovitz allowed, with seven candidates in the race, name recognition will be key. That takes money and volunteers—and certain kinds of endorsements can help on those fronts.

Accordingly, some of the first news coming out of the campaigns are lists of supporters. Last month, McGuire and Meyer von Bremen disseminated press releases with names of key backers.

McGuire, who was the Republican nominee for state attorney general in 2006, received the early backing of U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Republican whose district includes the most southern suburbs of metro Atlanta, stretching over to the state's western border. Now McGuire also is touting a host of endorsements from members of the state Legislature, where he represented Carroll and Douglas counties as a state senator from 1993 to 1996.

According to the McGuire campaign, his backers include Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, and floor leaders for Perdue, Sen. Ronnie Chance, R-Tyrone, and Sen. Bill Heath, R-Bremen. Sen. Bill Hamrick, R-Carrollton, a lawyer who said in March that he was mulling a bid for the open Court of Appeals seat, also has endorsed McGuire, according to the campaign. On the state House side, the McGuire campaign is trumpeting endorsements that include Majority Leader Rep. Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons, House GOP Caucus Chair Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, Perdue Floor Leader Rep. Rich Golick, R-Smyrna, and Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs.

McGuire also is seeking to burnish his law-and-order credentials with endorsements from sheriffs, including Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway. About half of his sheriff endorsers—including sheriffs from Harris, Carroll, Coweta and Fayette counties—are from counties included in Westmoreland's district.

Meyer von Bremen already has one politically involved lawyer, R. Lawton Jordan III, as his official campaign chairman. Jordan was chief legal counsel to the minority caucus of the Georgia Senate in 2002 and 2003, when Meyer von Bremen was minority leader.

Meyer von Bremen's campaign announced last month that two former prominent elected officials, Pierre Howard and Michael J. Egan, will serve as honorary campaign committee co-chairs. The campaign touted the support of Egan and Howard as illustrating the officially non-partisan nature of judicial races in the state.

“Because of their differing political backgrounds, their service as co-chairs is a clear indication that my candidacy for Georgia Court of Appeals is based entirely on upholding the rule of law in a fair, impartial and nonpartisan manner,” Meyer von Bremen said in an Aug. 21 press release.

Howard, a Democrat, was lieutenant governor from 1991 to 1999 and now provides polling, consulting and news services to clients with former state Rep. Matt A. Towery. Egan, a Republican who represented Atlanta in the state Senate from 1989 through 2000, chaired the Senate Special Judiciary Committee, the committee now chaired by Meyer von Bremen that handles particular assignments from the Judiciary Committee. Egan is of counsel at Sutherland.

A good name

Adkins, the Gwinnett divorce lawyer, is touting a different sort of support. Her July disclosure reported no contributions to her campaign other than monies she loaned herself to cover expenses. But the Lawrenceville divorce lawyer has some heavy-hitters in the plaintiffs' bar on her side.

At an Aug. 7 fundraiser for Adkins at the 1818 Club in Duluth, Atlanta personal injury lawyer Thomas W. Malone introduced Adkins to a gathering of a few dozen people. “With a name like Tamela Adkins, she's off to a very good start,” Malone said. “And to see all these Gwinnett county lawyers here supporting her is great testament to the fact that I'm supporting the right candidate.”

Before beginning her 15-year career as a domestic relations lawyer, Adkins briefly served as a law clerk to Malone, she told the Daily Report. The connection to Malone is leading to other support, as Malone announced that his son and law partner, R. Adams “Adam” Malone, as well as plaintiffs' lawyers Andrew M. Scherffius III and James E. Butler Jr., are supporting Adkins. Scherffius said his support of Adkins followed an inquiry from Malone to take a look at her candidacy.

The Malones, Butler and Scherffius have in past judicial campaigns donated the maximum allowable to candidates.

“With those great lawyers supporting her,” said Malone, “I think that her message will get out far and wide soon.”

Eschewing endorsement games

While the remaining candidates—Edenfield, McFadden, Holland & Knight partner Sara L. Doyle and Lawrenceville criminal defense attorney Michael M. Sheffield—aren't sending out fancy press releases on the topic, they are lining up supporters as well.

Excluding money candidates loaned or contributed to their own campaigns, Edenfield had raised the most money by the end of June—$65,350. By then he already had garnered the support of former Gov. Roy E. Barnes, a Democrat, and former state AG Michael J. Bowers, a Republican. Those political heavyweights and prominent litigators were deemed the “Odd Couple” when they teamed up to support Hunstein in 2006.

Asked recently about supporters, Edenfield said, “I don't want to play the 'my endorsement is better than your endorsement' game,” indicating he wouldn't be producing what he called “a laundry list of political allies.”

But he said he's getting backing from people who have gotten to know him through the practice of law over the years. He said he counted among his supporters Summerville attorney Bobby Lee Cook, Savannah lawyer Alex L. Zipperer, Atlanta plaintiffs' lawyer William Q. Bird and Athens criminal defense attorney Edward D. Tolley, who's also known for representing the University of Georgia Athletic Association.

Edenfield said he also has bi-partisan support from elected officials, citing Rep. Kathy Ashe, D-Atlanta, who is married to Atlanta employment and civil rights lawyer R. Lawrence Ashe Jr., and Rep. David E. Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, a lawyer who chairs the House's Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.

Doyle reports that she has several fundraisers coming up. The invitation for one, set for Sept. 16 in Atlanta, lists campaign honorary co-chairs Thomas S. Carlock and Harold T. “Hal” Daniel Jr. and campaign chair Anne W. Lewis, a former colleague who is chief deputy general counsel to the Georgia Republican Party, as among the event hosts.

Another host is Robert S. Highsmith Jr., a fellow Holland & Knight partner who has been deputy executive counsel to Perdue and currently is lead outside counsel to Perdue's political action committee. (While Lewis and Highsmith have Republican connections, Doyle has worked at the same firm with both of them, and Doyle recently told the Daily Report that voters would be wrong to assume she is a Republican.)

McFadden's campaign treasurer is Macon attorney Charles M. Cork III, who previously chaired the amicus committee for the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. But McFadden also has the support of lawyers from big firms, according to the campaign, such as Harold E. Franklin Jr., a King & Spalding partner and immediate past president of the Gate City Bar Association.

Ten former presidents of the Atlanta Bar Association—Terrence L. Croft, Richard B. Herzog Jr., Seth D. Kirschenbaum, S. Wade Malone, W. Ray Persons, Elizabeth A. Price, William M. Ragland Jr., Paul M. Talmadge Jr., W. Terence Walsh and Robert G. Wellon—have signed their name to an e-mail on McFadden's behalf to other local bar association leaders. In the letter provided by the McFadden campaign, the former Atlanta Bar leaders cite McFadden's appellate practice experience, his co-authorship of a treatise on Georgia's appellate courts, and his leadership in the State Bar's Appellate Section in asking bar leaders and those they lead to consider McFadden's candidacy.

It's not clear who is giving money to Sheffield, the seventh candidate, although he has a key backer. In the spring, state Republican Party general counsel J. Randolph “Randy” Evans, indicated he was backing Sheffield, calling him a “good, reliable conservative.”

Last week Sheffield said in an e-mail, “The only endorsement I'd still list is Randy Evans.”