The Insider's Insider

This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas http://dolearchives.ku.edu T R A D E • The Insider's Insider obert E. Lighthizer can see heli- Mr. Inside adviser to Dole. He knows how Forget Buchanan. copters landing at the White Washington works very, very well." House from his 1lth Floor office Yerxa, now a partner in the Brussels Forget Perot. When it on the corner of New York office of the Dallas-based law firm of comes to the future of AvenueR and 15th Street. With his spectac- Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, ular views of the Treasury Department, likened Lighthizer's skills to those of U.S. trade policy, the Lafayette Park and the closed-off stretch James A Baker III, the former Cabinet of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the member and White House chief of staff in economic nationalist executive mansion, it would be hard for the Reagan and Bush Administrations, who makes things the 48-year-old lawyer-lobbyist to get and Leon E. Panetta, President Clinton's much closer to the Oval Office short of chief of staff. "He knows the intersection happen is Robert E. going to work there. between business and government and Many say that is exactly what Lighthizer law and politics, and that's a very difficult Lighthizer, a lawyer- would like to be doing come January intersection for a lot of people to under- who's close to 1997. A trade and tax expert who has stand. Someone like Lighthizer is a natu- lobbyist been close to Senate Majority Leader ral at that," Yerxa said. Senate Maiority Leader Robert Dole, R-Kan., for 17 years, first as To Lighthizer's critics in the trade a top aide, then as confidant and informal world, however, the prospect of his already (and presidential adviser, Lighthizer has used his brains, considerable influence growing still further connections and take-no-prisoners style to sets off alarm bells. They wonder whether contender) Robert climb his way to the top of a very tall heap he can set aside the interests of his domes- Dole, R-Kan. of ambitious, aggressive Washington tic manufacturing clients, including protec- lawyers. Too seasoned a player to admit tion-seeking U.S. steel producers, in favor to any designs on power, he nonetheless of a broader view of American economic refers to the area outside his office win- welfare that pays heed to the needs of BY BEN WILDAVSKY dows with a military metaphor: "Fort importers and consumers as well as manu- Clinton." And as Dole's campaign trea- facturers. Already, many see Lighthizer's surer for the 1996 presidential race, he is hand in Dole's increasingly skeptical doing his utmost to help his mentor scale stance on free trade-as evidenced most the walls and storm the citadel. recently by his Nov. 3 Senate speech Should Dole make it inside, the odds opposing any new trade deals until the are good that Lighthizer would join him, returns are in on the North American Free probably as chief of staff or U.S. Trade Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Representative (USTR). For Lighthizer, a Uruguay Round of the General Agree- doctor's son from Ashtabula, Ohio, a ment on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). plum assignment in a Dole White House That positioning could play well with would be the crowning touch to a resume voters: An early November poll by Lans- already filled with buzzwords that tele- ing (Mich.)-based EPIC-MRNMitchell graph Washington insiderdom: George- found many Americans worried about town University, Covington & Burling, trade and sympathetic to protectionist tar- Senate Finance, deputy USTR and, for iffs. the past decade, partner in the Washing- Indeed, while much of the ink that has ton office of the blue-chip New York City been spilled so far on the role of trade in law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, the 1996 election has focused on the Meagher & Hom. America First oratory of Republican pres- "If Bob Dole is a Washington insider, idential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan I'd describe Lighthizer as the insider's and his populist bedfellow Ross Perot. insider," said Rufus H. Yerxa, a trade Lighthizer is arguably a far more impor- lawyer who was staff director of the tant player in practical terms. Despite the House Ways and Means Trade Subcom- rhetorical importance of the Buchanan- mittee from 1985-89 and who was USTR Perot axis in defining one boundary of the Mickey Kantor's chief deputy until early national debate on trade, the reality on this year. "He is very effective as a kind of the ground in Washington is that Light- • 2852 NATIONALJOURNAL 11 /18/95 Page 1 of 4 This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas http://dolearchives.ku.edu hizer and player-coaches like him have enormous influence on which laws are passed and which deals are made. Even if Dole doesn't make it past the GOP pri- maries, Lighthizer's skills, access and clients virtually ensure that he will contin- • ue to enjoy A-list clout and, for better or worse, do all he can to move U.S. trade policy further in the direction of economic nationalism. A REVOLVING DOOR OVERLOOKED Many critics in recent years have de- nounced the revolving door that leads large numbers of former U.S. trade nego- tiators into lucrative posts as lawyers and lobbyists for foreign businesses and gov- ernments. Perot adviser Pat Choate devoted his 1990 book, Agents of Influence, to the topic, for example. And in July, the Senate voted, 98-0, for a lobbying reform bill that included a Dole- sponsored amendment that would bar any former USTR or deputy USTR from lob- e bying for foreign interests. The bill, which ~ is expected to reach the House floor by : mid-November, would also prevent any- ] one who has worked for foreign entities -5 ii: on trade disputes with the United States from being appointed to senior U.S. trade During Lighthizer's 10-year watch at tive, high-class protectionist. Open com- negotiating posts. Skadden, Arps, where he now heads the petition with similar market systems is But Lighthizer is a prime example of a 18-member international trade group, the fine, he said, but realpolitik requires a less-remarked-upon phenomenon: the firm has undergone an unusual shift from tougher approach to mercantilist econo- domestic revolving door. After negotiat- representing mostly foreign clients that mies such as China's and Japan's. "I clear- ing steel import quotas with seven foreign are responding to unfair-trade complaints ly view myself as a nationalist," he said, countries during his stint as deputy USTR to working predominantly for domestic asserting that the "theology of free trade" from 1983-85, he was quickly hired by firms that are petitioning for import relief. often doesn't square with reality. "I think U.S. steel companies when he left govern- Lighthizer, who sits on the advisory board we have to have a 'What is good for the ment for private practice. And both his of the protection-inclined Economic United States?' point of view on all of trade work and the highly successful tax Strategy Institute (and whose nonsteel these things. I am not one who says, 'Our practice that dominated his first couple of clients include insurance companies and objectives should be what's good for the years at Skadden, Arps had him lobbying high-technology firms), says his prefer- world community.' Now, what I want may the Finance Committee, where he had ence for domestic clients stems from his be good for the world community, but I been staff director and chief counsel just a growing concern about the direction of think the starting point ought to be what's few years earlier. the U.S. economy. "The need in this good for the U.S." At one time, according Some trade specialists say that it's iron- country is to preserve our manufacturing to a Lighthizer critic, the running joke at ic that public criticism has focused on for- base," he said, "and you're not going to Skadden, Arps was that "he even hates mer U.S. officials who work for foreign get that by representing foreign clients." Canadians." clients rather than on Lighthizer and his America's shrinking manufacturing sec- breed. In Washington's trade battles, they tor is "a fundamental problem for soci- argue, American consumers may be bet- ety," Lighthizer said in an interview. PULLING DOLE'S mlNGS? ter served by those who are condemned "These are the jobs that are the backbone In trade circles, Lighthizer is often for "changing sides" and working for for- of the middle class . and to the extent mentioned in the same breath as Demo- eigners than by flag-waving lawyers for you get rid of those jobs, you're getting cratic trade lawyer Alan Wm. Wolff, domestic producers. "An American who's more of a stratified kind of society. managing partner of the Washington representing a foreign client is probably You're getting the rich and lower middle office of New York-based Dewey Ballan- going to represent liberalization, which class and nobody in the middle." Part of tine. (For a profile of Wolff, see NJ, 8/5195, from a purely economic standpoint would the problem is unfair trading practices by p. 1994.) The two form a sort of biparti- be welfare-enhancing for the entire econ- foreign countries, he contended. And part san tag team as co-counsel to the domes- omy," said Howard F.

Load more