This won’t help…..

Reince Priebus, has been gaining steam in his race against his good friend Michael Steele. Think Progress has a detailed story today on Reince and while pointing out his “gaffes” like calling for the \"execution\" of the president(of which he never apologized). They also dug a little deeper to his day job as an attorney at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP.

Despite his heated anti-Obama attacks, Priebus makes a living at a law firm far more comfortable with the policies of President Obama. Priebus works as a partner at the Milwaukee law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. Over the summer, the firm created a series of presentations to explain health reform to its clients and to pitch the firm’s services for employers looking to comply with new health reform regulations. In one presentation, John Barlament, a colleague to Priebus at the firm, said that a health reform repeal is not only unlikely, but that the lawsuits brought by Republican Party allies to declare the law unconstitutional probably have no merit. Referring to the controversy over the individual mandate, Barlament explained that the commerce clause of the constitution “gives Congress authority to act on his legislation”:

“Don’t hold your breath,” Barlament advised employers hoping the Affordable Care Act will be repealed. A number of political and business groups have called for repeal or significant revisions, but Barlament said there is nothing on the “near horizon.”Lawsuits filed to block the case are unlikely to succeed because the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress authority to act on this legislation.

Presentations from Priebus’s law firm also tout health reform benefits routinely ignored by right-wing partisans, like generous subsidies to small businesses, vastly expanding health insurance coverage in America, closing the Medicare Part D donut hole, and the end to egregious insurance company abuses (ending the program of capping benefits, ending “rescissions,” ending discrimination based on pre-existing conditions).

They also added insult to injury in showing that not only is Priebus a hypocrite but he is also a liar(not to mention his problems with minorities). As FrumForum points out:

Reince Priebus, the state chair for the Wisconsin GOP and a current RNC Chair candidate, is listed as working as a lawyer on a team which helps clients secure federal stimulus funds.

Despite multiple listings on his law firm’s website, Priebus tells FrumForum that he has never worked with his firm’s ‘Stimulus and Economic Recovery’ group.

Priebus is a partner for the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In February 2009, his firm announced the creation of a ‘Stimulus Legislation Team’, of which Priebus was listed as a member.

We will see if his lack of character and morals, is what the Republican party is looking for in a candidate to lead them. The vote is January 14th!

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7 thoughts on “This won’t help…..

  1. PP, The ad hominem pieces are kind of lame. Attack the positions and we can have a debate. These are the lowest form of argument and they are relatively easy to show the spurious conclusions:

    Michael Best is one of the largest law firms in the state, so I guess I’m failing to see how a colleague’s presentation makes Priebus a hypocrite. So unless Priebus made the presentation himself its not relevant. It’s the functional equavilent of claiming that Zach and Scott Walker have the same opinions because they are both government employees.

    Second, You accuse Priebus of being a racists. That’s a strong charge against someone that worked for the NAACP legal defense fund. http://www.michaelbest.com/rrpriebus/

    But hey we can call the Pope anti-Catholic, if it makes you feel better.

    Third I don’t see the inclusion of a “practice group” on a website makes Priebus a liar. He claims he was never part of the practice group and he was included in the initial release without his knowledge.

    Based on my own experience, I find his explanation credible. Law firms use the formation of practice groups more as PR Announcements. It is rare that the practice groups perform substantive work. Any individual that has anything expereince that is remotly related is included. To me an “economic stimulus” practice group seems like a puff piece I would be surprised if any of the members of that group actually did any work.

    Now that we’ve gone over the personal attacks, let’s talk some issues.

  2. SI thats fair, lets talk issue but first let me address a couple things.

    1. While Michael Best is a large law firm, Priebus is listed as a member of the “stimulus Legislation Team” While this is not just priebus, its been documented numerous times Republicans taking credit for the stimulus dollars at work while railing against it. The hypocrisy just drives me crazy.

    2. I never called him a racist, I said he has made a concerted effort to make sure minorities in WI dont vote. That is well documented here and elsewhere. I understand it because his job is to win republican races but it comes down to can you look yourself in the mirror the next day.

  3. While I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to take a cheap shot at one of my adversaries, I’m going to pass. I’ll just point out that Barlament works in MBF’s employee benefit groups, he’s not a constitutional lawyer and he is attempting to get business related to the implementation of Obama care.

  4. What do his “anti-Obama attacks” have to do with his responsibility to his clients? Obamacare is the law of the land. Advising his clients on how to work within the law without respect to whether his own personal biases support/oppose the law is his duty. It’s what an ethical attorney does. Also, speculating on the prospect of it being invalidated in the courts or repealed in Congress doesn’t change the fact that it is still the law. To say he’s being a hypocrite is silly.

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