Legal News

Armey Leaves DLA Piper to Work Full Time on Health-Care Debate

By Ashby Jones

It is imperative for me, within the context of my life's work in the defense of personal liberty against the encroachments of big government, to give my undivided attention to the work we do at FreedomWorks. In short, the threat to personal liberty in America is so serious and imminent at this time that it requires the full commitment of my efforts. While I consider it a personal sacrifice to leave DLA Piper, it is a sacrifice I must make in light of the important work I am committed to at FreedomWorks.

— Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, explaining on Friday why he was leaving DLA Piper

The health-care debate roiling not only Capitol Hill but cities and towns across the country has claimed an early casualty — Dick Armey, who announced late last week that he would step down from his lobbyist position at DLA Piper. Armey’s work with FreedomWorks, an organization that opposes government intervention in health care, had prompted many commentators to wonder aloud if DLA Piper itself were working to stem the health-care reform effort. Click here for the Politico article; here for the NYT article; here for the National Law Journal’s take.

On Friday, the firm sent out a statement attempting to clarify its position in the debate:

Recently several media commentators have suggested that DLA Piper may be opposing health care reform. Some of the reports have gone so far as to suggest that the firm itself, or on behalf of its clients, may be supporting activities to disrupt the national debate on health care reform. All of these suggestions are entirely false. The firm has not, on its own behalf, or on the behalf of any client, directly or indirectly opposed any activities designed to disrupt the national debate about health care reform or any other public policy issues. On the contrary, DLA Piper represents clients who support enactment of effective health care reform this year and encourages responsible national debate. We have contacted news outlets to set the record straight and urge correction of the inaccurate reports.

Despite the clarification, Armey said he thought that his leaving was the right thing to do. In an interview with The National Law Journal on Friday evening, Armey said that the backlash was also landing on clients, including health care and pharmaceutical companies such as The Medicines Co., which paid DLA Piper $240,000 in lobbying fees during the second quarter of 2009. According to the NYT, another drug maker, Sanofi Pasteur, paid the firm $30,000 during the same period, according to its latest disclosure forms.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 17, 2009 (boomark / email).