Q. Why won't sharks attack lawyers? A. Professional courtesy.
Attorneys do have a reputation of being sharks, these jokes exist for a reason. Some think of them as only being out for themselves. I don’t really think that’s true. I want to think that they have a sense of camaraderie, that they do show the solidarity of other groups of professionals, like, say, educators or welders for example.
I’m putting the call out to all the Daily Kos attorneys to help prove this. Show that you do indeed have each others backs by writing diaries about candidates for Congress who are attorneys. While I do think it’s good to have a bit of diversity when it comes to background and professions in Congress, their job is to create and pass laws, so it makes a lot of sense to have a lot of lawyers as Congress critters.
There are a lot of great candidates running who just happen to be attorneys too. I use 90for90 as my data base. If I have a litmus test at all, it’s that I want candidates who encourage voting.
Here’s a list for all you guys to choose from. You can find it yourself here.
CA 20th CD — Jimmy Panetta
CA 44th CD — Nannette Barragan
CA 49th CD — Douglas Applegate
CO 6th CD — Morgan Carroll
FL 1st CD — Steven Specht
FL 9th CD — Darren Soto
FL 13th CD — Charlie Crist
FL 18th CD — Jonathan Chane
FL 23rd CD — Tim Canova
FL 27th CD — Adam Sackrin
MD 1st CD — Joe Werner
MD 8th CD — Jamie Raskin
MT — At Large — Denise Juneau
NJ 5th CD — Josh Gottheimer
NY 3rd CD — Jonathan Clarke
NC 2nd CD — John McNeil
ND — At Large — Chase Iron Eyes
VA 4th CD — Donald McEachin
VA 7th CD — Eileen Bedell
So there you have it, a list of attorney’s running for Congress. I have my favorites, I admit. Jonathan Clarke is a great guy who has strong focus on campaign finance reform, he think that’s step number one to better government.
Douglas Applegate is an attorney who represents Gitmo detainees. He also did something amazing that lawyers will understand better than I do. He successfully represented the first military guy in a civilian court for the first time ever. It was fascinating. (Plus, he’s running against Darrell Issa.)
Eileen Bedell is another of my faves and is running against Dave Brat.
Take your pick DK attorney’s, do your thing, write a brief. Let’s help get some attorneys in Congress.