Careers
Candidates Rap ‘Slumlord’ Representation, Corporate Lawyering
Posted Jan 22, 2008, 11:25 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama traded jabs about each other’s legal careers during the contentious Democratic debate yesterday.
Obama described Clinton as “a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart" during the 1980s while he was working as a community organizer in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Clinton replied that Obama had been doing work for fundraiser Tony Rezco “in his slum landlord business in inner-city Chicago.” The New York Times reports that on Saturday Obama returned more than $40,000 in campaign contributions linked to Rezko.
Obama countered that he represented a church group that partnered with Rezko on a project, and spent only five hours on the matter, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports.
John Edwards, a former trial lawyer, had to fight to speak during the debate, the Times says.
Comments not appearing after a few seconds? Try emptying your cache ("Temporary Internet files"), making sure Javascript is activated, and refresh this page.