Reply #78: Righteous1, consider... [from The News Editor/Nashua Advocate] [View All]

[nashuaadvocate]

...the following statements from the mainstream media regarding McTigue and Hoffheimer.

Based on this, is it really unfair to suggest that McTigue -- who has given every single "legal" press release for K-E 2004 thus far -- covers the legal work for K-E (and has no subordinate in that regard), whereas Hoffheimer -- who has given every single "publicity" press release for K-E 2004 -- is in charge of public relations? And wouldn't that mean that if we want to know Kerry's position on legal issues, we should look to McTigue, and we want to know the state of his public relations operation, we look to Hoffheimer?

Here are the quotes (representing, I believe, a reasonably-large portion of the times these two have been mentioned in GoogleNews-searchable articles):

*** MCTIGUE ***

"the lawyer handling the recount for the Kerry campaign"
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/news2004/1204/121404-ohio.htm

"an attorney specializing in election law for the Democrats"
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1102070209311320.xml

"Democratic attorney"
http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/content/news/stories/2004/11/29/MJ1129jackson.html

"a Columbus lawyer who filed suit for the campaign in U.S. District Court"
http://www.counterpunch.org/harrison12082004.html

"a trial Attorney from Columbus, Ohio"
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_14464.shtml

*** HOFFHEIMER ***

"Kerry campaign attorney"
http://www.middletownjournal.com/opin/content/news/stories/2004/11/30/mj1130editorial.html

"Ohio Kerry campaign attorney Daniel Hoffheimer"
http://www.webcommentary.com/asp/ShowArticle.asp?id=zieves&date=041204

"an attorney for Kerry-Edwards 2004 in Ohio"
https://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/

"a Cincinnati lawyer who represents the campaign in Ohio"
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/10325570.htm

Notice that while Hoffheimer is far more often associated with the K-E campaign than McTigue, his position with K-E is never clarified, and certain major news outlets -- such as the Dayton Daily News and the Kansas City Star -- clearly suggest, with the use of the *indefinite* article "a/an," that Hoffheimer is just one attorney among many for K-E -- with no indication he's the "top" attorney at all. McTigue, in contrast, is always mentioned in the context of actually *doing* something -- rather than just *saying* something -- on K-E's behalf.

That said, frankly The Advocate never made an issue out of who the "top" attorney for K-E was/is in Ohio, because it's irrelevant. No one can point to a single instance in which either one of these men -- who work for different law firms, by the way! -- publicly overruled one another. What we *do* know is that McTigue was given full control of the legal battles and has been the exclusive voice on that topic; Hoffheimer was given full control of public relations and he has been the exclusive voice on that topic. . There is no indication that Hoffheimer has *any* say in the lawsuits K-E is involved with -- i.e., what to file, when to file, how to file, where to file, why to file. It seems he could as easily "overrule" or "pull rank" on McTigue as Ronald McDonald could "pull rank" on the Burger King. In light of all this, it's clear there is no "top" attorney for K-E from a practical standpoint, *nor* any "top" attorney in the sense that *a single outlet other than Olbermann* has termed Hoffheimer as such.

So what's to argue about?

The News Editor
The Nashua Advocate
http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/