Jim Eisenhower

Jim Eisenhower
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Nora Dowd Eisenhower[1]
Residence	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Alma mater	Temple University Antioch School of Law Oxford University
Profession	Attorney

James J. "Jim" Eisenhower is a prominent Pennsylvania attorney who has served in various roles within the Government of Pennsylvania and within the White House. He is a close ally of former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, and has twice unsuccessfully been the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania Attorney General. Eisenhower Fellowships selected James Eisenhower as a USA Eisenhower Fellow in 2002. He is currently Of Counsel in the Philadelphia office of national law firm Chamberlain Hrdlicka.

Education and personal life

He earned a degree from Temple University and a law degree from Antioch School of Law.^[2] He earned a Master of Philosophy from Oxford University where he was a Marshall Scholar in 1984.^[2] He served as a White House Fellow under President Bill Clinton, where he wrote the October 21, 1995 presidential executive order allowing federal agents to seize the assets of the Colombian Cali drug cartel, which was later used in the effort to seize Al-Qaeda assets after 9/11.^[3]

He is a distant relative of Dwight D. Eisenhower.^[4] An amateur guitar player, he was known to play during campaign events, even playing a guitar solo with Philadelphia indie rock band Cecil B. during a "Jammin' for Jim" rally at University of Pennsylvania.^[4]

Legal career

Eisenhower began his legal career as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and as a trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.^[3] He was a partner in the Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP law firm in Philadelphia, where he was chair of the Government and Regulatory Affairs Practice Group. In 2014, he joined the Philadelphia office of Chamberlain Hrdlicka, where he focuses his practice on government and regulatory matters, as well as white collar crime. ^[5] At various times, he has served as a faculty member for Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania.^[3]

He served as attorney for Don H. Barden and his company, PITG Gaming, in proceedings before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.^[6] Barden's application was successful and received the only Pittsburgh slots license available.^[7] He is serving as attorney for Mike Manzo, who is charged with various crimes as part of the "Bonusgate" controversy.^[8]

In 2011, he successfully led a team of Schnader attorneys in representing the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in an appeal before a Commonwealth Court en banc panel that affirmed the December 2010 decision of the Control Board to revoke the Foxwoods casino license for the long-stalled South Philadelphia casino location. ^[9][10]

Government career

He is a close ally of former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.^[11] He served as Rendell's chief criminal justice advisor during Rendell's 2002 gubernatorial election.^[3] After Rendell's election, Eisenhower served on the "Governor’s Cabinet for Children and Families" within the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.^[3] In 2005, Rendell named him Chairman of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, the inter-governmental body that regulates finances for the city of Philadelphia.^[3][12] In January of 2011, in concert with the inauguration of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, he stepped down as PICA Chairman to allow the new governor the opportunity to make his own appointment.^[13][14]

Political career

In 2014, Eisenhower served on the finance committee for Pennsylvania Governor Candidate Tom Wolf, who was elected and took office in 2015. He also is chair of “Friends of Ken Trujillo,” a committee formed in preparation for the 2015 Philadelphia mayoral election. In 2008, he was surrogate speaker and primary Election Day counsel for Hillary Clinton. Later that year, he served as general election federal court counsel for Barack Obama.^[2][3]

He was the Democratic nominee for the 2000 Pennsylvania Attorney General election and the 2004 Pennsylvania Attorney General election. In 2004, he lost a very close election to Republican Tom Corbett.^[15] The election was so close that the Associated Press initially called the race for Eisenhower.^[16]

In 2000, he lost to Republican Mike Fisher.^[17] He was named to the 2003 Pennsylvania Report "Power 75" List of politically influential people in Pennsylvania.^[11]

Community Service

Since 2007, he has been a regular panelist on Philadelphia's 6ABC (a.k.a. WPVI-TV) weekly half-hour magazine-format news program "Inside Story" discussing current events, both local and national, affecting the city.^[18][19]

In May 2011, he was named to the Board of Directors for Congreso, a Philadelphia-based and nationally recognized multi-service organization. Congreso's goal is to alleviate poverty and promote economic self-sufficiency to ensure that our most vulnerable populations have the educational credentials and workforce skills to compete in a global economy.^[20][21]

References