Former Rep. Dick Armey said he resigned from DLA Piper because “I could see that this fight was bringing innocent people in harm’s way.”
In an interview with The National Law Journal Friday evening on his way to give the keynote speech at an Atlanta rally against Democratic health care plans, Armey said he had been growing increasingly concerned by commentators who linked his campaign through nonprofit FreedomWorks to his work at DLA Piper. The backlash was also landing on clients, including health care and pharmaceutical companies such as The Medicines Company, which paid DLA Piper $240,000 in lobbying fees during the second quarter of 2009.
His plans to speak at the rally also forced the timing of the decision, he said.
“Quite frankly, even with me being relatively quiet sitting in Texas, the firm and a few of the clients were taking a load of guff,” Armey said. “What was going to happen when I show up in Atlanta tomorrow?”
Armey said he began growing increasingly concerned with the comments linking his political work with DLA Piper last week.
“I said to John (Merrigan, the DLA Piper partner who chairs the firm’s federal affairs practice), ‘I’m going to have to come to town and we’ll sit down and review some options.’ ”
Armey came to Washington on Thursday, and met with Merrigan. He said he decided that the best option was a clean break from the firm that would “resolve anyone’s confusion,” and confirm that the firm was entirely separate from FreedomWorks. Armey said he received severance from the firm upon resigning.
“They’re generous people and they’re kind,” he said of his DLA Piper colleagues. “The firm understood my need, too, to be who I am.”
Armey said he spent part of today going over the wording of the announcement.
“How can we possibly inform the world of my decision to leave the firm without it being misrepresented and mischaracterized?” he said. Armey said he also spoke to some clients to whom he felt especially close, though he did not name them.
Armey repeatedly stressed that FreedomWorks is entirely separate from his work at DLA Piper, and said he was frustrated when commentators associated the two, though he declined to name any specifically. He also said that no one at the firm pressured him to leave.
“No client asked me to leave, nor did any client ask the firm to have me leave,” he said.
Armey was a registered lobbyist for the Recording Industry Association of America, the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, and others while at DLA Piper.
Asked if he would return to DLA Piper, or to a law or lobbying firm, at some point, Armey said: “At this point in my life I need to stay focused on this... I talked to Susan, my wife, about it. We always decide things together. We’re lending our full focus to this fight. We’ll consider other things when we feel like we’ve moved this fight to some degree of conclusion.”
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