Legal News

As Palin Gets Picked Over, Some Eyes Turn to Culvahouse

By Ashby Jones

As details of Sarah Palin’s past have dribbled out over the last several days (Troopergate, her daughter’s pregnancy, her husband’s DUI), some have questioned the thoroughness of John McCain’s veep-vetting process. So it’s perhaps only natural that the name A.B. Culvahouse would start appearing with more frequency.

Culvahouse, the chairman of O’Melveny & Myers, a former counsel to President Reagan and a well-respected Beltway lawyer, was tapped by McCain earlier in the year to head up McCain’s VP search team.

Both the LA Times and the Washington Post report today that Culvahouse sat down with Palin for a lengthy interview last week. When asked by the LA Times why more of Palin’s Alaska colleagues hadn’t been contacted, McCain aide Mark Salter said that Culvahouse and his team of lawyers “are very good and very discreet.”

An American Lawyer article out today on the topic asks whether McCain’s timing may have made life difficult for Culvahouse and his team. McCain’s need for discretion and secrecy may have compounded problems. According to the WaPo, Culvahouse was chasing down last-minute information about Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty at the request of the campaign as late as last Thursday, the day McCain offered the job to Palin and she accepted. Culvahouse did not respond to a request for comment made by AmLaw, and did not immediately respond to a call placed by us.

Still, as Palin gears up for tonight’s speech at the Republican Convention in St. Paul, the campaign is sticking by her wholeheartedly. Asked by the LA Times whether there was any chance Palin would be dropped from the ticket, Salter responded indignantly: “Why? What would be the reason? Her daughter’s pregnant? A bunch of cable chatter? He made the right pick. He’s very excited.”

Photo: O’Melveny & Myers

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 03, 2008 (boomark / email).