Edwards affair seen here as betrayal
Buffalo lawyers believed in him
WASHINGTON — For some of Buffalo’s most prominent trial lawyers, John Edwards’ admission that he had an affair with a campaign videographer is much more than a tabloid scandal.
It’s a personal betrayal from a colleague who they thought could and should become president.
“I’m obviously very disappointed,” said Michael H. Doran, one of several local attorneys who formed an unusually generous local support network for Edwards in Buffalo. “We spent a lot of time helping him and believed in his cause.”
Local lawyers like Doran gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Edwards’ efforts — including $62,250 of the $1.9 million raised by the Edwards political committee that paid his mistress $114,461 for four YouTube campaign videos.
“We had no idea that money was being used in that way,” said Francis M. Letro, another prominent Western New York lawyer who contributed heavily to Edwards’ efforts because he felt so strongly about Edwards’ efforts to fight poverty.
In addition to the money local lawyers gave to Edwards’ “One America Committee” — which paid Edwards’ mistress, Rielle Hunter, for those videos — attorneys from Western New York raised $230,000 for Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign and $75,525 for his 2008 effort.
Buffalo-area lawyers raised more money for Edwards’ political committee in 2005 and 2006 — the latter being the year he had the affair — than he got from lawyers in Boston and Philadelphia combined, federal records show.
Edwards’ relationship with local lawyers had its roots in three visits he made to Buffalo in 2003, which left several of Buffalo’s leading personal-injury attorneys excited that an eloquent and passionate colleague of theirs had a serious shot at the presidency.
“I found him to be a bright, articulate fellow,” Paul W. Beltz, a lawyer who enlisted colleagues to contribute to Edwards in 2004, said at the time. “He’s hard-working and a good family man. He comes from a humble background, which means he understands the rights of individuals and wants justice for everybody.”
Edwards raised more money locally than any of the 2004 Democratic primary candidates. His periodic fundraising trips to Buffalo continued after he served as Sen. John F. Kerry’s running mate on the 2004 Democratic ticket, which lost to President Bush, and as the former North Carolina senator formed the “One America Committee” as the run-up to his 2008 campaign.
“He has strong support in Western New York,” John P. Feroleto, one of the lawyers who spearheaded the local Edwards fundraising effort, said in April 2007. “He’s a sincere person, and that resonates here. He comes from a working-class background and is in touch with regular everyday folks.”
Feroleto and many other big Edwards donors from the Buffalo area did not return telephone calls seeking comment on the scandal, revealed by the National Enquirer.
The scandal broke into the mainstream media Friday, when Edwards — who had publicly denied having the affair — told ABC News that he had a fling with Hunter in late 2006. He told ABC the liaison occurred after he hired her as a campaign videographer to produce four “webisodes” chronicling Edwards’ political activities.
Edwards insisted the affair ended in 2006, but he acknowledged to ABC that he visited Hunter in Los Angeles last month, and the Enquirer claims he fathered the girl Hunter gave birth to in February. Edwards denied fathering the child, and a former Edwards campaign aide, Andrew Young, has said he is the father.
In the wake of it all, Doran and Letro indicated they were deeply troubled by the news. They and other local lawyers not only donated money, but also time to the Edwards cause, campaigning for him in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere.
“He was vibrant, a new voice, a new approach,” Doran said of Edwards. “He was full of energy. He was something different from the other candidates.”
Like Doran, Letro stressed Edwards’ working-class roots and his insistence on making poverty and the plight of working people central issues in his efforts.
“He spoke of values that were important to me,” Letro said.
Phillip Lucas of the News Washington Bureau contributed to this report.
