The News & Observer Raleigh, NC
Copyright 1997
Sunday, April 27, 1997
News
Big campaign donor says he does it for the 'little people'
BILL KRUEGER
STAFF WRITER
FAYETTEVILLE -- Wade Byrd threw around a lot of money in last
year's election.
The Fayetteville lawyer gave $75,000 to the national Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee and another $20,000 to the national
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He gave thousands of
dollars to the state Democratic Party and to candidates such as Gov. Jim Hunt, Attorney General Mike Easley and Supreme Court Chief
Justice Burley Mitchell. He contributed to congressional and Senate
races from North Carolina to Wyoming.
Byrd gave so much money, in fact, that he lost count before the
year was over.
"I know it was a lot of money," he says.
It was about $150,000, according to state and federal campaign
finance records. That easily put him in the big leagues of North
Carolina's political contributors.
"I want to be a player," Byrd says. "I want to be involved. I
want to be part of the process."
Byrd is a player in the soft money game, the unregulated flow of
money to party committees to help individual candidates.
He gave $20,000, for example, to the Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee to help former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt in his
race against U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. Under federal law, people cannot
give more than $2,000 directly to an individual candidate.
"That's the way Harvey wanted it rather than it going directly to
Harvey," Byrd says.
A native of Fayetteville, Byrd is one of the leading medical
malpractice lawyers in the country. Working out of a restored
Victorian house in the shadow of the Cumberland County Courthouse,
Byrd clearly wins more than he loses.
That's why he was in a position to contribute thousands of dollars
to Democratic candidates and committees last year.
Byrd, the president of the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, says his
political contributions are merely an extension of what he does in
his law practice.
"I represent little people," he says. "My clients are workers and
injured people and brain-damaged babies, and those people don't
really have a voice. They're not IBM and they're not the phone
company and they're not the banks and the chambers of commerce, and
they need a voice.
"And so - I can get right evangelistic about this - they need a
voice and they need a level playing field."
Byrd says he doesn't like the emphasis on money in American
politics, that it tilts the playing field in favor of those who have
money. Specifically, Byrd worries that it gives an unfair advantage
to big business and insurance companies, groups that Byrd says would
like to limit people's access to the courts and "just erode the
fundamental right to a jury trial."
"Those are things that are very sacred to me, and I go nuts," he
says.
So he gives money in an effort to elect candidates - mostly
Democrats - who share his beliefs. The money also ensures that the
same doors that are open to big business lobbyists are open to him.
"If your question is do I believe I'm buying access, the answer is
no," he says. "If the question is do I expect my voice to be heard
among the voices they hear, the answer is yes."
What, Byrd is asked, is the difference?
"One is a bad thing," he says, "the other is a good thing."
Byrd says there is nothing scientific about how he decides where
to spend his money. Now that he is known as a major contributor,
Byrd says, candidates call all the time asking for money. U.S. Sen.
Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, who was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee, called several times.
"Once your name's out there, you're dead meat," Byrd says.
Byrd says he tries to help where he can. He contributed $1,000 to
a Senate candidate in Wyoming because he got a call from someone at
the American Trial Lawyers Association saying the candidate needed
help.
Byrd gave another $75,000 in soft money to the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee. Byrd had planned to give that
money to President Clinton's re-election campaign, through the
Democratic National Committee. But Terry McAuliffe, one of Clinton's
top fund-raisers, urged Byrd to give it to the congressional
committee instead.
At the time Clinton seemed assured of a victory and he wanted to
make sure Democrats got elected to Congress, Byrd said.
"I said if that's what the president wants, that's what I'll do.
I thought it was smart on his part. His folks knew that I was trying
to help the president."
Byrd has heard all the talk about campaign finance reform, but he
remains skeptical.
"If there remain ways to circumvent it, then why not just leave it
alone," he says. "If all you're trying to sell is the appearance of
reform to the public, then why not just have the guts to say that.
Unless we can overhaul it completely, this tinkering is not doing any
good."
Whether or not he likes the system, Byrd intends to continue to be
a player as long as he can afford it.
"I can sit back and bitch about what's wrong with the system or I
can try to be a part," he says. "I just elected to try to be a
part."
Bill Krueger can be reached at 829-4522 or bkrueger@nando.com
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