WampaGate

It helps with those mortgages -- but it stinks of conflict

The Mighty Firm of Ropes and Gray
Patricks have $324,000 mortgage - he makes $140,535, but she pays the price

By Peter Kenney

What happens when you WIN but take a cut in pay of as much as a couple of million dollars? Well, if your wife is a partner in a major Boston law firm, she remains with the firm and life goes on. You can even keep the big house in Milton and the new 10,000-square-foot weekender in the Berkshires while you serve as governor...of Massachusetts. This is precisely the situation in which Deval Patrick and his wife, Diane, found themselves when he was elected governor of Massachusetts. Diane Patrick is a partner in the firm of Ropes and Gray -- a rich, old, well-connected and powerful law firm.

$324K -- and that’s just to pay the mortgage

Prior to being elected governor, Deval Patrick had served as Vice President/Corporate Counsel/Corporate Secretary of the Coca Cola Corporation. He had held seats on the board of directors of both United Airlines and Ameriquest -- a well-known national predatory lender. While at Coca Cola, Patrick’s personal compensation package was substantial: in his first year $1.5 million; $2 million in his final year and a $2 million severance payment plus stock options, pension contributions and other benefits. Of course, carrying nearly $6 million in mortgages in 2006 with total monthly payments of $27,000, the Patricks could hardly be expected to live on the Massachusetts governor's salary of $140,535.00. At $27,000 per month, the Patricks need a yearly take of $324,000 just to pay their mortgages.

Firm connections.

So, how much is a full partner at one of the East Coast's premier law firms worth? No one knows other than a few people at the firm, other partners, the Patricks themselves and their lawyers and tax people. As did other candidates, Patrick refused to make his tax returns public. But, since his wife remains a partner at Ropes and Gray the public should perhaps be concerned that -- while he pushes ahead for legalization of casino gambling in Massachusetts -- his wife is a member of a very prosperous law firm that holds membership in the American Gaming Association. It is the only law firm in America that holds this membership.

Dan Kennedy (MEDIA NATION) offers an overview of three published pieces from the past year dealing with Ropes and Gray and their relationship to gambling interests. One is CapeCodToday’s reporting that the firm was believed to be providing counsel to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Shawn Hendricks and council member Desiree Hendricks. That was when they were called to testify before a federal grand jury looking into the management of council affairs by deposed council chairman Glenn Marshall. The second and third pieces come from the Boston Phoenix and the Boston Globe, respectively.

A leave of absence – it’s cleaner that way

What should we make of the Deval and Diane/Ropes and Gray connection to major gambling interests? Would it not be better for all concerned if this problem had never reared its ugly head? Why could Diane Patrick not have said, "Honey, I love the firm but it would be a lot cleaner if I take a leave of absence while you are bankrupting the state and take some little job as, oh, say a college president or the executive director at some non-profit agency. There must be a lot of those jobs around for a governor's wife...nothing big or splashy, just some little half-million-dollar-a-year gig until folks catch wise to you."

See, simple solution. She gets to pay the mortgages, he gets to keep his hands clean and Ropes and Gray will still do just fine. Not to make light of this situation; Diane Patrick is a lawyer with a strong resume and demonstrated marketable skills. She is also married to this state's chief executive, a man who is driving hard to establish vast gambling enterprises in Massachusetts.

It’s a gamble to stay with the firm

It is just plain dumb for her or her husband or even for Ropes and Gray to risk the appearance of conflict that this situation so clearly presents. If being married to then-Governor Bill Clinton was sufficient to get Hillary Clinton a seat on the board of directors of Wal-Mart, Diane Patrick can certainly find herself a "good job" somewhere far away from the gambling issue.

All partners in law firms share in the firm's profits. Ropes and Gray is a rich and highly profitable firm. Even though she may recuse herself from any decisions or even conversations about the firm's representation of gambling interests, strategies, fees and similar matters, she will still gain substantial monetary benefits from her husband's policies as governor because she is a member of the mighty firm of Ropes and Gray. It will help with those mortgages -- but it stinks of conflict.