The Mighty Quinn: Fixer In A Fix

Last August, at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Jack Quinn was feeling on top of his game. He had punched all the right tickets in his 33 years in Washington: congressional aide, campaign manager, law firm partner, chief of staff to Vice-President Al Gore, and finally White House legal counsel to President Bill Clinton. Now he had his own lobbying and strategic advice firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates, with 25 employees and billings last year of about $8 million. And he was much in demand--not only as one of Al Gore's top strategists but also as a Washington power player who could resolve complex legislative and regulatory issues for such clients as Viacom, Cisco, DaimlerChrysler, and BET Holdings.

But there was one unfinished piece of business from his previous position at law firm Arnold & Porter that Quinn wanted to wrap up. He had become consumed by the case of Marc Rich, the commodities trader who fled the country 17 years ago rather than stand trial on 65 counts of tax evasion, racketeering, and trading with the enemy. Rich had hired Quinn a year earlier and convinced him that he had been wrongly accused and would not receive a fair trial if he returned. After the election, Quinn told Rich, he would ask Clinton for a pardon. If successful, Quinn might join the ranks of such legendary fixers as Edward Bennett Williams, who also had represented Rich.