Messenger - Vol. 2, No. 2, Page 28 Winter 1993 Alumni Profile: From poppy fields to boxing rings Alighting from a helicopter into a Thailand opium field, taking a deposition from world heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield and going eyeball-to-eyeball with Peter Chong-the John Gotti of Asian organized crime-are not common experiences for your average American attorney. But to Leighton Lord III, Delaware '86, these are just a few of the challenges he has experienced since September 1991, when he signed on as a staff counsel with the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI). Working in the Russell Senate Office Building in the nation's capital is a dramatic change from rural Georgetown, Del., where Lord was born and reared. Lord's parents are both Delaware graduates and attending the Newark campus had always been a "given." He initially majored in communication, thinking he might go into journalism or broadcasting. Later, after working as an intern in the Delaware lieutenant governor's office, he decided to add political science to his major. A series of jobs with Republican candidates enhanced to his experience. Most important was a 1984 election-year stint as personal assistant for Sussex County lawyer Battle Robinson when she made her bid for the lieutenant governor's post. "I was her driver and volunteer coordinator. I was with her every day, all through the campaign," Lord says. Working closely with one of the first women in Delaware to run for a statewide office was his "greatest experience," he says. Several years later, after earning a law degree from Vanderbilt University, Lord took a position with a Wilmington corporate law firm, working there until, through a combination of hard work, luck and persistence, he received a call from Dan Rinzel, chief counsel to Delaware U.S. Sen. William V. Roth Jr. An opening had occurred, his resume was on file and, within weeks, he was working one block from the U.S. Capitol. Lord explains that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations serves as the eyes and ears of Congress, looking at everything that goes on in the executive and judicial branches. "Congress truly exercises the checks and balances that are an important part of the Constitution," says Lord. "Congress can't legislate effectively if it can't keep an eye on the executive branch and the rest of government." Lord says in some instances the subcommittee discovers areas of waste and abuse that need correction and, through its public hearings, brings the issues to the attention of the American public. Several of the subcommittee's public hearings are in the history books, including the McCarthy hearings on loyalty to the government in the 1950s and the Valachi hearings on organized crime in the 1960s. The late Robert F. Kennedy once held the chief counsel position, when he conducted his investigation of Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters union. Today, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations' inquiries include Asian organized crime, money laundering, corruption in boxing and international drug trafficking-topics that make the front pages of the country's largest, and smallest, daily newspapers. Eventually, Lord says, the subcommittee hopes to zero in on health-care fraud. He says he and his colleagues summarize their objectives with three words: waste, fraud and abuse. To complete his assignments, Lord has traveled to places his corporate colleagues would never dream of visiting, unless they were on an exotic vacation. During the recent professional boxing investigation, he conducted interviews in the smelly gyms of North Philly and Trenton, N.J., as well as the glitzy casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Immediately after Lord took a deposition from Peter Chong, the Asian crime lord fled the country with the FBI hot on his heels. The necessity to get everything during that one, single interview adds to the pressure of the job, Lord says, "but it's good pressure. It forces you to know everything and learn all you can possibly learn. You can never know enough about the topics." Computer searches on new topics provide thick stacks of printouts that Lord and fellow investigators review prior to critical interviews. He explains that he must become extremely well-versed regarding the background of the specific individual and general topic of every investigation. Otherwise, he may be unable to determine if the witness is being cooperative or simply providing useless or erroneous information that might jeopardize the entire investigation. One of his most satisfying experiences resulted from his work on Asian organized crime. "When the law enforcement guys give you a call and say your hearings did a lot of good," says Lord, "it means the most. It really does." He says lawyers who have been experienced prosecutors are usually chosen as subcommittee counsels. In his case, he says, a combination of factors-including his varied experience in the local political process, his good grades at Delaware and in law school and his periodic inquiries into the position-were important factors. "I've never had any situation where persistence hurt you," says Lord. "If you keep going back, it shows that you're not a quitter and that you will keep fighting for something you want. I don't think what you do is as important as how you do it, as long as you do it well." -Ed Okonowicz, Delaware '69 '84M