Former DNC Chair Ed Rendell Returns to Management Law Firm

January 24, 2011 – Ballard Spahr has announced that former Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell is returning as a member of the firm in its Philadelphia office. Governor Rendell is a former Mayor of Philadelphia, City District Attorney and Chair of the Democratic National Committee.

In one of his last acts as governor, Rendell vetoed a bill that enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support and would have made it easier for fire fighters who develop cancer to collect workers' compensation benefits.

Pennsylvania fire fighters struggled for nearly 20 years to win passage of cancer presumption legislation, and this year gained political support in the state legislature. The measure, HB 1231, had passed the Pennsylvania House by a vote of 195-1, and carried a GOP-controlled Senate with only four dissenting votes. Rendell was the only lawmaker left standing in the way of this important measure for Pennsylvania fire fighters. The outgoing governor waited until the very end of the state’s legislative calendar to kill the bill with his veto pen, leaving fire fighters with almost no opportunity to convince legislators to override the veto.

IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger sent a letter to the Democratic National Committee and National Governors Association expressing disappointment and anger at Governor Ed Rendell for vetoing the measure. 

"Rendell’s post political career comes as no surprise," says Schaitberger. "For eight years, as governor of the Commonwealth, he shamelessly shilled for the anti-labor law firm, Ballard Spahr. Now, he's getting paid for his efforts.” 

"I would hope that former Governor Rendell softens his stance towards labor, especially those public sector workers who have sworn to give up their lives if called upon in defense of their communities," says President
of the  Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association Art Martynuska. "The PPFFA will revisit cancer presumption again this session, and we will prevail against those forces who misguided their clients and the former governor into believing what the bill wasn’t."

Ballard Spahr, a national firm with more than 475 lawyers in 13 offices in the United States, provides a range of services in governmental affairs, lobbying, employment, litigation, business and finance, real estate, intellectual property and public finance.