Edward Weidenfeld

Edward L. Weidenfeld, is the former counsel to the United States House Committee on Insular Affairs from 1971-1973 and counsel to the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign. As the founder of the Weidenfeld Law Firm [ [http://http://weidenfeldlaw.com/] ] , P.C. in Washington, D.C., he is an attorney specializing in estate and asset protection law. [cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E6DF163AF931A35755C0A9649C8B63|title=LOVE & MONEY; Cherished, but for What?|publisher=The New York Times|date=2002-06-02] He also serves as co-chair of the Board of Visitors of the National Defense University and is a board member and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Center for the Study of the Presidency.

Biography

Three Presidents appointed Weidenfeld to advisory positions, including the President’s Commission on White House Fellows in 1977 and the Council on Administrative Conference of the United States in 1981, 1985 and 1988. He was named a senior fellow to the Council on Administrative Conference in 1991.

In 1982, Weidenfeld was appointed Chairman of the Advisory Panel for Foreign Disaster Relief by then Administrator of the Agency for International Development, Peter McPherson. In 1983, he was appointed co-counsel to the Democracy Project, whose charge was structuring the National Endowment for Democracy. Among other international projects in his law practice during this time, Mr. Weidenfeld negotiated the first free exchange between the U.S. media and Novisti, the Soviet News Agency. He also represented the Government of South Africa following Nelson Mandela’s election in 1984. [cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/06/04/AR2007060400683_pf.html|title=Lawmaker Indicted on Corruption Charges|publisher=The Washington Post|date=2007-06-07]

Relationship with Department of Housing and Urban Development

In the late 1980's Mr. Weidenfeld, as one of three partners, purchased a HUD housing project in Brunswick, Georgia [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4D9153BF93BA25753C1A96F948260 Housing Group Must Forfeit $700,000 - New York Times ] ] , and received federal monetary assistance from R. Hunter Cushing - a deputy assistant secretary who has since resigned - in the amount of approximately $750,000. Mr. Weidenfeld and his partners were required by HUD auditors to forfeit $757,700 when it was alleged that the money was used for what the agency termed "inappropriate" or "unsupported" expenditures [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4D9153BF93BA25753C1A96F948260 Housing Group Must Forfeit $700,000 - New York Times] ] , an allegation that was later debunked by statements made by HUD officials. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFDB133DF931A15756C0A966958260 Editor's Note - New York Times] ] The decision was overruled inexplicably by Mr. Cushing, but later reinstated by HUD official C. Austin Fitts, the succeeding Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Mr. Cushing later invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and refused to cooperate with a Congressional inquiry into allegations of widespread political favoritism at H.U.D. during the Reagan Administration. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4D9153BF93BA25753C1A96F948260 Housing Group Must Forfeit $700,000 - New York Times ] ] HUD later barred Edward Weidenfeld and his partners from doing business with them in eight southern states for the period of one year. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE6DF1E3CF933A25752C1A96F948260 H.U.D. Suspending Business Ties With Ex-Election Aide to Reagan - New York Times ] ]

Election Monitoring

Weidenfeld has been an official election observer in the Philippines, Korea, Pakistan, Chile and Albania for the National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, Global Rights: Partners for Justice (formerly the International Human Rights Law Group), and the International Foundation for Election Studies. [cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/washington/20jefferson.html?_r=2&n=Top/News/World/Countries%20and%20Territories/Nigeria&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin|title=Nigerian Official Denies Congressman Bribed Him|publisher=The New York Times|date=2006-07-20] [cite web|url=http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=8133&z=4|title=Nigeria official denies taking bribes from congressman|publisher=nm.OnlineNigeria.com|date=2006-07-21]

Education

Weidenfeld received his law degree from Columbia Law School and his bachelor of science with honors from the University of Wisconsin.

Personal

He is married to Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, daughter of the late Maxwell Rabb, who served as Ambassador to Italy and secretary of President Dwight Eisenhower’s cabinet. The couple has two boys.

References