Dentons partner Jeffrey Bleich is criss-crossing California these days, introducing himself to voters who will decide next year whether he should be the state s next lieutenant governor. The Recorder recently caught up with the Democratic candidate before he took his campaign to Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The conversation that follows was edited for length and clarity.
The Recorder: You ve served as U.S. ambassador to Australia, president of the California State Bar, you ve served in the White House
Bleich: Chaired the Cal State [board of] trustees, was president of the Bar Association of California.
Right, OK. Don t you feel like you ve met your public service quota? Why leave the private sector?
After the last election I came away with this feeling that too few people were voting and too many people were feeling left behind. And there were a number of big issues that had to be addressed, and we couldn t count on Washington, D.C., to address them. And so when President Obama said don t agonize, organize, lace up your shoes and run, I thought there are important things we need to do. So I ve decided to lace up my shoes.
Why lieutenant governor? If there s a state office that s more derided, I m not sure what it is.
Lieutenant governor is perfect for the kind of stuff I want to do. You don t get balled up in day to day politics but you have real authority. I want to work on economic issues and the lieutenant governor chairs the Commission for Economic Development. I want to focus on retraining workers for jobs of the future and the lieutenant governor serves on the Cal State board, the community college board and the UC regents the only person who serves on all three simultaneously. I want to focus on the environment and resilience and you serve on the Ocean Protection Council and the State Lands Commission. You re also generally appointed by the governor to the Coastal Commission.
In each of those cases you ve got authority to drive policy and you also have a bully pulpit to drive initiatives on things that matter to people. It s a lot like being ambassador. As an ambassador you could stand on a veranda if you wanted, or else you can do some real hard work on behalf of the people.
You re pretty well known in the Bay Area, in legal circles and Democratic circles. How do you get your name and campaign message out to everyone else?
I m counting on the Australian vote. They re very friendly people and they ll be all over the state of California. But also I ve worked all over the state of California. When I was state bar president I visited all the county bars. Likewise, when I was chair of the Cal State University board, I visited all 23 campuses. And I spent 23 years as part of an LA-based law firm [Munger, Tolles & Olson] And now I m part of the largest law firm in the world, with offices all over California. So I know California well and I know people all over the state.