The race for the U.S. Presidency
was made local on October 13
when the last of three presidential debates was held at Arizona
State University. Dignitaries,
donors, some lucky students and
even some Arizona lawyers were
able to sit in Gammage
Auditorium as history was made.
ARIZONA ATTORNEY magazine sat down with two lawyers
whose jobs took them to
Gammage. Howard Sukenic
and Michael Kemp are each
Assistant United States
Attorneys. As such, they were
tapped by the U.S. Attorney to
represent the office to the two
candidates and serve their Secret
Service details during their
Arizona visit. We asked the two
INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS
BY TIM EIGO
lawyers about their experience.
Debatable History
Arizona a Stop in Presidential Race
ARIZONA ATTORNEY: What do you do at
the U.S. Attorney’s Office?
Howard Sukenic: I’m in the white-collar
unit, so primarily economic crimes, public
corruption, tax cases.
Michael Kemp: I’m in the violent crimes
section. I primarily work on terrorist-relatMICHAEL KEMP AND HOWARD SUKENIC
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A R I Z O N A AT T O R N E Y D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 4
ed investigations, and that includes domestic and international cases. I’m currently
handling the Hell’s Angels RICO case that
we did, which we consider domestic terrorism. And I do investigations of international terrorism and persons of interest in the
State of Arizona.
AZAT : What in your work as
lawyers led you to be involved with
the debate?
Sukenic: Whenever the president is
in town, or a presidential candidate,
an Assistant United States Attorney
has to be assigned to the detail.
Kemp: I think it’s at the request of
the Secret Service. They always like
to have a federal prosecutor available, just in case there’s a legal issue
that comes up or if there’s a threat.
Sukenic: We’re there to assess. The AUSAs
can make reports, take statements, and
[decide] whether you want to pursue it or
not.
The [Secret Service] agents I was
assigned to were called ID agents—the
identification team. They coordinated the
running down of issues.
Kemp: They’re primarily focused on identifying individuals who could be a threat.
There were a couple of individuals who
were brought to our attention, and they get
detailed information about their identity,
their appearance, the nature of the threat,
who they are, whether or not they have
contacted these people to try to assess the
threat.
AZAT: Why were you two chosen to do this?
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INTERVIEWED BY THE MEDIA
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist;
retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark; Presidential adviser Karl Rove;
former Presidential candidate Carol Moseley Braun; Arizona Sen. John
McCain; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.,
President of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; Arizona Gov. Janet
Napolitano. CENTER: Vanessa Kerry, daughter of Sen. John Kerry.
PICTURED ON PAGE 4: Ralph Reed, Former Executive Director of the Christian Coalition.
PICTURED ON PAGE 2, TOP RIGHT: Walter Cronkite.
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D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 4 A R I Z O N A AT T O R N E Y
41
Debatable History
Kemp: The U.S. Attorney decides, and he
just approaches assistants in the office who
might be interested in it. He offered it to
me one time when the President was in
town about a year ago; it was for a fundraiser or something. But I had to go out of
town; I couldn’t do it. I’m kind of glad
now that I didn’t, because he offers it to
different people, and this time it was a
debate.
Sukenic: [U.S. Attorney] Paul [Charlton]
called me the Friday before and asked me
to serve with the
President’s team,
and
I
started
When the
Tuesday morning. I
Secret
greeted
the
Service
President at Air
Force One.
goes into
AZAT: What were
motion,
your duties?
it’s
Sukenic: To always
be available. Every
amazing
time the motorcade
to see
moved, you had to
how it all
be there.
works.
Kemp: You’re basically assigned to a
particular agent,
who watches out for you and makes sure
you’re on board with everything. I was on
Senator Kerry’s detail.
I just had one long day; it was
Wednesday. [Sen. John Kerry] came in the
morning. We went to Tempe so that he
could do a walk-through at the auditorium.
Then we went right out to the Westin
Kierland Resort, and we didn’t see him
much for a few hours, because he was either
resting or prepping. Then about 4:15, we
went back down to Gammage. After that,
we went to Tempe Town Lake for a rally.
Then we took him to the airport.
It was a long day. The Secret Service
agents really work hard. And when they go
into motion, it’s amazing to see how it all
works.
Sukenic: And it’s not just Secret Service.
It’s just about every police agency in the
Valley.
Kemp: The coordination with law enforcement agencies was really remarkable.
Sukenic: My work was different, because
the President came in Tuesday morning, so
we went to the airport. On the tarmac, I
was introduced to the agent I was going to
be with. When the plane touched down,
they directed the motorcade to inch up to
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A R I Z O N A AT T O R N E Y D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 4
the plane. Our car was assigned to be right
under the left wing. So when the President
came out, we were right there. When he
got in his car, the motorcade went right to
the Sanctuary, where he had a fund-raiser.
Then we went to the [Royal Palms] hotel.
There was a lot of downtime. But everyone
got up again when they realized the
President wanted to go to dinner. We took
the motorcade out to Dick’s Hideaway.
Everything moves very fast in a motorcade. They’re going fast, and all the streets
are shut off. And they’re not going 30
mph; they’re going 50 to 70 mph. And
they took a very urban street and turned it
into a circus in a matter of minutes.
AZAT: What was security like for you?
Sukenic: Camelback Road was partially
shut down. So as you got to the sign that
said “Detour,” you had to hold your ID
out the window and go through a few
checkpoints. At the hotel, an agent manually searched your vehicle—everything.
And then they ran a dog through it, including the engine compartment.
AZAT: Where were you during the debate?
Kemp: For a lot of it, we were sitting right
next to each other, watching the debate.
AZAT: Even with all the details to keep
track of, did you feel you were part of a historic moment?
Sukenic: It was the opportunity of a lifetime. Even though it was business, it was a
great opportunity.
Kemp: Yeah. There was plenty to do, but
there were a lot of times when you sit back
and say “Wow! This is a very historic
event.”
Sukenic: You don’t go to law school and
think that sometime in your career you’ll
be riding in the President’s motorcade. The
last time I saw a president I was standing in
a crowd with thousands of people. This
time you could see him all the time, and he
was very close.
And the debate clearly showed that they
were both smart guys; the questions came
quick. From the stylistic standpoint as a
trial attorney who also does appellate arguments, you could pick up some pointers.
Kemp: Before it started, you could cut the
tension with a knife.
Sukenic: Arriving in the motorcade was
like arriving to a big prizefight; that was
kind of the atmosphere.
[That was true] even on the road. There
would be people holding up signs in favor
of the President. As you got closer to the
University, there were some kids shouting
at the limousine.
Kemp: It was amazing how excited some
people got when they realized what was
going on.
AZAT: Did you meet the candidates?
Sukenic: I did at the fund-raiser at the
Sanctuary. The Secret Service agent in
charge just told me, “Come over for a
moment,” and then said “I want to introduce you to the President.” It was just me
walking across a very small room to see the
President and shake his hand. He was
standing by himself, with a photographer in
front of him. I could hear the agent tell him
who I was. But I was just thinking, “Don’t
trip. Say something very nice. Shake his
hand. Take the picture. Don’t bother him.
Leave.”
I can’t even remember what the
President said to me.
AZAT: Mike, did you meet Senator Kerry?
Kemp: Yes. I met him right before he left,
at the airport. The Secret Service, as a gift
to us, try to arrange a photo opportunity.
The agent told me to stand by the stairs
that go into the plane, and he’ll shake your
hand, and they’ll take a picture.
So I introduced myself to him, told him
what I do. He thanked me for my work.
AZAT: What struck you most from your
experience?
Sukenic: Seeing the rally at the Bank One
Ballpark. We were standing in right field.
When the President came out, it was like
the Beatles had come in. All he had to do
was hold his hand up and people went
crazy.
The most interesting thing I saw, I
think, was at the hotel. Every room in the
hotel was taken by Bush and his entourage,
and out comes a bride in the afternoon. I
thought they were shooting an ad. But she
had her reception there. So all the guests
had to have their cars torn apart as they
arrived.
Kemp: It’s amazing what it takes for these
guys to do what they do. Can you imagine
how much stress there must be to be in the
debate? And after they’re done, they go
out, give another speech, they’re shaking
hands, they’re taking photographs. Their
days are just incredible, especially now,
when the campaign couldn’t be hotter. It’s
just incredible how much energy they’ve
got to have.
Sukenic: It was definitely a unique thing
AT
for two lawyers to do on the job. AZ
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