UM Law student Michael Pieciak, Editor-in-Chief of the UM Law Review, participated in the 2008 Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Denver, Colorado.

	(L-R) Pieciak and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, the brother of UM Law Professor Mary Doyle, on the floor of the 2008 DNC.

“I couldn’t have enjoyed it more,” said Pieciak, a third-year law student.

Born and raised in Brattleboro, Vermont, Pieciak attended the convention as a delegate representing his home state. Not expecting to make it to the DNC floor when he first decided to run for a delegate position, Pieciak was elected as a district-level pledged Hillary Clinton delegate by voters in his hometown district. At the state convention, where locals caucuses decide which delegates will represent the state at the DNC, Pieciak received the second highest number of votes behind former Governor Madeline Kunin. He was among 10 of the state’s 23 delegates who were elected to attend the DNC, where former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, reserved front row seats for the group.

“It really felt like a front row seat to history,” said Pieciak, who attended his first DNC in 2004 as a volunteer worker. “I had been in 2004, but this time was totally different.”

Among the highlights that Pieciak notes from this year’s DNC was Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy’s appearance. “It really felt like the Kennedy family was passing the torch to the Obamas,” he said.

	Pieciak and other members of the Vermont delegation pose with Congressman Patrick Kennedy (front center).

Senator Hillary Clinton’s speech and request to suspend the roll call also topped the list. “Early on, the most difficult thing was to decide which candidate I wanted to support.” said Pieciak, “It was always between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama.”

At the convention, the delegates had to decide as a group who they would support and Pieciak recalls not wanting to let down the people who elected him to vote for Senator Clinton. “We decided as a state that we were going to vote for Obama,” said Pieciak. “I think it was more important for our party to be unified coming out of the convention.”

Pieciak developed his interest in politics in middle school as an executive page to then-governor Howard Dean. Since then, he has interned for the Senate Judiciary Committee under Senator Patrick Leahy in Washington, D.C., the budget division of New York’s Management & Intergovernmental Relations Unit, and law firms in Vermont and New York. He also volunteered with several local campaigns in Vermont including state legislative races, local Senate campaigns, and former Governor Howard Dean’s race to the governor’s seat.

Among the youngest delegates that attended this year’s DNC, Pieciak recently began working with the founders of The New Voter Foundation, a non-partisan  web organization that uses technology, academic research, and polling to engage young voters in the American political system. He is also working on starting a Miami chapter of the National Democratic Law Students Council. Following graduation, Pieciak hopes to attain a judicial clerkship.

Related Links

• UM Law Review website
• Democratic National Convention website
• Vermont Public Radio interview: “Delegate, Michael Pieciak on Clinton supporters & Obama”
• Brattleboro Reformer article: “Local man tapped delegate for Clinton"
• New Voter Foundation website
• National Democratic Law Students Council

posted 10-September-2008