The New York Times profiles Bill Halter today and a familiar portrait emerges of an ambitious, disciplined politician who hasn’t left a broad trail of personal admirers.
The piece digs upLara Bergthold, a former co-worker on Wesley Clark’s presidential campaign, who says Halter may not be the liberal he’s been painted. (I’m not sure the unions and liberal groups backing him are necessarily convinced of true-blue progressive tendencies as much as they are sure his tendencies on some issues are better than Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s.)
I don’t like to see him turned into a progressive darling on the national stage when I know him to be something different,” Ms. Bergthold said. “He’s a political opportunist.”
…. After serving on the board of several technology companies, Mr. Halter joined the Clark campaign as the traveling chief of staff, quickly frustrating other team members with what they described as an overbearing style.
“The one thing that united the campaign was dislike of Bill Halter,” Ms. Bergthold said. “He was the only person I know of that left the campaign not of his own volition.”
LR businessman Walter Smiley also recounts in unflattering terms Halter’s brief tenure with a local think tank and his departure to work for the Clinton presidential campaign.