Susan Sher

Why She Matters In June 2009, the first lady replaced her top staffer with a member of her inner circle from Chicago; the two women know each other from their days working together in the Chicago mayor’s office in the early 1990s. Sher and Michelle Obama have stayed close friends and co-workers over the years. Sher provided legal advice to the first lady and advised her on legal issues related to health care before being asked to step in as Michelle Obama's chief of staff in June 2009, as a replacement for the departing Jackie Norris. Before moving to Washington, D.C., Sher spent the previous decade as the vice president for legal and government affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Before that, she was Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s (D) lead attorney. Sher oversaw negotiations, court proceedings and some scandals in her eight years of Chicago service. Though Michelle Obama has said she is going to leave the governing to her husband, the New York Times wrote that Sher could be the first lady’s most effective advocate in the East Wing.(1) Sher is also close to Valerie Jarrett, assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison. Path to Power Sher graduated from George Washington University in Washington D.C.in 1970 and Loyola University of Chicago School of Law in 1974. In between undergraduate and law school, she studied art history at the University of Chicago. But she left to pursue a law degree, and finished second in her class at Loyola.(2) After law school, she went to the law firm Mayer Brown & Platt, where she specialized in labor law. Sher was associate general counsel for the University of Chicago from 1985 to 1989 before moving to city hall.(3) She worked in the office of Chicago Mayor Daley from 1989 to 1997. For the first four years, she was the first assistant corporation counsel for the city, and then she worked as the corporation counsel for four more years. She was the first woman to head the Department of Law for the city of Chicago.(4) In the mayor’s office, Sher came across the resume of a woman who wanted to leave her work as a lawyer at a big law firm: Michelle Obama. She passed the resume along to co-worker Valerie Jarrett, who had taken a similar career path from the private sector to the mayor’s office. Jarrett and Obama soon became good friends.(5) Sher was also friends with both Obama and Jarrett. “They have a very close relationship that is based in mutual respect and shared sense of values,” Jarrett said of Sher and Obama.(6) Two years before she left the mayor’s office, Sher was in contention for a federal judgeship, but she lost out to a longtime friend, Joan Gottschal.(7) In 1997, Sher left city hall to become vice president and general counsel of the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she would eventually work again with both Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett. She continued to serve at the medical center until January 2009, when President Barack Obama asked her to be his associate White House counsel. She will work closely with Michelle Obama and will advise the administration on legal issues surrounding health care.(8) The Issues Sher’s work has been primarily as a lawyer, but she has an extensive background in health care and public policy. For more than a decade before she joined the White House, Sher worked as the vice president for legal and government affairs at the University of Chicago’s Medical Center, which has nearly 10,000 employees. The medical center described her job there as being “responsible for all legal, government, regulatory and community affairs. She also worked on governance issues.”(9)Sher served as a registered lobbyist for the University of Chicago Hospital system during that time.(10) Michelle Obama was working at the university’s community service center, which she had founded, when Sher hired her in 2001 to be executive director of community affairs for the University of Chicago Hospitals. Sher wanted Obama to create an Office of Community Affairs, but “we really didn't know what this office would be, so it was really her creation,” Sher said. Sher asked Obama to further integrate the medical center with the surrounding communities. Under the Healthy Communities Access Program, Obama established a program that helped patients get primary care so they didn’t come to the emergency room with non-urgent complaints.(11) City of Chicago Litigation In Mayor Daley’s office, Sher supervised a staff of 250 lawyers presiding over a wide range of issues. "It's been an incredible learning experience," she said when she decided to leave for the medical center. "There's such a broad range of legal issues facing the city. One is bombarded with them every day, from the flood to major civil rights cases and economic development. When you arrive in the morning you never know exactly what you'll be dealing with."(12) One of those major issues was the flooding of Chicago’s Loop in 1992. A construction company allegedly caused a flood while driving pilings into the Chicago River resulting in millions of dollars in damage. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that maritime rules covered the flood, which meant that the dredging company’s liability was limited. It was a major defeat for the city.(7) While working for Daley, Sher presided over numerous negotiations with both unions and Republicans. Daley’s office consistently fought over Meigs Field, an airport on the lake that Daley wanted to turn into a park. The mayor met stiff opposition from pilots groups and Gov. Jim Edgar (R), who said it would hurt the economy to close the commuter airport. Shortly before Sher left the mayor’s office, a Cook County judge stopped an attempt by Edgar to seize control of the airport, a Daley victory. But the situation was not resolved by the time Sher left the mayor’s office.(13) Sher also got out of city hall just as a federal investigation was beginning to examine allegations of ghost payrolling in Chicago.(14) Joseph Martinez, a former Chicago alderman, admitted to doing no work for the city for seven years despite being on the payroll of three city council committees. At the time, Martinez was working at the law firm of Alderman Edward Burke. Sher said that she contacted federal authorities as soon as she found out about the illegal checks. But Sher had already left city government by the time the probe kicked into high gear.(15) The Network Sher is very close to Michelle Obama. Sher, Obama and Valerie Jarrett got to know each other while working in Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s (D) office. All three later worked together at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Sher also sat on the board of the University of Chicago’s Lab School with Martin Nesbitt, John W. Rogers and Jarrett, all of whom are good friends with President Barack Obama. Campaign Contributions Sher has given more than $24,000 to political candidates since 2000, and almost all of that money has gone to Illinois Democrats: Sens. Richard Durbin, Barack Obama and Carol Moseley-Braun and Reps. Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Jan Schakowsky. She also gave money to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).(16) Footnotes 1. Swarns, Rachel L., “For new first lady, hints of agenda and tone,” The New York Times, Jan. 20, 2009 2. “Sher appointed hospitals’ VP, General Counsel,” The University of Chicago Chronicle, April 3, 1997 3. “Susan Sher, vice president for legal and government affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center to join Obama admnisitration,” The University of Chicago, Jan. 9, 2009 4. “Sher appointed hospitals’ VP, General Counsel,” The University of Chicago Chronicle, April 3, 1997 5. Becker, Jonathan, “Barack’s rock,” Vogue, Oct. 2008 6. McCormick, John, “Chicagoan named associate counsel to president,” Chicago Tribune (Illinois), Jan. 6, 2009 7. Spielman, Fran, “Sher looks forward to new job, new pace,” Chicago Sun-Times, Feb. 12, 1997 8. Sweet, Lynn, “U of Chicago Hospital VP Susan Sher tapped to be White House associate counsel,” Chicago Sun Times, Jan. 5, 2009 9. “Susan Sher, vice president for legal and government affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center to join Obama admnisitration,” The University of Chicago, Jan. 9, 2009 10. "Obama's lobbyists," National Journal, March 21, 2009 11. Stephens, Joe, "Obama camp has many ties to wife's employer," The Washington Post, Aug. 22, 2008 12. Wagenhofer, Karen, “Chicago IP Boutiques Merge,” Illinois Legal Times, April 1997 13. Burns, Terry, “Judge sides with Chicago on Meigs,” The State Journal-Register (Springfield, Ill.), Oct. 2, 1996 14. Heard, Jacquelyn, “City’s top lawyer leaving post to become U of C Hospital VP,” Chicago Tribune, Feb. 11, 1997 15. Heard, Jacquelyn, “Daley settles on ghost check story,” Chicago Tribune, Jan. 29, 1997 16. Center for Responsive Politics