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Not long after the Washington Post matter was resolved, Alan and Patricia Seitz were two of thirty-five lawyers and judges invited by the Department of State to visit China, when China was first opening up to the rest of the world. Another unnamed male lawyer scheduled for the trip was romantically interested in Patricia. It was unrequited. Pa- tricia considered this person a goofball and bemoaned the fact that his presence on the trip would lessen her once-in-a lifetime experience. She shared her concerns with a friend who was also a friend of Alan’s. The mutual friend assured her that Alan not the “forked tongued devil” she thought he was and that she should speak to him. Not surprisingly, the Westinghouse litigation involved multiple pretrial depositions of various nuclear energy experts. Based on his Naval training and familiarity with nuclear submarines, Alan caught one of the plaintiff’s experts misstating an important equation. Alan pointed out the plaintiff’s expert’s mistake and the expert could not stop stuttering during the remain- der of the deposition. The plaintiffs ultimately replaced the stuttering expert. BUSH V. GORE LITIGATION Alan was involved in assisting the 2000 Al Gore presidential campaign re- garding the disputed vote count in Florida. Alan points out the Bush v. Gore litigation was really a family of cases, not simply a single “hanging chad” case. Alan and his law partner, Gerald Richmond, became involved in a con- troversy that took place in Seminole County. Bush had won the Florida election by less than 500 votes. It turned out that in officials in Seminole County allowed the Republican party to come in and make corrections to identified Republican absentee ballots. The Seminole County officials did not offer the same opportunity to the Democrats or Independents. If these Republican absentee ballots had been thrown out in Seminole County, or if the Democrat ballots had been similarly corrected, Al Gore might have been the winner of Florida. The Democrat Party brought suit against Seminole County. The mat- ter was ultimately tried in Tallahassee. It was a very intense trial. The lawyers were getting about two hours of sleep each night. Alan de- scribes the situation as an “absolute zoo,” with reporters and satellite dishes everywhere. Alan recalls being followed into the men’s room by a female reporter and a camera man. He hoped they weren’t film- ing him and looked over his shoulder to make sure he would not be appearing on national television from the men’s room. He was not. Alan’s client was not able to obtain the relief sought and the matter was headed to the United States Supreme Court. Alan’s appeal was pending at the same time the other cases involving Bush v. Gore were pending in the Supreme Court. Before the Seminole County case could be heard by the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court shut down the Florida recount. CHINA TRIP been successful, Alan states, “at least as far as I’m concerned.” Patricia was appointed a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 1998 by President Bill Clinton. POLITICAL LIFE Alan’s law school years were the easiest time of his life. He got weekends off and most importantly, nobody was “shooting” at him. He used his extra time in law school to be- come involved in politics. His first role was as a gopher for Governor LeRoy Collins of Florida who was running for the U.S. Sen- ate. After Collins’ unsuccessful election, Alan continued to be active in “close but no cigar” campaigns. In 1988, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis was the democratic candidate for President. Alan was asked if he would man- age the Dukakis campaign in Florida. He agreed and ultimately took a leadership posi- tion in the national campaign. Unfortunately, Governor Dukakis was not elected and Alan did not receive the Secretary of the Navy po- sition to which he aspired. Alan was approached about Bill Clinton’s presidential candidacy and did some fact checking with his Arkansas family members. From what Alan learned he concluded, “This guy could never win.” Alan humbly observes “It shows what I know.” Alan and Janet Reno were lifetime friends. In fact, they were racquetball partners early in their careers. Judge Seitz served as general counsel to the “drug czar” Gen. Barry Mc- Caffrey who sat with Reno on the Clinton Cabinet when she was the Attorney General. After Reno left her position as A.G., she ran for governor of Florida and Alan served as her general counsel. Alan and Patricia had lunch and things went well. But as the group was about to depart from San Francisco Airport to fly to China, Patricia be- came concerned that the unwelcome suitor had arranged to sit next to her on the long flight. She was adamant that Alan had to do something. Alan was able to get the seat assignment next to Patricia. The trip went well. They began dating and were married a year later. As to whether the marriage has 87 JOURNAL