The Power Player

Both men say they have forgotten that McGovern fired Cassidy from the nutrition committee in early 1975 to make room on the staff for Bob Shrum, at the time a young political operative who McGovern hoped could help him run for president again in 1976. Shrum went on to advise eight losing Democratic presidential candidates.

McGovern's order to fire Cassidy, in a letter to Kenneth S. Schlossberg, staff director of the nutrition committee, can be found in McGovern's papers at Princeton University. Schlossberg interpreted that letter as a cue that it was also time for him to find a new job. He proposed to Cassidy that they start a consulting business, he recalled in an interview. They became 50-50 partners in a firm called Schlossberg-Cassidy & Associates, though they had no associates.

The Absent Alumni

Many of Cassidy's Democratic friends were in attendance at the rooftop party. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), for example, came prancing across the canvas "carpet" that had been laid on the roof to greet his host: "My Cassidy!" he proclaimed with a mischievous Irish grin, "I'm a fan of yours!"

Cassidy has long had good relations with members of the Massachusetts delegation, going back to his friend O'Neill, the speaker from 1977 to 1987, boom years for Cassidy's firm. Many of the early clients were Massachusetts institutions. By the end of that period, Cassidy was paying himself as much as $5 million a year, several times more than the earnings of even Washington's fanciest lawyers.

One of the loudest guests at the party was Russo, the former Congressman from the suburbs of Chicago who was defeated in 1992 and joined Cassidy the next year. At the party, Russo greeted his pals from the House with a booming voice, and had hugs and pats on the back for many -- a Chicago pol of the old school. On his Cassidy & Associates calling card, Russo has put an embossed, golden Seal of the United States and identifies himself as "Marty Russo, Member of Congress, Retired."

The guest list for the party was long, but so was the list of people who had played a prominent part in building the Cassidy firm but had not been invited. Many of the professional and personal relationships Cassidy developed over three decades had not survived. His mercurial personality and sometimes violent temper put an end to some of them; his ways of doing business ended others. Some left him for greener pastures.

Members of a large Cassidy alumni association could be found in lobby shops and public relations firms all around town. When someone left the firm, Cassidy tended to take it badly. He got into a prolonged legal action with one former employee and forced him into a settlement, a story that quickly made the rounds and had the desired effect. Only a fraction of the former employees was invited to the party on the roof, though the event had been the talk of the alumni for weeks.

The uninvited included some of the most important people in the history of the firm -- first of all James P. Fabiani. Fabiani was the third person to join the firm, after Schlossberg and Cassidy. He designed many of its procedures; he became its most successful marketer, luring in dozens of clients. But he and Cassidy fell out after 15 years of working together. Fabiani thought the firm had changed: "It went from . . . hard-charging, driven, we're-going-to-succeed-for-our-clients to a company preoccupied with money."

Ten-Percenters

One of the alumni who did make it to the rooftop terrace was William F. Cloherty, a feisty little fireplug of a man who came up with an idea that helped Cassidy soar. Cloherty had been working in the Tufts administration when Cassidy and Schlossberg won that first earmark for Jean Mayer. He quickly grasped that what Schlossberg-Cassidy had accomplished for Tufts could become the basis of a real business.

Through a connection with John Silber, the resourceful president of Boston University, Cloherty got to know Cassidy. Intense, bright, disheveled and hopelessly disorganized, Cloherty quickly bonded with Cassidy, a fellow hustling Irishman.

Cloherty proposed to work for Cassidy on a commission basis. He would receive ten percent of whatever fees the clients he brought in paid to the firm. By 1985 Cloherty had signed up 10 clients, eight of them universities. Over the years Cloherty collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions without doing any lobbying himself. Cloherty's success prompted Cassidy and Fabiani to build a large stable of "ten-percenters," who became critical to the firm's early growth.

At the party, Cloherty spent a long time chatting with Silber, who had flown to Washington for the occasion. Prior to joining Cassidy, Cloherty had worked for Silber as BU's government liaison. Over a quarter century, BU has paid Cassidy millions of dollars in lobbying fees, and the school has received $106.5 million in earmarks from the federal government.