Hey, great talking to you.  I appreciate your willingness to talk to David about the DOE situation.  He's a great guy and one of the best substantive lawyers I've met.  Short bio--U. of Missouri undergrad, Northwestern law school.  He was a staffer after law school on the House or Senate Ag committee--I can't remember which.  Big time federalist society member and knows all those ultra-right winger types.  He was my partner at Wiley Rein and Fielding and was the right hand man of Dick Wiley and Fred Fielding among the younger partners--kind of an enforcer, future executive committee type (he kept me from getting fired a couple of times--I'm sure he regrets that now).  Dave wasn't an energy lawyer originally, but did a lot of work on my client stuff and took over my natural gas clients after I left Wiley.  He also did a lot of electric restructuring stuff (he was one of the lead lawyers for Penn. Power and Light and United Illuminating on the Order 888 compliance filings and Nepool and PJM Power Pool open access restructurings).   He's a Missouri native and got tired of the DC law firm rat race and moved to KC.  Currently a partner at Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin--does a lot of Utilicorp/Aquila stuff as you'd expect.  Dave's direct dial at work is 816-983-8385 and his home number is 816-407-9026.  

Mark--anything you can do to give this guy a sense of what life is like at DOE would be great.  I'm not sure how seriously Dave is being considered for the DOE Dep. GC spot, but I know that Fred Fielding and Dick Wiley have done some pushing on his behalf.  It may be that a call from you to someone out there might put him over the hump.  I'll leave that for you and he to discuss.  Thanks and good luck with your various adventures!  df