The White House Counsel's Office

Lionel Tribbey White House Counsel

• Tribbey served as Bartlet's fourth White House counsel [2.19].
• According to the President, he is a brilliant and fair-minded -- although hot-tempered -- attorney [2.5].
• He has a cricket bat given to him by Her Majesty Elizabeth Windsor [2.5].
• He left a lucrative law practice in Chicago and a seven-figure income to serve in the White House even though Bartlet is too moderate for his taste on affirmative action, capital gains, public schools and free trade [2.5].
• He was replaced by Oliver Babish [2.19], but he was still the White House Counsel while Sam was making recommendations for presidential pardons [2.16].

Notable Quotes

"I will kill people today, Leo. I will kill people with this cricket bat, which was given to me by Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth Windsor, and then I will kill them again with my own hands." [2.5]

"I believe as long as Justice Dreifort is intolerant towards gays, lesbians, blacks, unions, women, poor people, and the First, Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Amendments, I will remain intolerant towards him!" [2.5]

Oliver Babish White House Council

• The fifth person to serve as Bartlet's White House counsel; Babish had been on the job three months when the president revealed that he has MS [2.19].
• Babish is from Chicago, and Leo McGarry begged him to take the job [2.19].
• On his desk he has a gavel given to his father's father by Justice Brandeis [2.19].
• His kids know Bartlet's kids, he and the president have built hospitals together, and he was Midwest finance chairman on the campaign, but they've never played chess together [2.19].
• The president is uncomfortable with him because he thinks Babish looks down on him for not being a lawyer [2.19].
• He has been divorced four times. Oliver claims that he has never found anything charming [2.20].
• Not surprising with his sparkling personality, Babish has been kicked out of bars [3.7].

Notable Quotes

"In my entire life, I have never found anything charming." [2.20]

"CJ, I'm gonna have to ask you some questions. The less you can be pissed at the world for no particular reason, the better I think." [2.20]

Ainsley Hayes Associate White House Counsel

• A Republican political analyst whom Leo McGarry hired as associate White House counsel on Bartlet's orders, after she took Sam Seaborn for a ride on Capital Beat [2.4].
• Ainsley attended Smith College, Harvard Law School [2.6], clerked for Dreifort [2.4], and has wanted to work in the White House since she was two [2.4].
• Her father's father served as state chairman of the North Carolina Republican party [2.4], and her father is proud of her [2.14].
• She is friends with Bruce and Harriet [2.4].
• She likes to drink Fresca and seems to have an insatiable appetite [2.7]. She is not a teetotaler, however, as she sometimes drinks Pink Squirrels in her basement office while listening to hits from the sixties [2.13].
• Ainsley played the trombone in high school [2.7] and has no pets, though she is considering acquiring one [2.4].
• She had a guy named Kirk decorate her office [2.19].
• She was on a panel at Smith College with Rebecca Walker, Gloria Steinem, Anne Coulter, and Naomi Wolf to discuss the ERA [2.18].
• She's an Episcopalian [2.18].

Notable Quotes

"When I was young, I was a Young Republican." [2.4]

"Mr. McGarry, I loathe almost everything you believe in!" [2.4]

"Gosh, let's see if there could possibly be any reason I wouldn't want to work in this White House." [2.4]

"Say they're smug and superior. Say their approach to public policy makes you want to tear your hair out. Say they like high taxes, and spending your money. Say they want to take your guns and open your borders. But don't call them worthless." [2.4]

"He works in the Oval Office and I work in the steam pipe trunk distribution venue, I can't believe we haven't run into each other." [2.13]

"God, thanks, Sam, for that debating tip, your feel for nuance. You say I shouldn't be drunk when I'm representing the White House." [2.13]

"Sam, if men were biologically responsible for procreation, they'd fall down and die at the first sonogram." [2.18]

"The point is that sexual revolution tends to get in the way of actual revolution.  Nonsense issues distract attention away from real ones." [3.13]

• Lawyer in the White House Counsel's Office
• She advised Toby Ziegler when an innocent -- yet wildly profitable -- technology stock purchase of his raised eyebrows due to his association with an expert in the field [1.4].

• Called in to consult by Josh when Toby's old roommate and current executive of a chemical company decided to become a whistleblower [4.18].
• Mike has an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering [4.18].

• Joe joins the Bartlet White House, in spite of being a Republican, to replace Ainsley Hayes [4.20]. In fact, he inherited her old office in the steam pipe trunk distribution venue, which he thinks might have bats. CJ helpfully points out that if he hangs his suits in the pipe in late afternoon, they'll be pressed right in front of him [4.21].
• Joe avoids signing his SF-86 because he lied on it. For the question of whether he's done anything that would reflect poorly on the President (which does not appear on the actual SF-86 form), Joe admits that he chose "no," even though he didn't vote for Bartlet [4.20].
• Joe earned his joint J.D.-M.B.A. from Cal State, after which he worked as Assistant Counsel for the New York Department of Transportation because he wanted to get trial experience immediately [4.20].
• Joe later worked as Associate Counsel of Treasury and for the Solicitor General, but was replaced when the Bartlet administration appointed a new one [4.20].  Joe clerked for liberal Supreme Court Justice Roy Ashland, because each year Ashland wanted one conservative clerk to argue with -- those arguments helped Joe clarify his beliefs [5.7].
• Joe's in the Republican doghouse because he wrote a memo supporting campaign finance reform [4.20].
• On his first day at the White House, the women in Political Affairs covered his parking spot with mayonnaise, which they wouldn't have done if they'd known he was such a biscuit. Then he made a connection between two similar press leaks and correctly guessed that Vice President John Hoynes was having an affair with socialite Helen Baldwin, which led to Hoynes' resignation.  When confronted, Hoynes admitted the affair, and bitterly suggested that Joe would get a medal for this [4.21].
• When Roy Ashland seemed to be faltering, Toby pressed Joe into service to approach Ashland about retiring from the Supreme Court [5.7].

Notable Quotes

"This White House doesn't like lawyers very much, do they?" [4.21]

"You said in this case that the Fourth Circuit lacked the judicial imagination God gave a pistachio nut." [4.21]

"Maybe we could all do it better.  But there is such a thing as judicial independence.  A lifetime appointment.  He's still alive, so he gets to decide when it's time." [5.7]