Bartlet4America News Archive

A Prime-Time Success Story

By JOHN BAER
Philadelphia Daily News

WASHINGTON - Craig Snyder, lawyer, lobbyist and political insider, never really sought out Hollywood, TV, glitz or glamour, but tonight's his big debut.

The Philly native, who just turned 40, hits prime time when his story line airs on NBC's "The West Wing" at 9 p.m.

The hit series about the inner workings of the White House - last year, it won more Emmys (nine) than any show in a single season - is using Snyder's real-life tale of passing a bill to help autistic kids.

How it happened is a mix of Philly links, L.A. connections and a little political correctness. Snyder, a GOP wunderkind, grew up in the Bustleton neighborhood where his parents still live. He attended Yale, graduated Penn, got a law degree from Temple. He was 5th Ward leader in Center City for three years, twice a GOP candidate: against state Rep. Babette Josephs in 1990; against then-U.S. Rep. Tom Foglietta in 1992. He got 38 percent of the vote the first time, 21 percent the second. He decided "it was better to be behind a campaign than in front of it."

He helped run U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's less-than-electric bid for president - it ended before the '96 campaign year - and was Specter's chief of staff before joining Roger Stone's Georgetown-based Ikon Communications. Now he wears very good suits and White House cufflinks, and travels in the upper atmosphere of politics and policy.

All of which is linked to tonight's "West Wing."

Through Specter's office, Snyder was involved in legislation to build five "centers of excellence" for diagnosis, treatment and research of autism. The same approach used in the mid-'80s led to dramatic death-rate reductions in child leukemia.

Pushing the bill was fellow Philly native John Shestack, an L.A.-based movie producer, father of an autistic child, founder of Cure Autism Now. Shestack is the son of prominent Philly lawyer Jerome Shestack, American Bar Association president 1997-98. He is also a close friend and college chum (Wesleyan in Connecticut) of "West Wing" actor Brad Whitford, who plays White House deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman.

While lobbying for the legislation, Snyder recommended getting celebrities involved. Whitford, who grew up in Wayne ("I was formed on the stuck-up Main Line"), was called in. Snyder and Whitford hit it off. The results air tonight at 9.

"Craig has been phenomenally integral in helping us formulate an autism story line," Whitford said in a telephone interview from "West Wing's" L.A. set. "I knew nothing of the process. . .he's on the ground, has experience."

Snyder helped write the Children's Health Act of 2000, (the show tonight calls it "The Family Wellness Act"). And, as in real life, the bill runs into trouble and is saved only when. . .well, don't want to spoil it for "West Wing" fans.

Whitford spent time in Washington sitting in meetings to get a sense of what it's like to pass legislation. As a mark of the show's popularity and influence, he said, lobbyists approached him in the Capitol (at first, he thought for autographs) to push their issues for possible scripts: "They told me if they get 30 seconds on the 'CBS Evening News,' maybe two million people see it. If they get on our show, 20 million see it."

He added that the surprise to him is, "We never thought anybody'd take us seriously." At least part of Snyder's involvement is due to efforts to balance the show's political image. Last year, it drew criticism as too liberal, too reliant on Democratic advisers such as Dee Dee Myers and Pat Cadell. The entertainment press rode the issue. Some called it Hollywood's revenge for President Clinton's impeachment. The conservative Weekly Standard did a March 2000 cover story titled "Left Wing."

"In its first season, the show was popular but with a taint," Snyder said. In tonight's "The Stackhouse Filibuster," Republicans look more human. Said Snyder, "We give a Republican something constructive."

Whitford downplays image problems, noting the show now gets help from Republicans Peggy Noonan and Marlin Fitzwater.

Meanwhile, Snyder's been to the set (used first in the 1995 film "The American President," screenplay by "West Wing" creator/producer Aaron Sorkin). And Whitford said he expects to work with Snyder on more story ideas. Snyder's all for it. "It might lead to something down the road." And it could make this lawyer/ lobbyist/political insider a TV insider too.