A Fighter 'For What He Believes In'
Steele Quit D.C. Firm To Chase His Dreams

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 2, 2002; Page A08

In politics, he is known as a passionate spokesman for Republican values, admired by party members for his determination to reach out to minority voters and his fearless attacks on
Maryland's Democratic power structure.

Professionally, Michael S. Steele has been somewhat less successful. After seven years as a corporate lawyer, he is now the proprietor of a legal consulting firm that has never made any
money. He is a lawyer who failed his single attempt to pass the Maryland bar.

This weekend, when Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. asked Steele to join the ticket and campaign for the job of lieutenant governor, Steele's 13-year-old son had
one question, Steele said: How much does it pay?

"Over the last three years, I've put my family through hell," said Steele, who takes no salary at his other job as chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, a post he has held for two
years. He said he is draining his retirement account to pay his family's bills.

"But I have the conviction of belief that we're really doing something important here to try to turn this party around," Steele said. "The rewards, whatever they are, will come."

Yesterday, as Ehrlich introduced Steele to a crowd of Republican faithful at a rally in Annapolis, Ehrlich said he chose Steele because he is a "native Marylander" and a "product of the
American dream."

Steele is also the only African American in the nation serving as chairman of a state Republican party, a distinction that has won him attention in national Republican circles and
appearances on television shows such as "BET Tonight" and "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher."

And last month, Steele scored what Maryland Republicans describe as the party's first major victory in a very long time: a Court of Appeals decision overturning the political map drawn
by Democratic leaders to shape State House elections through the next decade. Steele filed one of 14 lawsuits challenging the map; the court's revisions will benefit Republican
candidates.

"That really made everyone say, 'Wow. This guy fights for what he believes in,' " said Allen H. Kittleman, a Howard County Council member and Steele's longtime friend. "A lot of people
were saying, 'Why do you even try? We never win.' Michael showed real leadership there."

Tall, elegant and disarmingly direct, Steele, 43, lives in Largo, where he climbed the Republican Party ladder, serving as chairman of the Prince George's County GOP in the 1990s. He ran
unsuccessfully for the party's nomination as comptroller in 1998.

Though his first vote probably went to President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, Steele said he quickly turned to the GOP because "my mama raised me well."

Born on Andrews Air Force Base, Steele was one of two children raised in Petworth by a widowed laundress who worked for the minimum wage rather than accept public aid, he said. His
mother later married his Democratic stepfather, John Turner, who drove a taxi. Steele kept his father's name.

Even as a small child, Steele had the gift of gab, Turner said.

"He was always jolly and talkative. He would talk to everybody and anybody," Turner said. "We kept the belt kind of tight but gave him his freedom."

The family also sacrificed to make sure Steele and his sister, Monica, 36, could attend "the better schools," Turner said. Monica, a pediatrician, is married to boxer Mike Tyson, from
whom she is estranged.

Steele graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School, a D.C. Catholic school,determined to enter the priesthood. Instead, at the urging of a priest who told him to enjoy life first, Steele
went to Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 1981 with a degree in international relations and his first political experience -- as student body president.

That summer, Steele heeded the call of the seminary and joined the Augustinian Order at Villanova University, where he caught up on needed philosophy credits. After a year, he
accepted an invitation to become a novitiate and wore the white robe of an Augustinian monk for about a year in Lawrence, Mass.

During that time, "I discerned and I believe God revealed to me" that the priesthood was not his calling, Steele said. He left for Georgetown University, where he earned a law degree in
1991.

Upon graduation, Steele joined the firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, an international firm based in the District, where he specialized in financial underwriting transactions. Steele
traveled to Tokyo to work on product liability litigation and picked up a little Japanese.

"It was quite a sight to see a 6-foot-4 black man on the streets of Tokyo speaking Japanese," he said. "Someone came up once and asked if I was Michael Jordan."

In 1997, Steele left his $200,000-a-year job because, he said, he was not on track to become a partner. Steele, who described himself as "a middle-of-the-road law student," said he never
expected to rise to the upper ranks at Cleary. "I just wanted to prove I could get there."

Steele hired on with a real estate development firm, Mills Corp. of Arlington, as in-house counsel. He left after about a year to start his own consulting firm, the Steele Group. It has
consistently lost money and made life uncomfortable for his wife, Andrea, who stays home with their sons, Michael, 13, and Drew, 10.

"It was a selfish moment. But like the seminary, I had to do it," he said. "To take thin air and create something that has fragrance, creating something out of nothing."

It didn't pay off. Steele sat for the Maryland bar exam in the mid-1990s and failed, he said. Without a Maryland law license, he does not charge standard legal fees. Many clients, he said,
simply failed to pay.

"I learned what it takes to struggle, about wealth creation, capital, job creation," Steele said. "If nothing else, being able to bring that experience to the table for Governor Ehrlich will help
us turn this state around."

                                                 © 2002 The Washington Post Company