by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
From the outside looking in, political campaigns appear frenzied, harried, and quite often frustrated.
That’s on a good day.
“The campaign is managed chaos; it really is,” said Steve Diebenow, who served as Mayor John Peyton’s campaign counsel. “It was unlike anything I’ve experienced before.”
Now, he’s going to work for the mayor as chief of policy and government relations in the Peyton administration.
One job is establishing a good working relationship with other elected officials, including those on the city council, school board and a wide assortment of agencies.
“Obviously, that includes state legislators and federal elected officials as well,” Diebenow said.
The second aspect of the job, he added, “once we establish those good working relationships will be to work with them, to develop the mayor’s policy and work out a way to implement his policies.”
That wouldn’t be so difficult if politics were not a contact sport. But Diebenow, who rose to partner with Rogers Towers, is said to have the skills to make it all work.
“His career here was exemplary,” said Doug Ward, managing partner of Rogers Towers. “He’s just an outstanding person and an outstanding lawyer.
“I don’t know how many times clients have complimented him on his work, and he’s attracted a lot of very fine clients to the firm because of his expertise.”
The law firm’s loss will be Jacksonville’s gain, Ward said.
“John Peyton could recognize Steve’s qualities and how much of an asset he would be,” he said. “It’s a great loss to our firm, losing anyone of Steve’s caliber. But I know he’s going to serve the city and John Peyton very well.”
Diebenow was born in St. Louis where his father, a Lutheran minister, finished seminary. The family then moved to churches in Fort Worth, Texas, and Hollywood, Fla., where Diebenow went to high school.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Florida, where he also attended law school.
He clerked one summer for Boyd & Jenerette and later worked as a legislative aide in Sen. Bob Graham’s Washington office.
In 1996, Diebenow decided he wanted to focus on environmental and land use law, and took a job at Rogers Towers.
He originally met Peyton through the law firm’s relationship with Gate Petroleum. They later were part of the Chamber’s Leadership Trip to Nashville at a time when Peyton began to seriously focus on the mayoral race.
“I thought it was a fabulous idea,” Diebenow said. “I thought it would be exciting to have a young fresh face, a business person, running for the office.”
Diebenow was asked to serve as lawyer to the campaign.
“From there,” he said, “it blossomed into a whole lot more than I could ever have imagined.”
In addition to keeping a close eye on campaign finance rules, Diebenow tended to an abundance of everyday issues, which came to include fund-raising activities.
“It was so exciting; it was so thrilling,” he said.
And it was exhausting.
“It takes a toll on the candidate,” Diebenow said. “It takes a toll on the people around him, on their families, too. It’s so time consuming, you almost feel like you have a second job.
“But it’s easier to do the work, seeing John out front. John is extremely organized and diligent. And he made a commitment to us all early on that no one would work harder than he did.
“I think that really shone through.”
With the new administration getting started, the “broad brush” issues of the campaign have to be refined with a calligrapher’s precision.
“John has a lot of very strong convictions about the way the city should be run,” Diebenow said. “And he has some very firm beliefs in government’s role, whether it’s interacting with business or with citizens.
“So it wasn’t real hard turning those convictions into broad policy statements.
“Now, I guess, we’re finding out what it will take to flesh out the details. It’s going to be exciting.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of it. I’m flattered I’m included. I’m honored to be serving Jacksonville with him.”