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Posted: May 20, 2010
NO GOOD DEED GOES PAST SECURITY

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

Repaying a kindness can get complicated when it involves the vice
president's family.

Connor Bifferato tried, and tried hard, but security is so uptight these
days, the milk of human kindness is regarded as just another concoction to
slip something dangerous in. Forget about it.

Bifferato is a lawyer, the managing director of the Bifferato firm. He comes
from a family of lawyers. His brother is a lawyer, his mother is a lawyer,
and his father is "Judge Biff" -- Vincent Bifferato Sr., much revered within
the Delaware bench and bar for the years he spent on the Superior Court.

Connor Bifferato wanted to do something to comfort a friend who once
comforted him during a dire crisis, but his friend is Beau Biden.

Not even Florence Nightingale reincarnated could have made it to the bedside
of an attorney general who has the vice president for a father, not on the
day he was taken to Christiana Hospital with a mild stroke and the family
there, too.

This, even though Bifferato is a good Democrat.

Bifferato's motivation was rooted in events from the fall of 1998, when he
was a 31-year-old lawyer in his early years of practice. One day he was
working at his law office after working out.

"I got an excruciatingly unbearable headache," Bifferato said.

It was so bad, he had another lawyer take him to an emergency room. A
16-year-old messenger at the law firm was the son of a neurologist and
jawboned his reluctant father into showing up. It was a good thing.

Bifferato had a brain aneurysm, life-threatening no matter what. He could
die if he did not have surgery, or he could die if he did.

The Biden family knew about aneurysms. Joe Biden had two that nearly killed
him in 1988. Naturally the Biden and Bifferato families were
well-acquainted. Connor Bifferato had even been a campaign volunteer for Joe
Biden, then in his fifth Senate term. The Bidens sprang into action.

"Beau was one of the first people, with the exception of my wife, who was
with me," Bifferato said.

The episode turned into one of the more dramatic moments in the memory of
the state's legal circles. Bifferato was stricken on the day marking the
75th anniversary of women being admitted to the Delaware bar. There was a
huge celebratory dinner in Wilmington with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and
Joe Biden squiring her around.

Bifferato's predicament was announced at the dinner to heartfelt gasps and
groans. As soon as Joe Biden could leave the event, he went to be with
Bifferato.

Bifferato first was admitted to Christiana. The medical staff got a look at
his family of lawyers, and he said the next thing he knew, he was shipped
off to Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia.

His surgery was on Joe Biden's 56th birthday. Biden spent it with the
Bifferato family, waiting.

Bifferato came out fine, and after about six months of convalescence, he
went on to a thriving law practice. Beau Biden joined the Bifferato family
firm in 2004 and was there when he was elected attorney general in 2006.

This is the reason Bifferato headed for Christiana last week when Beau Biden
wound up there.

A state trooper was the first to stop him. Bifferato explained. The trooper
made some phone calls to state security and Secret Service personnel to try
to get Bifferato in, but no luck.

Next Bifferato tried to make his case to the hospital administration. He
waited for an hour and a half, eventually to be told thanks but no thanks.
That was that.

Bifferato was not surprised Biden was moved to Thomas Jefferson. He figured
the Bidens remembered the care he had there. Beau Biden was attended by
Robert Rosenwasser, the same neurosurgeon Bifferato had. Rossenwasser sent
Biden home Tuesday for rest and recuperation.

"I'm sure that's why Beau went there. He was certainly in the best hands,"
Bifferato said.

Maybe in that sense, Bifferato was able to help his friend, a kindness
repaid from afar, but what a shame. Power isolates, and the security
catering to power isolates absolutely.
--
Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.co