I think Potok looks like an oily, diseased puppy, like the kind the pound can't give away. The kind that just stares for 23 hours, then jumps up, runs into the wall, and pees all over itself.
EDIT: Really, that's probably closer to the mark than I thought. A slimy, blustery, perverse, type-A scumbag like Morris Dees isn't going to hire someone with a backbone and both balls. It's natural he would hire a gelding/nebbish like Potok. Not to mention the somehow-diseased is the only type of person who will work for a race racket.