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1/4/2009
Sunday morning
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| Over all, trial lawyers raised $2.7 million in soft money donations for
Democrats in 1999, of a total of $49.4 million in soft dollars raised so far by
the party, according to a recent report from Common Cause, a Washington
nonprofit group. (By contrast, the Republicans got $2,800 in soft money from
trial lawyers, Common Cause reported, of $57.8 million in soft dollars over
all.) |
| Nonetheless, the American Tort Reform Foundation, a branch of the lobbying
group, has set up a Web site, www.triallawyermoney.org, to follow trial lawyer
donations called Tracking Trial Lawyers. The group has listed the biggest
trial lawyer donors as well as the biggest recipients of their largess --
basically a list of Democratic Party committees and candidates. |
| While money from trial lawyers has gone to all kinds of Democratic committees,
the lawyers have made it clear that their No. 1 target was Mr. Bush. Last
month, Mr. Bush issued a five-point plan to curb frivolous lawsuits and said
he wanted to expand nationwide efforts that he had pushed in Texas that he said
had saved Texas businesses $3 billion by reducing civil litigation. |
| Moreover, one prominent trial lawyer, Michael V. Ciresi of Minneapolis, who
represented the state of Minnesota in the tobacco litigation, was running for
the United States Senate in the Democratic primary there. Mr. Ciresi declined
to be interviewed. |
| It would be very, very horrifying to trial lawyers if Bush were elected, said
John P. Coale, a Washington lawyer involved in the tobacco litigation, who has
given over $70,000 to the Democrats. To combat that, we want to make sure we
have a Democratic president, House and Senate. There is some serious tobacco
money being spread around. |
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