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1/5/2009
Monday morning
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| 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. |
| Mr. Bushs $70 million campaign war chest was financed, in large part, with
donations from rich individuals and corporate interests, the same interests
that trial lawyers have challenged in court. As a result, a financial version
of the arms race has broken out. The more the Bush campaign and the Republican
Party in general raised from business, the more trial lawyers said they must
raise, and vice versa. |
| Moreover, with the lawyers fees in the tobacco settlement running into the
hundreds of millions, even billions, many of those trial lawyers have had a lot
more to donate this election cycle. More than a half-dozen law firms involved
in the tobacco settlement have each given the Democratic Party more than
$100,000 in the unlimited, unregulated donations known as soft money, some
writing checks as large as $400,000. |
| We dont have the kind of target operation that trial lawyers do, said Victor
Schwartz, general counsel of the American Tort Reform Association, a Washington
lobbying group. When business makes donations, they do to those who support a
whole multiplicity of issues. Our members are not single issue people. |
| To trial lawyers, especially those involved in the tobacco litigation, Mr. Bush
has become their worst nightmare. He has made attacks on lawyers a campaign
centerpiece, pointing with pride to his record in Texas of curbing civil
litigation, capping legal fees and limiting jury awards. |
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