Oct
22
Written by:
Andy Hogue
10/22/2010 4:18 PM
Texans For Lawsuit Reform PAC, a group which pushes for limits on civil litigation, has certainly spent a lot of money on elections this cycle: with $3.32 million in its coffers and spending millions in mostly Republican House races so far.
But that's not nearly as much as plaintiff attorneys, a TLR-PAC press release states, with an estimated $13.6 million given to candidates across the Lone Star State -- much of which was through "deceptively named groups that mask the source of the contribution on candidate reports." The TLR release documents the flow of money from trial lawyers to candidates, as of the 30-day reports on file with the Texas Ethics Commission.
About half of that $13.6 million sum, TLR-PAC said, came from Steve Mostyn, the man behind the Back to Basics PAC ads promoting Democratic candidates including gubernatorial nominee Bill White. (Mostyn is currently battling Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Galveston, over whether the state-created Texas Windstorm Insurance Association will have to disclose how much money its paying out -- including the amount of attorneys fees -- in a lawsuit settlement pertaining to its handling of post-Hurricane-Ike claims.)
TLR said about 92 percent of the funding from the Texas Democratic Party originates from the Texas Democratic Trust, which was founded by the late Fred Baron, who handled asbestos cases. Other trial lawyer groups that "funnel money to Texas campaigns," the TLR release said, include: the Coalition of Harris County Democratic Elected Officials, Texas Progress Council PAC, Texas Values in Action Coalition PAC, Lone Star Project PAC, Texas Forward Committee, Texans for Public Education, Turn Texas Blue, and the Valley Political Action Committee. TLR also named Texans for Insurance Reform as another source of pro-plaintiff attorney interest funding ($1.3 million), most of which went to Democrats.
It's a higher sum than ever before for "the trial lawyers, TLR-PAC claimed. But to say the plaintiff attorneys are all supporting liberals --whereas defense attorneys are the benefactors of conservatism -- is a misrepresentation, argued former state Republican Executive Committee member Mark McCaig.
McCaig also blasted TLR-PAC for supporting its share of what he characterized as liberal incumbents, including Reps. Patrick Rose (D-Dripping Springs), Mark Strama (D-Austin), and Tara Rios Ybarra (D-South Padre Island). Furthermore, McCaig had asked TLR to take off language on a fund-raising Web site that says donations would go to communicate "a conservative message."
“TLR PAC’s statement that their funds go to communicate a conservative message is a lie," McCaig said. "TLR is actively working against conservative Texans with their support of liberal incumbents Patrick Rose and Mark Strama. Their opponents, Jason Isaac and Patrick McGuinness, are excellent candidates who support the conservative values of cutting spending and limiting the size and scope of government. They are the ones communicating a conservative message in their respective districts, not TLR.”
However, TLR backers argue that a conservative principle is at risk when plaintiff attorney-friendly candidates from either party win office in mass numbers: Tort reforms "that have bolstered the Texas economy in these toughtimes and increased access to health care ..." Tort reformers have noted that Texas has enjoyed an influx of new doctors since the Legislature capped non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, as one example of progress made.
But, McCaig countered, “TLR’s self-interested message has nothing to do with ideological conservatism."
"The fact is," he continued, "they are a special interest group that is concerned only with advancing the financial interests of their major donors."
LSR Managing Editor William Lutz contributed to this post.