Chamber attacks trial lawyer donations to Democrats

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A leading Missouri business group issued a study Thursday it says documents more than $8.3 million in campaign contributions from trial lawyers during the current election cycle, with the bulk of the money going to the Democratic Party and its candidates.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which conducted the study, did not document how much the group, its members or other like-minded organizations and businesses that primarily support Republicans have donated to political campaigns.

Kelly Gillespie, the chamber analyst who performed the research, said his goal was to expose the vast sums lawyers are pumping into campaigns and that it wasn't his job to examine the business side of the equation.

Business groups, along with medical organizations and the insurance industry, are key players in pushing for an overhaul of Missouri's civil litigation system. They favor tighter restrictions on where lawsuits can be filed, limits on the financial liability of individual defendants and, in medical malpractice cases, caps on non-economic damages. The Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys generally opposes such proposals.

Gillespie looked at contributions from MATA, affiliated campaign organizations, law firms and individual lawyers from 2003 through Monday. With literally thousands of campaign finance disclosures available to sift through, Gillespie conceded his study isn't definitive.

"I went to where I was most suspicious," Gillespie said. "This is not comprehensive or all-inclusive."

Of the $8.3 million in lawyer donations Gillespie identified, he said 92 percent went to Democrats.

Chamber president Dan Mehan said the amount shows the trial lawyers are serious about helping elect candidates opposed to litigation reform.

"These people know what's at stake and that's why they are playing so aggressively," Mehan said. "You can't deny the firepower you're looking at here."

MATA spokeswoman Sharon Jones disputed the amount cited by the chamber. Although she has not conducted a comprehensive examination of spending by corporate medical-insurance interests, Jones said that based on her preliminary research she believes supporters of so-called tort reform have given at least as much, if not more, than lawyers' groups.

Jones noted, as does the chamber study, that MATA has established a campaign committee called Missouri Freedom PAC which provides money exclusively to Republicans. Through Monday, Missouri Freedom had raised $383,580 for the GOP. In the last three weeks alone, it had donated $125,000 directly to the Missouri Republican Party.

However, Jones acknowledged MATA primarily supports Democrats.

"At the end of the day there are more Democrats who support victims' rights than Republicans who support victims' rights," Jones said.

mpowers@semissourian.com

(573) 635-4608