KINDER DETAILS LAWSUIT POSITION

State Sen. Peter Kinder lost round one but is taking his message to the people.

The senator outlined his lawsuit against Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon to a group of sympathetic listeners at the Wednesday Cape Girardeau Lions Club meeting.

The lawsuit involves the attorney general enlisting a group of trial lawyers to assist in the state's case against the tobacco companies. Kinder maintains it was unconstitutional because the Legislature did not approve the spending of money to hire the lawyers.

A circuit judge dismissed the allegations, and Kinder is in the process of an appeal. Oral arguments will take place Sept. 29 in Kansas City.

Missouri entered the tobacco lawsuit late in the game, but the state enlisted some heavy hitters from the trial lawyer sect who will get millions from the settlement.

"Right now they stand to get about $400 million or even more," said Kinder, a Cape Girardeau Republican. "When Missouri entered the lawsuit, it was a relatively cookie-cutter operation. The early states that got on board had already done most of the work, and when we got in there was nothing left to be done."

By enlisting outside help, a good chunk of the state's $6.7 billion settlement will go to the trial lawyers. Kinder says the General Assembly should decide how much the lawyers should get.

"Otherwise, we will have trial lawyers that will be bigger than any business PACs (political action committees) put together," Kinder said.

His message did not fall on deaf ears.

"I agree with what he is attempting to do," said R.J. McKinney, a Lions club member. "I think anything of this nature is something that should be decided by the legislative process."

Kinder said the entire lawsuit against the tobacco companies is an assault on the rule of law. He said laws should govern the people and not the whims of judges.

"The recent government suits against the tobacco and firearms industries trample upon this central feature of the rule of law," Kinder said. "The aim of this litigation is to shift the awesome powers of legislative bodies --- commercial regulation, taxation, appropriation, and the power to change law to the judicial branch of government."

He said the government has allowed litigation to make laws about how and where companies can advertise. They have punished legal industries and demonized them to raise revenues. Although taxpayers do not bear the full brunt of the cost of litigation, smokers will be paying $250 billion more for cigarettes in the next 25 years.

"The main objective of the tobacco lawsuits, despite the rhetoric of the proponents, was to raise revenue," Kinder said.

Getting the money is much simpler than having to go to voters and raise their taxes, Kinder said. It avoids the hassles of the legal parameters and restrictions of the legislative process, he said.

"Using lawsuits to raise revenues is far easier than raising taxes the old-fashioned way," Kinder said. "This method bypasses the need for representatives or the voter to approve the tax."

Kinder said he intends to keep trying to pass a bill that would prevent Missouri from entering any lawsuits against the firearms industry. He said the government is setting a dangerous precedent by going after private enterprise to pay for government programs, and no industry is safe.

"Lawsuit abuse by governments is the most serious challenge to the rule of law today," Kinder said. "The free market and the cause of human liberty cannot survive much more of this litigation madness."