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Hiding Their Influence: Chapter 2,
Trial Lawyer Money Floods Texas' Political System
Download a PDF of Chapter 2 (68 K)
Download PDF of entire report (1.5 MB)
Since Jan. 1, 2000, a handful of wealthy Texas plaintiffs’ lawyers have flooded our state’s political system with over $7.3 million of identified contributions. Some of this money went to candidates for various state and federal offices, from the Texas Legislature to judicial office-seekers. More than three million dollars of that $7.3 million ended up in the hands of the Texas Democratic Party, but only after much of it had been laundered through a multi-layered spider web of political action committees with innocuous sounding names.
Contributing large sums of money to political campaigns and concealing its source is nothing new for the dozen richest trial lawyers in Texas. Over the years, millions of dollars have traveled the same path. No matter how circuitous the money trail, the objective never varies: influence elections and elect legislators and judges friendly to plaintiff lawyers and their personal, narrow agenda, and block reforms that will restore fairness and balance to our civil justice system.
The Money Trail
A clear, straightforward system for reporting campaign finance contributions is essential to the public’s ability to participate knowledgeably in elections. The Texas Legislature has established the framework for such a system and the Texas Ethics Commission maintains it. When transparency is missing, or the contributions and disclosures are concealed, the public is not aware of the significant contributions impacting a particular race ... and the public should know.
This report focuses exclusively on contributions by plaintiff lawyers to state officeholders and candidates. These lawyers, however, are major players in federal elections and local and county races. As such, a broad discrepancy exists between the influence trial lawyers wield in our political system and their revealed financial activities.