January 12, 2005

An acquaintance who's a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America was kind enough to forward a recent email to supporters from that organization in which ATLA president Todd A. Smith boasts about the lobby's success in getting across its point of view in the press last week during President Bush's well-publicized series of speeches on liability reform. (No online link). Among media "scores" for ATLA: "more than fifteen print stories in national and local media highlighting how caps hurt victims" including articles in the AP/Reuters, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Washington Post (two of them), with more in the pipeline in Newsday and elsewhere. The letter also speaks of "coordinating efforts" with groups ostensibly representing other than trial lawyer interests, and names a bunch of such groups: old reliables like the Center for Justice and Democracy and Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, as well as the up-and-coming Environmental Working Group. Participating in "news conference calls" aimed at the press "were Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, former Missouri Insurance Commissioner Jay Angoff, William McNary of USAction and Citizen Action/Illinois, Doug Heller from the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, Joanne Doroshow from the Center for Justice and Democracy, and an Illinois medical malpractice victim. More than 30 reporters participated in the calls, including ABC, NBC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post."