January 23, 2007

Per an Associated Press report, AAJ/ATLA cracks the whip:

Looking to instill discipline among Democrats, a coalition of labor, trial lawyers and liberal groups is launching lobbying and campaign organizations this week to keep Democratic lawmakers from straying on populist issues.

Democrats who don't hew to this agenda could find themselves facing well-funded primary opponents - an aggressive strategy to counter moderate and conservative blocs within the party.

The groups have organized as two entities - a lobbying wing called They Work For Us and a campaign arm called Working for Us PAC.....

In addition to [Steve] Rosenthal, the two groups are led by some of the most influential organizers in labor and liberal politics, including Anna Burger, the secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union; Eli Pariser, the executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, and Linda Lipsen, a senior vice president at the American Association for Justice, formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association.

Among trial lawyers' goals in the new Congress, per Sean Higgins of Investors' Business Daily: tougher scrutiny of judicial nominees. "Congressional oversight is going to come back with a vengeance," says Lipsen.