For Immediate Release
Contact: Chuck McDonald,
McDonald Public Relations Inc.
512) 708-8655; chuck@mcdonaldpr.com

HOUSTON, Texas (September 4, 2003) “ Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) and Texas Watch have abandoned any pretense of impartiality by becoming active participants in the battle over Proposition 12, funneling untraceable political campaign money to opponents of the proposed constitutional amendment, said Matt Welch, legislative director for Texans for Lawsuit Reform.

œContrary to its claim of non-partisanship, TPJ is showing its true colors by taking the side of personal injury trial lawyers in the Proposition 12 fight. Instead of impartially documenting political contributions from the sidelines, TPJ is on the playing field funding the anti-Proposition 12 forces, Welch said.

Texans for Public Justice and Texas Watch contributed 100 percent of the $60,685 raised by Texans Against Proposition 12 from July 1 to August 4, 2003, according to reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. Neither organization discloses its funding sources, so there is no way to trace the actual financial backers of Texas Against Proposition 12.

œThis is the very behavior that TPJ has issued countless reports condemning, Welch said. œBut this time, the silence from TPJ and its sister organization Texas Watch, is deafening. The watchdog has gone silent.

Welch said the rank hypocrisy displayed by an organization which continues to peddle itself to the Texas media as an impartial guardian of the political process must not go unchallenged.

œI find it incredible that the TPJ executive director was quoted in papers across Texas decrying the undue influence of special interests last weekend, while his organization was serving as a willing conduit of secretive special interest funding of a political campaign, Welch said. œIt™s time for some truth in advertising: TPJ apparently is nothing more than a personal injury trial lawyer political action committee. That fact has now been confirmed by the Texas Ethics Commission “ although I™m sure we won™t read about that in the group™s next report on Campaign Finance.

The use of TPJ to funnel trial lawyer funds to yet another group opposing Proposition 12 is consistent with published reports documenting the fact that the campaigns against the amendment are funded almost exclusively by trial lawyers.
Texas Ethics Commission reports show the opposition to Proposition 12 is paid for almost exclusively with money from plaintiff trial lawyers. Contributions include:

· The Texas Trial Lawyers Association donated more than 99 percent of the $108,375 given to Texans for Patients™ Rights.

· Save Our Courts, the highest-profile, anti-Prop. 12 group, is awash with personal injury trial lawyer money. Its $4.3 million war chest is made up of $1 million from the five law firms that received $3.3 billion in tobacco settlement fees from the now-convicted Dan Morales, Texas™ former attorney general. Fourteen of the nearly three dozen plaintiff trial lawyer firms giving money contributed at least $100,000 each.

· TPJ and Texas Watch gave the entire $60,685 received by Texans Against Proposition 12, without disclosing the source of their funding.

Given these facts, it is hard to argue with TPJ Executive Director Craig McDonald who claimed earlier this month that: œProposition 12 reveals the raw power of special-interest campaign money.

œMr. McDonald is correct, Welch said. œTexas trial lawyers are brazenly spending millions of dollars to defeat Prop. 12 and are attempting to hide their influence from the voting public by enlisting front-groups like TPJ and Texas Watch to do their dirty work. Personal injury trial lawyers are the most narrowly focused of special interest groups, determined to defeat Prop. 12 so they can continue making their living by suing doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to the brink of extinction.

œThe fact that trial attorneys are doing everything possible to camouflage the money behind the television ads opposing Proposition 12 makes the role of Texans for Public Justice a travesty, Welch said.

TPJ bills itself as a œnon-partisan¦organization which tracks the influence of money in politics,™™ and the media routinely holds the group up as a source of objective information.

The partisan political involvement of Texans for Public Justice and Texas Watch in the Proposition 12 campaign should discredit these groups with the public, the media and the Texas Legislature, Welch said.

œTPJ and Texas Watch should tell the public who gave them the money to donate to Texans Against Proposition 12. If TPJ refuses to reveal its funding source, it is doing the same thing for which it has harshly criticized other organizations for years: shielding the true source of political campaign money from the public, Welch said.

œIf Texas Watch truly believes in open government and transparency in campaign financing it should be proud to publicly reveal its donors. If it insists on keeping the anti-Prop. 12 contributor list secret, it™s safe to assume Texas Watch is nothing more than a wholly owned subsidiary of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Welch said.

œIt should be obvious to everyone that Texans for Public Justice is not a public policy watchdog. Texans for Public Justice and Craig McDonald are attack dogs for personal injury lawyers and will always obediently obey their master, Welch said.

For an in-depth analysis of TPJ™s record of promoting plaintiff trial lawyer issues please see www.tortreform.com.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform is a bipartisan organization formed in 1994 to reform the Texas civil justice system. TLR has more than 11,000 individual supporters in 615 town and cities representing 1,110 different trades, business and professions.