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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 23, 1998 |
CONTACT: John Sullivan PHONE: (916) 443-4900
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California legislative candidates and incumbents in the San Diego Area region have received $62,000 in political campaign contributions from plaintiffs' trial lawyers so far in 1998. This is only the beginning, according to the group that researched campaign contribution reports.
John Sullivan, president of the Civil Justice Association of California, predicted that contributions from trial lawyers to legislative candidates statewide would surpass the $3 million identified in the 1995-96 election cycle.
Of the funds received in the San Diego Bay Area region, $41,000 went to Assembly candidates and incumbents while $21,000 was received by Senate candidates and incumbents. Of the total, $60,000 was shown received by Democrats and $2,000 by Republicans. Reports filed with the Secretary of State cover funds reported through June 30.
Statewide, trial lawyer 1998 campaign funds received by legislative candidates and incumbents hit just under the $2 million dollar mark before the June 30 reporting deadline. The total is expected to soar in the weeks before the November 3rd General Election.
Another $2 million in plaintiff trial lawyer contributions has been reported received by state-wide office candidates so far during the 1997-98 election cycle, bringing the total pumped into California campaigns by trial attorneys through June 30 to $4.0 million. (A list of Senate and Assembly candidates and contributions received, plus similar data on statewide candidates, is available at www.cjac.org)
Of the total statewide legislative contributions, $1,000,600 was reported received by Assembly incumbents and candidates who will appear on the November ballot, while $650,700 went to Senate incumbents and candidates who will be before the voters in the General Election. Another $324,900 was reported received by candidates who did not survive the June Primary Election, bringing the total contributions -- almost all received since January 1 of this year -- to $1,976,000.
Of the total received by incumbents and candidates who will appear on the November ballot, $1,533,800 went to Democrats and $117,500 to Republicans.
"If history is any indication of what is to come in the next few weeks, we will see big, last minute contributions from the trial lawyers -- possibly because their polls, just like ours, show that voters more often than not prefer to vote against a candidate whom they know has accepted a large chunk of trial lawyer money," Sullivan said. "While political contributions are a legitimate part of our freedom to communicate and select our representatives in government, the public should know when narrow interests are running a massive program to elect people they hope will look out for them in Sacramento," he said.
