8 Day: Chris Bell's Trial Lawyer Funding in SD 17 Nears $1 Million
Mikal Watts and Notorious "Tobacco Five" attorneys write big checks
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2008
Contact: Sherry Sylvester
210-241-5296
sherrysylvester@satx.rr.com
AUSTIN, TX - Personal injury trial lawyers continue to provide most of the funding for Chris Bell's campaign for State Senate District 17. Bell’s 8 Day report, released today, revealed an additional $449,533 in contributions from personal injury trial lawyers and trial lawyer front groups. Trial lawyers have given Bell a total $984,154 in the SD 17 race so far – fully half of all his contributions.
"Chris Bell is an enemy of lawsuit reform who will work for the lawsuit industry if he is elected to the Texas Legislature. Voters in Senate District 17 should make sure that doesn’t happen," said TLR PAC Director Justin Unruh.
Bell received hundreds of direct contributions from trial lawyers including $100,000 from Mikal Watts, a personal injury trial lawyer who was exposed last year for bragging that he could influence South Texas trial judges and the appeals court because of his large campaign contributions.
The deceptively named Texans for Insurance Reform, a trial lawyer front group that has received 97% of its contributions from trial lawyers in 2008, gave Bell an additional $268,373 during this reporting period, bringing their total contributions to him for the SD 17 race to $631,494.
Six figure contributors to Texans for Insurance Reform include "Tobacco Five" attorneys John Eddie William, Walter Umphrey and Harold Nix, all of whom shared a $3.3 billion fee awarded by former Attorney General and convicted felon Dan Morales.
Bell also received $38,874 from the Texas Democratic Party, which received 87 percent of its contributions from personal injury trial lawyers this year.
Bell's Direct Trial Lawyer Contributors
Texans for Insurance Reform $268,373.31
Mikal Watts - $100,000
William Hagans - $20,100
Jay Harvey - $2500
Peter Kraus - $4000
Richard Laminack - $2500
Howard Nations - $5000
Texans for Insurance Reform Major Contributors
Michael Gallagher - $200,000
Nix Patterson Roach LLP - $100,000
Provost Umphrey - $100,000
Williams Kherkher Hart & Boundas LLP - $100,000
Abraham Watkins Nichols Sorrels & Friend - $20,000
Jack Browning Baldwin - $25,000
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