Trial lawyers & tort reform interests pick sides
By David Crowder El Paso Inc.
When 7-term incumbent Norma Chavez and challenger Naomi Gonzalez face each other in next months runoff for the District 76 seat in the Texas House it will be more than a race between two local candidates. Election watchers also see it as a proxy war between two Austin-based interest groups that have pumped big money into the race.
Gonzalez a 31-year-old lawyer led Chavez by just 141 votes out of the 8641 cast in the March 2 primary. And the 529 votes that went to third-
place candidate Tony San Roman denied either a majority and forced them into a runoff.
Chavez 49 and Gonzalez face off in the April 13 Democratic runoff. Early voting starts April 5 and ends April 9.
Fueling their bitter duel was the $307522 poured into their campaigns by the Texas trial lawyer and tort reform interests that have fought in session after legislative session over the money juries can award to plaintiffs in medical malpractice workers compensation and personal injury lawsuits.
The Chavez-Gonzalez race was one of two major proxy fights in the primary for future votes in the Texas House according to Greg Rocha a professor of political science at the University of Texas at El Paso. The other was in South Texas.
The proxy fights have nothing to do with local issues but are all about the House Rocha said and perhaps one bill that may come up in the 2011 legislative session.
In a very close race theres an opportunity for an interest group to involve itself and influence the outcome" Rocha said. The interesting thing about this is it couldnt be done on the Republican side where theres more ideological rigidity than on the Democratic side."
Counting the money
For her campaign Gonzalez received $166746 in contributions of which $146776 or 88 percent came from the conservative Texans for Lawsuit Reform Political Action Committee according to campaign finance reports.
Before this election year TLR had supported Chavez.
They want to have someone willing to listen to their issues" Gonzalez said of TLR. Have I made any agreements to vote their way? No."
The only race in which
Texans for Lawsuit Reform gave more this year was at the opposite end of the Texas border in Padre Islands District 43 race.
There the PAC gave $211592 to incumbent state Rep. Tara Rios Ybarra who lost in the March 2 primary.
When it comes to tort reform Gonzalez an assistant county attorney whos taken leave to run her campaign said she has worked as a lawyer on the plaintiffs and defendants side and thinks the restrictions in tort law have gone too far.
Were a little right of middle and I do think we need to swing it back a little toward the middle" she said.
Chavez has raised $273419 since 2009. Of that $119192 or 44 percent came from trial lawyer interests that typically support Democrats.
Chavez received $97992 from the
Texans for Insurance Reform PAC plus $10000 from
Texas Trial Lawyers Association PAC and $11200 from the law firm of Steve Mostyn the incoming president of the Trial Lawyers Association.
Chavez refused to discuss her race and referred El Paso Inc.s questions to her
Austin campaign consultant Chuck McDonald the son of the late El Paso state Rep. Nancy McDonald.
He said the trial lawyers association waded into the race because Texans for Lawsuit Reform is trying to buy the election."
All of their contributions to Gonzalez are in-kind and theyre running her race. … Naomi is a proxy for TLR" McDonald said.
He said TLR turned against Chavez because of her vote in the 2009 legislative session in favor of the bipartisan House Bill 1657. It would have overturned a Texas Supreme Court decision in the Entergy v. Summers case that curtailed third-party workers rights to unemployment benefits.
That bill which was opposed by Texans for Lawsuit Reform passed the House on a 73-71 vote. A no vote from Chavez would have created a tie that the Republican House speaker would have broken.
The companion Senate bill introduced by state Republican Sen. Robert Duncan failed.
They wanted Norma to vote with them on Entergy" McDonald said of TLR. Now shes getting $100000 dumped on her head."
But there was no way a representative of her district could vote for something like that with a straight face. Thats a working district and it goes to something that matters" he added.
Although Chavez has received contributions from Texans for Lawsuit Reform in the past McDonald said the group never financed and ran her campaign as it did Gonzalezs leading up to the primary.
Gonzalez who received only 61 contributions in all and most of them from Republican donors doesnt deny the large role TLR played in her campaign.
Texans for Lawsuit Reforms support for Gonzalez didnt come in cash but in an array of in-kind services providing in-kind video production media
buys mailings consulting services and travel reimbursements for TLR staff.
Gonzalez suggested that El Paso Inc. ask TLR why they are supporting her.
We were very impressed by her when she came to us" said TLR
spokesperson Sherry Sylvester. We believe she is a principled young leader and we believe it is time for a change in the 76th
district."
Without the kind of support TLR provided Sylvester said Gonzalez would stand little chance against Chavez.
Its certainly the kind of thing a challenger might need and were certainly not alone in questioning whether its time for a change in El Paso 76."
Sylvester denied that any particular vote by Chavez turned TLR against her and said the organization has no expectations of Gonzalez except that she will keep an open door to them.
In the last 15 years Sylvester said TLR has contributed millions of dollars to Democratic candidates going back to the legendary Democratic Lt. Gov Bob Bullock and including El Paso state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh.
David Crowder may be reached at (915) 630-6622 or at
david_crowder@sbcglobal.net
