Cross-posted from The Tortellini
I'm always amused at how tort reformers like to come up with names for their front groups that suggest that theirs is a broad, "grassroots" citizen-based movement representing people from all walks of life who are just fed up with "lawsuit abuse." There's Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR), Texans for Texas, etc. (Texas has a bumper-crop of these.) None of them ever has any real "citizens" in them, the way that most nonprofit consumer groups do.
The latest evidence of the lack of average "citizens" in the tort reform movement comes from TLR, the powerhouse Texas tort reform group that helped put George W. Bush in the White House. In the 2006 elections, according to Texans for Public Justice, TLR's political action committee, which raised nearly $4 million for state elections last year, got 60 percent of its money from just eight rich guys. Topping the list was Swiftboat Veterans for Truth funder and homebuilding magnate Bob Perry. Hardly the sign of a populist revolt in the making...