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External LinksCommonweal report, "The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law", html version Commonweal report, "The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law", pdf version Examples of the Involvement and Funding of Right-Wing Organizations That Advocate Tort Reform. Cursor.orgMediaTransparency.org sponsor Media Transparency writersAndrew J. Weaver FundometerEvaluate any page on the World Wide Web against our databases of people, recipients, and funders of the conservative movement. |
ORIGINAL RESEARCHDave Johnson Lowering the BarThe conservative movement's well-funded attacks on trial lawyersWe've all heard the story of the woman who spilled hot coffee from a fast food joint in her lap, then sued Maybe not. It turns out that these popular stories about lawsuits and their effects are almost always misleading, distorted, or outright lies. Our legal system is not collapsing, lawsuits are not causing businesses to fold, and damage awards are not why insurance rates are rising. Why then do so many people accept these untruths about our legal system? Because, for more than a decade, consumers and trial lawyers have been under attack from a well-funded effort advocating "tort reform." Many reputable reports have shown that this "tort reform" movement is nothing more than an industry-funded public relations effort, using phony "grassroots" organizations that purport to be groups of concerned citizens. A Commonweal Institute report that I authored titled, The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Tort Law, shows that the "tort reform" attack is actually just one part of a broader, coordinated, ideological "movement," that consists of a network of more than 500 "conservative" organizations, all receiving funding from a core group of far-right foundations. They call themselves the "conservative movement," but can be more accurately described as the far right. Many of these organizations are disguised as pseudo-scholarly "think tanks," but are really communications and advocacy organizations, marketing ideas the same way detergent is sold to the public. The primary method of these organizations is the coordinated repetition of phrases designed to influence public attitudes and opinions. By repeating messages through multiple channels over a sustained period of time, they manufacture "conventional wisdom." Examples of this "conventional wisdom" include falsehoods like "Social Security is going broke," and "public schools are failing." The use of many supposedly independent organizations, all communicating the same messages through various channels, gives the impression that many learned people and organizations have a consensus of opinion on important issues, bringing credibility to their perspective. But the voices all turn out to be components of what amounts to one overall organization, set up and funded by this core group. These "movement" organizations share a common ideology that forms the underlying base for their various political campaigns. In the realm of "demand for tort reform," the goals include limiting the amounts that can be awarded to injured parties, limiting the ability to file class-action lawsuits, and limiting the amounts that attorneys can collect from damage awards. Our report shows that along with the ideological effort to change the public's views about consumer litigation, the "conservatives" also employ a strong tactical component. We show how the conservative movement seeks to limit damage awards because doing so will "defund" one group of their assumed political opponents, trial lawyers, and thereby limit the litigators' ability to contribute money and clout to anyone who opposes the Right's agenda. Trial lawyers and other advocates of strong protections for consumers are today on the defensive, and their responses to the "tort reform" movement's attacks have mostly been ineffective. Similarly, labor unions, environmentalists, teachers, women's rights advocates, advocates for the poor, and so many others unfortunately find themselves in a defensive situation. While some tactics and responses seem effective in the short term - legislation may be blocked, or a ballot initiative may be defeated - the "conservative" opponents seem to rise from every popular defeat like the mythical Phoenix, bringing renewed vigor to each fight. Take the issue of school vouchers, for example. Year after year public school privatization is handily voted down in state referenda, yet the issue never dies. Instead it returns the following year, with its advocates merely spouting different, usually illogical arguments for the same proposed policies. Fighting back requires understanding what it is that you are fighting back against. Without understanding the involvement and nature of this underlying right wing movement, trial lawyers and consumer advocates will not be effective in their response to "tort reform" arguments. Fighting a larger, deeper, multi-issue-oriented opponent requires a broader, more nuanced response. Reactive, reason-oriented efforts - explaining the merits of the coffee-spill lawsuit, for example, or providing figures showing that damage awards are not increasing, have not been effective. Because the conservatives' perspectives on issues come from an underlying ideology, and they are marketed so heavily, it is difficult if not impossible, to refute them by addressing their arguments on specific issues. If progressives are to be successful in getting their message out to the public they must first expose and refute that underlying right-wing ideology. The solution, it seems to me, is for progressives to employ the same tactics and methods that have worked so well for the organized Right. That is, they should fund multi-issue think tank/communication organizations designed to reach the broad public with repeated messaging that will change underlying public attitudes. The "conservative movement" has provided an excellent model. Of course progressives don't need to use deceit, lies and smears as the conservatives do (mainly because most people agree with Progressives on the issues), but clearly there is a need to build a comparable infrastructure of organizations and communication channels. Organizations like the Commonweal Institute, Cursor, Inc. (publisher of MediaTransparency.org and Cursor.org) and the Center for American Progress are examples of these types of organizations. While that may seem to be a monumental task, it is also undeniably necessary. And as it turns out, building a comparable network of advocacy and communication organizations might not be as daunting as first appears. There is actually quite a bit of money available from moderate and progressive funders, but it has not been applied as effectively as the conservatives' resources. The fundamental difference between progressive and conservative philanthropic funding, described by various authors, is that the conservative movement provides general operating support to ideological advocacy organizations, while moderate and progressive funders do not. Moderate and progressive funders tend to provide support for programs, and avoid funding advocacy, or funding organizations that might upset the established political order. This must change. Meanwhile, the programs moderate and progressive funders support are becoming less effective because of the results of the conservatives' ideological campaign to the public. For example, environmental programs are less effective and their program funding is wasted when their underlying public and political support is undermined by the conservatives' successes. A program protecting a redwood grove is a waste of money, for example, if the "conservatives" are able to convince the public to elect politicians who enact legislation allowing logging companies to cut down the trees, ostensibly to protect against forest fires. Building organizations that affect underlying public attitudes will back up and reinforce specific program work. Trial lawyers and other advocates of consumer protection need not take on this fight alone. Joining forces with other powerful groups such as organized labor, teachers' associations, environmentalist organizations, all of which are under attack and targeted for "defunding" by the "conservative movement," will leverage the resources of each of these groups. And, of course, each of these groups will in turn benefit as the assault from the conservatives is turned back. If progressives and moderates will build a movement of multi-issue think tank/communication/advocacy organizations comparable to, yet more ethical than, the one created by the conservatives over the past three decades, we may yet look forward to improved public attitudes toward the common good, and public officials supportive of moderate and progressive goals will take office. The alternative is more of the same. sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
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OTHER LINKSMyron Levin Legal Urban Legends Hold SwayTall tales of outrageous jury awards have helped bolster business-led campaigns to overhaul the civil justice system Merv Grazinski set his Winnebago on cruise control, slid away from the wheel and went back to fix a cup of coffee. American Prospect Now, Smearing the Trial LawyersYou're about to see a concentrated campaign against John Edwards' colleagues. Don't buy into it. Dwight Meredith Scare TacticsThe tort reform lobby and the media have chosen to scare the bejesus out of the public to promote a "tort reform" agenda. What is worse, they continually lie to generate the fear. MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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