DOMINANCE ON GOP AGENDA: DEPRIVING DEMOCRATS OF VOTERS AND MONEY IS AMONG WHITE HOUSE POLICIES' OTHER AIMS

As the nation's trial lawyers again funneled tens of
millions of dollars to Democrats and their causes in
the last election, Republicans were crafting a
strategy to choke off that money for future campaigns. President Bush's agenda for the next four years
includes many proposals that would not only change
public policy but, the GOP hopes, achieve an
ambitious political goal: Stripping money and voters
from the Democratic Party and cementing Republican
dominance for years after he leaves office. One of
the clearest examples is an effort to limit jury
awards in lawsuits against doctors and businesses.
The caps might not only discourage "frivolous"
lawsuits, as Bush argues, but also deprive trial
lawyers of income from damage awards that they could
then give to Democrats. On issue after issue, the
White House is staking out positions that achieve a
policy goal while expanding the GOP's appeal to new
voters or undermining the Democrats' ability to
compete. Interviews with Bush advisors, a recent memo
drafted by a senior White House strategist and a
speech by the Republican Party's new chairman show
that the political advantages are very much part of
the calculation. Referring to the goal of turning off
the lawyers' financial spigot, a spokesman for the
Association of Trial Lawyers of America, said: "They
want to destroy the legal rights of American families
in order to take political action against the lawyers
who represent people who have been injured through no
fault of their own."

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Peter Wallsten And Warren Vieth, Los Angeles Times,

02/02/2005

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