From the St. Louis Post Dispatch

Tort reform group is ordered to pull ad
By Paul Hampel
Of the Post-Dispatch
10/19/2004
In what may be the first test of a new Illinois campaign finance law, a judge has ordered a tort reform group to pull a radio ad about the Illinois Supreme Court race.
Circuit Judge Phillip Palmer of Williamson County issued the temporary restraining order Tuesday against Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch in response to a suit filed by a union, Operating Engineers Local 318 of Marion, Ill.
The union's suit alleged that ILAW violated the state's new Campaign Disclosure Act in accepting what the union contends are campaign contributions without registering as a political committee and disclosing its contributors and expenditures.
Palmer agreed.
The complaint does not mention the candidates for the Supreme Court in the Nov. 2 election, Republican Lloyd Karmeier, a circuit court judge from Washington County, and Democrat Gordon Maag, a 5th District Appellate Court judge, nor does it mention a political party.
The suit alleged that "ILAW . . . has expended in excess of $3,000 for television, radio and newspaper advertisements, and Internet communications" for advertisements that are "in opposition of a certain Supreme Court candidate, and a certain political party."
The campaign disclosure law, which took effect before the March primary election, sets a $3,000 threshold for reporting.
Robert Howerton, a Marion, Ill., personal injury lawyer, filed the suit on behalf of the union, which has endorsed Maag.
Howerton said ILAW's "bias is obvious."
"They are unquestionably supporting Karmeier," he said. "And I don't think any person with any common sense who would hear their ads would doubt it."
Judge Palmer, a Democrat, will hold a hearing Oct. 29 on his temporary order.
ILAW director Steve Schoeffel said Tuesday that he was unaware of the injunction but denied that his group had broken the law.
"We are a not-for-profit organization, and we abide by not-for-profit rules," he said. "Our focus is voter education. Our ads do not mention any political party or any political candidate, so we are not required to file as a political organization."
Schoeffel said his group had spent about $30,000 this year on radio ads on stations in St. Louis, Alton, Carbondale and Mount Vernon, as well as on several billboards.
One of the group's billboards bears the message, "Does your Supreme Court candidate take contributions from personal injury lawyers? Ask them."
The billboard refers to a Web site that includes a mission statement describing ILAW as "a grassroots watchdog group of concerned citizens, community leaders, small-business people and nonprofit organizations dedicated to educating the public about the widespread costs of lawsuit abuse."
Schoeffel accused trial lawyers of generating the suit.
"This injunction is just one instance of a long line of attempts by personal injury lawyers to intimidate people like me and groups like mine from speaking out against what we see as wrong with the courts here," he said.
Rupert Borgsmiller, director of campaign disclosure for the state Board of Elections, said this is the first instance he knows of where a group has been accused of violating the law. The pertinent provision in the statute, Borgsmiller said, requires organizations to register with the state if their ads "refer to a clearly identified candidate or candidates who will appear on a ballot; refers to a clearly identified party; or refers to a clearly identified question of public policy that will appear on the ballot and is made within 60 days before a general election."
Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, helped draft the new law.
"While I immediately understand the 'nudge-nudge, wink-wink' of the ILAW ads, it does not appear that they violate the letter of the law," Canary said. "It will be interesting to see how this plays out in court."
Last-minute disclosures of contributions to the campaigns of Maag and Karmeier boosted the record total for both candidates to $4,816,693.
Through Monday, Maag had collected $2,425,991, while Karmeier raised $2,390,702.
The previous record raised in a regular election in a Supreme Court race was $1.38 million in 2002, when Rita Garman, a Republican, won in the 4th District in central Illinois.
Text of the disputed radio ad
"We've all seen the headlines about how the flood of frivolous lawsuits in the Metro East is closing doctors' offices and driving many of our finest physicians away. Greedy personal injury lawyers have turned the Metro East into a haven for bad lawsuits. But lawsuit abuse doesn't just hurt doctors - it hurts all of us. Frivolous lawsuits, many without scientific merit, limit access to health care and drive up prescription drug costs. And lawsuit abuse slows down the development of new lifesaving medical devices.
"Now we all have a chance to cure the lawsuit epidemic. Personal injury lawyers have given over $2 million to Illinois Supreme Court candidates because they want their friends on our court. But we want our justices to be unbiased and fair. To find out if your state Supreme Court candidate takes money from personal injury lawyers, contact Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch at www.ILAW.org. Together we can make sure justice is no longer for sale in the Metro East. Paid for by Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch." Reporter Paul Hampel
E-mail: paulh@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 618-659-3639