From Belleville News

Law firms give big to Illinois Democrats
Groups fear money will go to judge race
BY BRIAN BRUEGGEMANN

July 27, 2004
bbrueggemann@bnd.com

Three Madison County law firms have made donations of $100,000 each to the Democratic Party of Illinois in the first half of 2004.
And interest groups backed by businesses and industries are worried that the money, along with roughly $395,000 the party has received from other lawyers during the same period, will be used to help Illinois Supreme Court candidate Gordon Maag.
Neither Maag's opponent, Circuit Judge Lloyd Karmeier of Washington County, nor the state Republican Party have filed their campaign-disclosure reports for the first half of the year. The reports are due Monday.
Maag, a Democrat and appellate court justice from Glen Carbon, has put a $2,000 limit on individual contributions to his campaign.
"Assuming this money does go into the Maag campaign, I think it contradicts what Gordon Maag said in the early part of the campaign, that he was going to have a $2,000 limit," said Ed Murnane, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League. "He can't have it both ways."
Maag said he is not familiar with contributions to the state Democratic party, but he did not rule out getting help from the party.
"I can't tell you what might happen in the future and what somebody might do," he said. "Both political parties spend money on candidates who belong to their political parties. I have no control over what they do."
According to campaign-disclosure reports filed last week by the Democratic Party of Illinois, three Madison County law firms -- Randall A. Bono P.C., The SimmonsCooper Firm, both of East Alton, and Carey & Danis of Godfrey -- each contributed $100,000 to the party so far in 2004.
Bono, who last year won a $250 million judgment in a Madison County asbestos case, which settled later for a smaller amount, said he hopes his donation helps all Democratic candidates, from John Kerry to County Board candidates.
"I probably never have contributed this much money before, but then again our country's never been in such dire straits as it is now," Bono said. "Our nation's going to hell in a handbasket with this administration. We've put 3 million people out of work, and it's the worst unemployment record since the Great Depression."
Jack Carey of the Carey & Danis firm said, "I think any responsible lawyer in Illinois or elsewhere is very concerned about the misleading advertising and public-relations programs that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other so-called tort-reform organizations have come up with. How the money is used, we have no control over that, but my hope is some of the money will be used to elect fair judges in Illinois."
Representatives of the SimmonsCooper firm could not be reached.
Bono said he expects the Illinois Republican Party and Karmeier to get big support from corporations.
"I know they're going to get their money from the tobacco industry," Bono said. "Why do they call Karmeier the Marlboro Man?"
Last year, a Madison County judge issued a $10.1 billion judgment against cigarette maker Philip Morris in a class-action lawsuit. The company is appealing to the state Supreme Court.
Murnane and Steve Schoeffel of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, based in Madison County, said they expect most of the donations to the Democratic Party to go toward supporting Maag because there are no other high-profile races this year in Illinois. They said the state is considered to be a lock for Democrats in the presidential race and in the U.S. Senate race, where Barack O'Bama so far is unopposed.
"As we see doctors continue to flee Southern Illinois, and our reputation as the lawsuit capital of the world persists in stifling economic development and job opportunities, it's crucial that the electorate know which candidates' bank accounts the trial lawyers are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into," Schoeffel said.
Maag said the campaign should be "about qualifications and experience instead of side issues, particularly side issues that I have no involvement in at all."
Of the $695,400 in donations to the Democratic Party of Illinois this year, all but $6,900 has come from lawyers or law firms.