Cornyn's Corporate Sponsors
Tort-Related Donors
| [ Cornyn's Corporate Sponsors Tort-Related Donors |
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Cornyn received a remarkable $2,813,705—or 29 percent of his big-check contributions—from PACs and individuals with close ties to Texas’ two leading groups that work to lower the liabilities that businesses face when they harm consumers, workers or communities. PACs and individuals associated with Texans for Lawsuit Reform gave Cornyn $1,985,680—or one-fifth of his big-check contributions. Cornyn took another $828,025 from donors linked to the Texas Civil Justice League. For more on the confluence of donors to Cornyn and Texans for Lawsuit Reform, see “Top Individual Donors.”
Tort Group Associated Money
To CornynTexans for Lawsuit Reform (PAC & Members) Texas Civil Justice League (PAC & Members)
| Selling Lawsuit Protection?
Given Cornyn’s support from litigious industries seeking to curb lawsuits, it is not surprising that he helped start the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). In a 2000 RAGA fundraising appeal, Cornyn wrote that the group was started to stop those with “a wish list for future mass state lawsuits [targeting]—car rental companies, pharmaceutical firms, makers of lead paint and gun manufacturers.” Cornyn’s letter did not mention that one of his top donors, Harold Simmons ($51,000 to Cornyn), owns NL Industries, which was a leading producer of lead paint. Nor did Cornyn say that Simmons hired Gale Norton (before she become U.S. Interior Secretary) to lobby Cornyn and other attorneys general not to follow Rhode Island’s example by suing lead paint makers for the cost of cleaning up lead paint that can poison children’s brains.1 Cornyn’s RAGA has sparked controversy by refusing to reveal its donors. RAGA launders its money through the Republican National State Elections Committee (RNSEC). In the 2000 election cycle, RNSEC received money from a variety of interests that fear state lawsuits, including tobacco companies ($665,765), Simmons’ holding companies ($350,000), the National Rifle Association ($150,000) and Aetna ($75,000). Microsoft Corp. has said it gave RAGA $10,000 through RNSEC. 2 Given these contributions, it is significant that Texas has not taken
legal action against Microsoft, lead paint makers and gun makers and that
Cornyn allowed Aetna to settle a patient-protection lawsuit for free. Cornyn’s
predecessor, Dan Morales, filed a 1998 lawsuit charging Aetna with millions
of dollars in violations of state law as a result of the alleged incentives
that it offered doctors to withhold medically necessary care. Cornyn’s
April 2000 settlement did not require Aetna to admit wrongdoing, pay a
fine or even cover the state’s legal costs. Instead, it simply required
Aetna to start obeying the law. 3
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