By FITSNews || Some of South Carolina’s most left-leaning advocacy groups are pouring money into the campaign coffers of some of the state’s most fiscally conservative politicians, sparking concerns that these lawmakers might become less inclined to oppose anti-business legislation at the S.C. State House.
Veteran S.C. political reporter Bob Dalton of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal uncovered one such example of this trend – a trial lawyer fundraiser that’s being held Monday night in Columbia for S.C. Sen. Lee Bright, who is one of the few “good guys” in the S.C. General Assembly.
Bright is not alone, though, as sources tell FITS that several other fiscal conservatives have been inundated with trial lawyer cash in recent months.
At the heart of this alleged “dirty money downpour” are attorneys with ties to two groups, the S.C. Trial Lawyers Association … err, we’re sorry, the “S.C. Association for Justice” … and the Association of S.C. Claimant Attorneys … err, sorry, the “S.C. Injured Worker’s Advocates.”
Liberal lawyer scum, all of them – but potent political forces, nonetheless.
After all, the Claimant’s Attorneys are joined at the hip to one of the state’s top RINO political consultants – J. Warren Tompkins – while the Trial Lawyers are joined at the hip to the state’s other top RINO, Richard Quinn.
We certainly hope that our state’s fiscal conservative champions won’t be corrupted by any trial lawyer money they have received – or are receiving.
In fact, they’d better not, because FITS will not hesitate to call them out BY NAME if any one of them steps so much as an inch out of line.
Bottom line? These two bottom-feeding special interest groups represent – and perpetuate – everything that’s wrong with this state, preserving an anti-competitive legal climate that keeps costs high for existing businesses and prevents new jobs and investment from flowing into our state.
Heck … the fact that they are now attempting to buy off their staunchest critics should tell you all you need to know about these scum suckers.
Let’s hope for the sake of our state that the good guys aren’t for sale …
By Richard January 25, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Lee Bright is a racist sellout. No surprise here.
By No Name January 25, 2010 at 4:45 pm
This was all put in motion by the percived diluted Tea Party/Post Sanford censure paralysis that most SC pols thought would be the dominate theme and strategy back ground for 2010 SC politics.
Then we got Great Scott and a real Tea Party and suddenly everyone needs to rethink anything that looks like weasily status quo crap like this.
Biden’s son just took a powder and now McCain is in a fight with J.D. because if Teddy can be thrown out then anyone can.
Throw all the bumbs out sounds like a pretty good mantra for the
“Mad as Hell” party.
FITS often states that even bumbs can be good guys…but that ends the minute they do something like this.
“Throw the fucking ring in the fire all you Iseldores”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROov7U8eOxk
By What? January 25, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Isn’t this Lee Bright the candidate who campaigned for tort reform in the 2004 and 2008 elections?
This is a classic example of why voters are cynical of politicians.
By A FITS News Reader January 25, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Why would a “conservative” Republican senator take money from left-wing trial lawyers????
Aren’t trial lawyers the biggest donors to the Democratic Party????
By Just Say NO to Ambulance Chasers Money! January 25, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Senator Bright,
Sleep with dogs you wake up with flees …..
By V-n-MTP January 25, 2010 at 5:00 pm
With all do respect FITS, you are about 3 years late to this party.
By Seymour Glass January 25, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Yeah, this is nothing new. Too late on Bright… for many different reasons.
By Crooner January 25, 2010 at 5:09 pm
What’s anti-competitive about our legal climate? Fits, your continuing regugitation of DeMint’s tea party talking points is seriously undermining your claim to libertarianism.
By Genomic Repairman January 25, 2010 at 5:18 pm
I for the life of me have not figured out why the ambulance chaser (a minority of the legal profession) do now work as part time paramedics so they can be first to drum up some business.
By matt January 25, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Could you first define “ambulance chaser” for us? A lot of people throw that term around, but most don’t know what they’re talking about. The tone of your article seems to imply you believe all attorneys who make their living representing plaintiffs in medical matters are scum. Care to elaborate on that?
By BIN News January 25, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Funny.
sic(k) willie called them bottom feeders. That’s from the same pond scum blogger who once claimed a Midlands’ elected official has a “Strom problem.” But he’s never had the courage to admit he was scammed.
sic(c) willie is the expert in bottom feeding.
By Over My Dead Body January 25, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Hahahahahahaha…Bottom Feeding! T.W.S.S.
By Some Name January 26, 2010 at 12:08 am
No Name, while I don’t down play the validity of an amazing victory for Republicans in Mass., you noted that if Teddy can get thrown out office… I hate to point this out, but Teddy did not get defeated in an election, he died. While I am sure most Tea Party memembers would have gladly played a role in his death it just seems like you meant something different?
By political hack January 26, 2010 at 9:57 am
being a trial lawyer in this state is a pretty good racket to be in from what I see…poverty is power for the GOB system
By Darth January 26, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Not that shysters have a particular party preference beyond which one has been easeier to co-opt in the past and who is for sale… to date, I’ll grant the Dems have been most often for sale, ask Darth Siddious’ paymaster.
By matt January 26, 2010 at 12:44 pm
“racket”, lol… where do you people come from?
By LowcountryGamecock January 26, 2010 at 12:44 pm
LOL, it’s fun watching the trial lawyers squirm!
Crooner: “What’s anti-competitive about our legal climate?”
matt: “Could you first define ‘ambulance chaser’ for us?”
HAHAHAHA!
They may be in tune to their own checking accounts, but they are totally oblivious to reality…
By matt January 26, 2010 at 2:10 pm
“They may be in tune to their own checking accounts, but they are totally oblivious to reality…”
That’s funny – nothing in this article or these comments mentions what the “reality” is. I’m a member of the SC Bar, but not a trial lawyer. If you have a beef with trial lawyers, at least have the balls to articulate what it is, rather than throwing out tired cliches. Now, for example, if you’re poor in SC and getting railroaded by the insurance company of the guy who crashed into your car, maybe having a good trial attorney at your disposal isn’t such a bad thing.
By Justice Seeker January 26, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Lee Bright is as ignorant as the people on this post ranting about lawyers.
By sclawboy January 26, 2010 at 4:43 pm
For what it’s worth, the Chairperson of the Greenville County Republican Party, arguably one of the more conservative groups in the state, is Sam Harms, an ambulance-chasing personal injury attorney. Think he likes tort reform? This guy used to work for Joel Beiber, a Virginia lawyer who is on television all the time in the upstate.
By Wow, you people are stupid January 26, 2010 at 7:35 pm
While I fully agree that Tea-Baggers is the appropriate name for your collection of in-bred morons, you could at least try to spell your posts correctly before hitting “submit.” One point: I believe sic willie used the services of a trial lawyer when he was arrested for beating up his girlfriend (what a stand-up guy, a poster-boy for republican values!). Who is worse (or more of a bottom-feeder to use your term), the lawyer or the scumbag who beat up a woman?
By southernmapart January 27, 2010 at 9:56 am
No Name, thanks for the entertaining vid link. The ring, and the flame letters, is The Fire.
Watch out for the so-called “Tea Party” which, from my observation in the Upstate, is being infiltrated and taken over by the alphabet-agency paid corporate bankster mob. That won’t leave much room for a conservative populist uprising who will think they are winning.
This is probably where the Lee Bright newly found funding steps into the picture.
By Sorry, you are wrong! January 27, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Sorry Law Boy, Crooner, etc.
You cannot be a true conservative and support the trial lawyer agenda.
By James F. January 27, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Trial Lawyers,Unions and the NEA run all Democrat politics and do not forget it.
By Weighing In January 27, 2010 at 1:30 pm
funny, but the SC House has quite a few Republican Trial Lawyers… everybody hates a lawyer until they need one..
another interesting note is that suits have to be filed in SC, because unlike our neighboring states, mandatory disclosure of limits is not law here, therefore an attorney must sue the carrier just to find out if they have coverage for simple things like medicals.
By sclawboy January 28, 2010 at 11:05 am
Sorry, you are wrong:
Tell that to Sam Harms. He is a personal injury attorney and the chair of the Greenville County GOP.
As for me, I profess to be neither a conservative or a trial lawyer. Both can bathe in a vat of acid as far as I am concerned.
By Aramis January 28, 2010 at 11:05 am
Hey Trial Lawyers,
How does it feel to be a member of the world’s least respected profession?
Even prostitutes are forced by circumstances; you choose to slither amidst the benthos of society and profit from the misfortune of others.
By matt February 15, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Aramis – I don’t know what you do for a living, but if you don’t like it you should try something else. It’s never too late to start over. Then, maybe you won’t feel compelled to take out your frustrations with your own shortcomings on people whose work includes things your feeble mind does not have the capacity to understand. Luckily for you, a good psychiatrist can probably help you with your issues.
By Dazed and confused March 23, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Aramis:
A large portion of our economic system could be ignorantly categorized as ‘profit[ting] from the misfortune of others’. Does that apply to the undertaker who is paid [often handsomely] to bury the dead member of the grieving family? Does that apply to the doctor, who only gets paid when his patients are sick? Does that apply to the fireman who gets paid because someone’s home and/or belongings are on fire and possibly lost forever.
Every single person who walks into a trial lawyer’s office is indeed suffering from a misfortune, whether self-inflicted or inflicted by others. The criminal defendants have been charged with a crime (sometimes wrongfully, often correctly); the personal injury client has been injured by the actions or omissions of others; the Workers Compensation client has been injured while performing his/her job; the family court client has a marriage that is falling apart, or has children that are being threatened to be taken away or are in harms way where they are; the Social Security client is so sick and disabled that they cannot work. Sure, it would be great to have a system where all these people could get adequately compensated and/or defended without the need for paying an hourly fee or a percentage of their recovery. When you come up with a system that will do that fairly and justly to both sides without the involvement of a trial attorney, you let us know. Society has sought such a system for thousands of years, and none has been found yet.