Liberal Democrats from Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy to Texas State Senator Judith Zaffirini know they can count on Tobacco Five magnate Wayne Reaud for big bucks.
However, Reaud has saved a few dollars for a handful of Republicans, namely Carole Strayhorn and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, both of whom have also been patronized by other Texas trial lawyers in this rogue gallery.
Friends of Lance Lubel
New Mexico Governor and former Clinton administration official Bill Richardson has a friend in Houston trial lawyer Lance Lubel, who gives thousands not only to the Texas Democratic Party but also the New Mexico Democratic Party.
Yet Lubel has also bankrolled Republicans Carole Strayhorn, Chris Harris, and Elizabeth Ray.
Wayne Reaud
Beaumont trial lawyer Wayne Reaud was one of the Tobacco Five, who shared in the 3.3. billion legal fees funneled by convicted felon and former Attorney General Dan Morales. Reaud also procured a massive $2.1 billion settlement from Toshiba for allegedly defective laptop hard drives, even though there was no actual loss of data, but only a simulation in a laboratory of hypothetical conditions under which data could be lost.
Reaud, his wife Dana, and the Reaud Law Firm have pumped well over half a million dollars into state and national Democratic candidate and party committees. They have given thousands to liberal Democrats like Tom Daschle, Patrick Leahy, John Edwards, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton.
Like the other Texas trial lawyer kingpins, almost all of Reaud’s federal contributions are to Senate campaigns or committees supporting Democratic Senators. This is likely because the trial lawyers have coordinated their contributions and determined that, given the requirement of 60 votes to bring up legislation in the Senate, the surest way to stop federal tort reforms is to buy influence in the Senate with massive contributions.
Although over 90 percent of his largesse continues to pour into Democratic coffers, Reaud has recently directed thousands to South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has obstructed medical malpractice reform.
At the state level, Reaud has lavished over $100,000 on the Senate campaigns of liberal Democrats like David Bernsen, Gonzalo Barrientos, and Judith Zaffirini. The only state Republican supported by Reaud is renegade GOP gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn. Reaud has lined her campaign war chest to the tune of $28,000.
Lance Lubel
Houston asbestos liberal personal injury trial lawyer Lance Lubel with the firm Heard, Robins, Cloud & Lubel has given tens of thousands to liberal Democrats John Edwards, John Kerry, and Nick Lampson, as well as to the state Democratic parties in Texas and New Mexico.
Lubel is providing the erratic Carole Keeton Strayhorn with his private jet so she can pillory Perry in every Texas hamlet. Lubel has also donated over $35,000 to Strayhorn’s campaign.
Although Lubel has given only to liberal Democrats at the national level, Strayhorn, who still claims to be a Republican while running as an independent, does not mark Lubel’s first foray into state GOP politics. He gave $5,000 to State Senator Chris Harris, who has equivocated on tort reform and $2,500 to Elizabeth Ray in her largely plaintiff lawyer-funded primary campaign against Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright.
