Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:59:47 EDT
Austin American-Statesman (subscription) - Austin,TX,USA
... same year, O'Quinn steered a legal team that drew a $3.2 billion settlement of a lawsuit against Dow Chemical Co., manufacturer of silicone breast implants. ... John O'Quinn, a fabulous breast Implant attorney donates money for a new governor in, Texas. You'll need to register to read the article. Hurrah! Will one of you kindly send me the http?Gigi-Karen
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Bell lands potential $5 million donor
Democratic gubernatorial candidate sees fresh TV ads ahead
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
After Friday night's see-saw gubernatorial debate, Houston personal-injury lawyer John O'Quinn gave Democrat Chris Bell a potentially record-breaking lift, promising to give his campaign $1 million now and to give or raise $4 million more later.
Bell's campaign picked up the million-dollar donation Monday amid plans to shoot fresh TV ads. If O'Quinn's offer plays out, Bell could compete with GOP Gov. Rick Perry and independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn in prime-time advertising through the Nov. 7 election. It costs an estimated $1 million weekly to reach every media market in Texas.
"Chris is not going to lose because he doesn't have the money," O'Quinn said Monday. He called the $5 million figure "my goal."
"They tell me that's what they need," he said.
O'Quinn's commitment could end up being the largest single outside donation to a candidate for state office ever. In 2002, Perry's top backer, businessman Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim of Pittsburg, ponied up just less than $200,000, according to watchdog group Texans for Public Justice. Through June of this year, the biggest total giver to a gubernatorial candidate was John McCall of Spicewood. McCall, treasurer for independent Kinky Friedman, had given him $851,000 over time.
Since electronic reporting of donations began in 2000, the single largest donation was $310,000 given by former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm's political committee to Perry in October 2002, according to Texans for Public Justice, which favors limiting donors to $100,000 per candidate per election cycle.
O'Quinn traced his decision to aid Bell, who like Strayhorn and Friedman has trailed Perry in polls, to chance encounters with Bell and his finance director, Fred Ellis, at the Sept. 18 memorial service for Ann Richards in Austin. Richards, who died Sept. 13, was the most recent Democratic governor of Texas. She served from 1991 through 1994.
His fundraising commitment "might not have happened if I had not gone to the memorial, not even knowing Chris was going to be there," O'Quinn said. "I've also been a Democrat all my life. So I just believe in Chris. I believe he's a winner. He's going to be a very good governor; he's going to be for all the people."
Eric Stratton of Texas Shark Watch, a project that has questioned lawyer donations to candidates, called O'Quinn's decision unsurprising in light of a desire among plaintiffs' lawyers to soften laws restricting lawsuits.
"O'Quinn is one of the most powerful trial lawyers who are working to cover their bases to be able to have an inroad to the Governor's Mansion. For all intents and purposes, they are trying to buy the governor's office."
O'Quinn said he won't ask Bell for anything if he becomes governor. "There will not be a piece of legislation introduced to benefit me or my business."
O'Quinn said he acted because Bell "cannot compete without money."
"The facts are the facts. Abraham Lincoln could not be elected president today if he didn't have a bunch of money," he said.
Bell could now have the treasury to match other candidates in end-of-campaign advertising. Perry and Strayhorn, the state comptroller, have paid for prime-time TV spots statewide since early September, with Friedman and Bell affording less time in fewer locales. Libertarian candidate James Werner has not purchased TV time.
Strayhorn, who reported raising more than $1.5 million from trial lawyers through June, said Monday that she had $5 million on hand as of Sept. 28 — ample TV money. Financial updates from candidates for state office are due to the Texas Ethics Commission today.
O'Quinn, 65, has a fortune that he has tapped for charity, for classic automobiles and for Democratic politics. In 1998, he was among six lawyers coaching the state in a lawsuit against big tobacco companies that yielded a $17.3 billion settlement. The same year, O'Quinn steered a legal team that drew a $3.2 billion settlement of a lawsuit against Dow Chemical Co., manufacturer of silicone breast implants.
He has occasionally drawn unwanted attention. In 1997, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated. He also pleaded guilty to improperly practicing law in South Carolina in connection with recruiting clients after a plane crash. A year later, he went to an out-of-state clinic to get treatment for alcohol abuse.
Craig McDonald, executive director of Texans for Public Justice, did not object to O'Quinn's potential $5 million donation. He noted Monday that Perry fielded almost half of $24 million raised through June from donors who gave $25,000 or more and that Bell took in 25 percent of $2.1 million from similar donors.
"The system in Texas is out of whack," McDonald said. "The concentration of political money should alarm all Texans, including the ability of one donor to give $1 million or more to a single campaign. But I don't begrudge Mr. O'Quinn from raising money to help the Democratic ticket. It is woefully underfunded compared to the special-interest money Gov. Perry has raised. . . . I'm not outraged."
In the 2002 elections, O'Quinn ranked sixth among top donors to Texas campaigns by spreading $652,000 among candidates. He has given almost $1.4 million to candidates or political groups since June 2000, including more than $700,000 to the Texas Democratic Party, according to ethics commission filings.
This year, according to Texans for Public Justice, O'Quinn has not ranked among top donors, which were led through June by Houston home builder Bob Perry, a Rick Perry supporter who has given $4.6 million to Texas candidates.
Rick Perry spokesman Robert Black, noting Bell's declared support for donation limits, charged Bell with taking a "do as I say, not as I do" stance.
Bell said later that he would limit his contributions if Perry did the same. "In a race where the fundraising gap is more than 10 to 1, it is absurd for Perry to mention this now," he said.
A note spotted on the wall of Bell's Austin headquarters earlier Monday said: "Goal of the week! Raise $1,000,000." Scrawled next to it, with an arrow: "Done."
