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Why Did Obama Vote for a Bad Tort Reform Bill? | 35 comments (35 topical)

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Counterpunch.com - May 5 and May 6 (5.00 / 2) (#32)
by suzieg on Fri May 09, 2008 at 06:56:06 AM EST
May 5, 2008
A CounterPunch Special Investigation
How Barack Obama Fronted for the Most Vicious Predators on Wall Street
Obama's Money Cartel
By PAM MARTENS

Here's a passage from the article:

This legislation, which dramatically impaired labor rights, consumer rights and civil rights, involved five years of pressure from 100 corporations, 475 lobbyists, tens of millions of corporate dollars buying influence in our government, and the active participation of the Wall Street firms now funding the Obama campaign. "The Civil Justice Reform Group, a business alliance comprising general counsels from Fortune 100 firms, was instrumental in drafting the class-action bill", says Public Citizen.

One of the hardest working registered lobbyists to push this corporate giveaway was the law firm Mayer-Brown, hired by the leading business lobby group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Chamber of Commerce spent $16 million in just 2003, lobbying the government on various business issues, including class action reform.


[ Parent ]

Good article, and here's this (5.00 / 1) (#37)
by andrys on Fri May 09, 2008 at 07:42:22 AM EST
Thanks for that.

In Chris Hodges' Hope for Corporate America there's this:

He worked tirelessly in the Senate in 2005 to pass a class-action "reform" bill that was part of a large lobbying effort by financial firms, which make up Obama's second-biggest single bloc of donors.

The law, with the Orwellian title the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), would effectively shut down state courts as a venue to hear most class-action lawsuits. This has long been a cherished goal of large corporations as well as the Bush administration. It effectively denies redress in many of the courts where these cases have a chance of defying powerful corporate challenges. It moves these cases into corporate-friendly federal courts dominated by Republican judges.

Even Hillary Clinton voted against this naked effort to allow corporations to carry out flagrant discrimination, consumer fraud and wage-and-hour violations.



[ Parent ]
Obama's Money Cartel (none / 0) (#69)
by jawbone on Fri May 09, 2008 at 10:56:19 AM EST
Is this the link and article?

[ Parent ]

Why Did Obama Vote for a Bad Tort Reform Bill? | 35 comments (35 topical)

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