Sherry Sylvester of Texans for Lawsuit Reform submitted a response to my recent post, “TLR bets the farm.” I have edited portions of the response that did not directly address matters that were in my original post. Some of the omitted material appears in a comment posted yesterday by Ames Jones’ consultant Todd Olsen.
TLR PAC’s decision to back Elizabeth Ames Jones’ challenge to Sen. Wentworth was based on principle. In recent legislative sessions, Sen. Wentworth has stood with the trial lawyers on every contested vote and has carried bills that would push the balance of our civil justice system back to favoring personal injury trial lawyers. In contrast, Elizabeth Ames Jones campaigned for Proposition 12 in 2003. She supported tort reform when she served in the House and she knows that lawsuit reform is critical to keep the Texas economy growing. She has been an able Railroad Commissioner and has strong policy positions favoring free enterprise. TLR consistently does what we consider to be the right thing in politics and policy and we are always prepared to accept the consequences of our decisions and actions. Finally, given that most everyone in Austin is very familiar with Wentworth’s shoddy record on this issue and many others, your prediction that there will be “high fives all around the Capitol” if Wentworth is re-elected is hard to imagine. Other than the trial lawyers, who would care?
