I always thought Ricky was *Bubba. (Not to be confused with Ricky Bobby.)
Posted on 03/23/2008 3:26:30 PM PDT by Libloather
Weiss pleads guilty; Clinton silent
Mar 21, 2008 3:00 AM (2 days ago)
by Quin Hillyer, The Examiner
WASHINGTON- Pioneering securities class-action lawyer Melvyn Weiss agreed yesterday to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy in the Justice Department’s prosecution of the New York firm that carried his name for many years.
Weiss thus became the fourth named partner in the firm to plead guilty in the past year to participating in an $11.7 million kickback scheme government prosecutors said began in 1979 and resulted in more than $200 million in tainted legal fees in an estimated 150 cases filed by the firm.
“This kickback scheme lasted for more than 25 years and had a severely detrimental effect on the administration of justice across the nation,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien.
Weiss and former partners William Lerach, David Bershad and Steven Schulman were generous contributors to Democratic candidates and causes, continuing even after 2002 when the government’s investigation of their firm became public. They made millions of dollars in contributions to federal office-holders, party organizations and political action committees like Emily’s List.
Yesterday, The Examiner again asked Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama what they plan to do with contributions they received from the firm’s disgraced partners. Neither candidate’s spokesmen responded to the newspaper’s inquiry.
Clinton received $21,970 in such contributions, making her the top congressional recipient of Milberg Weiss donations. Obama received $5,300. Of those amounts, Weiss and his spouse gave $17,574 to Clinton and $1,000 to Obama.
The Examiner previously contacted both campaigns on repeated occasions in recent weeks.
To date, neither candidate has reported to the Federal Election Commission that they have done anything other than keep the money. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has received no Milberg Weiss contributions, according to FEC data.
The firm, which remains under indictment and faces trial later this year, changed its name to Milberg LLP yesterday. Milberg LLP continues to be a major player in the class-action world, securing 22 settlements in 2007 totaling $1.6 billion, the most of any firm.
qhillyer@dcexaminer.com
WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton and five other senators who since 1999 opposed every major proposal to curb lawsuit abuse were among the most frequent recipients of campaign contributions from partners at the disgraced class-action firm Milberg Weiss, according to data analyzed by The Examiner.
Thirteen votes on lawsuit abuse reform proposals previously identified by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) were analyzed by The Examiner. Twelve senators voted for none and 13 voted for just one. Three of those casting one vote for reform were among the lawmakers who received the most donations from Milberg Weiss.
Four former Milberg Weiss partners — Mel Weiss, William Lerach, David Bershad and Steven Schulman — have agreed to guilty pleas in recent months to felonies in conjunction with a $11.7 million kickback scheme that federal prosecutors said led to more than $200 million in tainted fees for the firm in roughly 150 cases, beginning in 1979.
The firm itself is also scheduled for trial later this year on multiple felony charges stemming from a federal investigation that became public in January 2002.
Among them, the four partners and their spouses contributed more than $800,000 to candidates, party committees and political action committees between 2002 and the most recent FEC reporting period. The firm separately donated another $514,000 to Democratic Party campaign committees.
The six senators who always voted nay received the following contributions from the Milberg Weiss partners (and their spouses) between January 2002 and the present: Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., ($21,971 to her senatorial and presidential campaigns combined), Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. ($12,600), Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. ($12,000), John Kerry, D-Mass. ($11,000), Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. ($9,000), and Joe Biden, D-Del. ($6,920).
The three senators who voted only once to curb lawsuit abuse received the following amounts from Milberg Weiss partners (and their spouses): Bill Nelson, D-Fla. ($16,000), Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. ($14,714), and Russ Feingold, D-Wis. ($12,000).
Two other senators who received substantial donations from the firm, Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., weren’t in the Senate long enough to be included in the NAM rankings. But Menendez served in the House during that same period, and voted in favor of reform just two of 17 times, according to the manufacturing trade association.
Michael Barone, founder of the Almanac of American Politics, said the Milberg Weiss donations reflect a broader pattern of how the office-holders vote on key bills that involve their financial supporters.
“This is part of the whole trial lawyer orbit,” he said. “On telecom immunity [in the national security wiretaps debate], they were voting to enrich their trial lawyer contributors — and if some of those trial lawyer contributors are actually under indictment, that makes it look even more fishy.”
The top 13 Milberg Weiss contribution recipients were Democrats. The first Republican on the list is Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who ranked 14th and voted with NAM 67 percent of the time on lawsuit abuse reform bills. Forty-four senators voted for lawsuit abuse curbs more often than Specter.
Ten of the 13 votes tracked by NAM were for proposals supported by a majority of senators voting. Five of the 10 proposals, however, failed to pass because of filibusters conducted by opponents.
One of the bills, the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, passed the Senate 72-26, but only two of the top Milberg Weiss recipients, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Obama, voted for it.
Other issues included in the NAM tally were proposals to put caps on medical liability and on punitive damages in certain circumstances, and to place limits on trial lawyers “forum shopping” for particularly lenient judges.
When The Examiner broadened its search of campaign giving to include all donations by current or recent Milberg Weiss attorneys, the newspaper found that 10 of the top 11 recipients voted for proposals favored by NAM only once or never.
Obama has been in the Senate for just three of the votes on NAM’s list, and voted with NAM on one of those. Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd, D-CN, voted for NAM’s position on three of the 13 votes.
Quin Hillyer is associate editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1292440~Strongest_lawsuit_abuse_reform_opponents_in_Senate_received_the_most_Milberg_Weiss_cash.html?cid=rss-Washington_DC
my heart bleeds.
whooda thunkit.
I never fully recognized how ridiculous and funny they really are until recently.
Were there any other republicans that the Weiss contributions-for-votes program sponsored?
Is McCain on the list?
Hillary seems a lot like Barney Fife, too....Obama is the dude who keeps throwing bricks through the window...
Nope. Last paragraph - original post.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has received no Milberg Weiss contributions, according to FEC data.
I always thought Ricky was *Bubba. (Not to be confused with Ricky Bobby.)
Thanks, I completely missed that paragraph.
Well, good for McCain on this one.
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