Frrom the Sun

Area law firms wield cash, power

Oct. 19, 2003

BY PATRICK J. POWERS

The name of the donation game is access
In the early days of her campaign for attorney general, Democrat Lisa Madigan flew around the state in a plane paid for by the Lakin Law Firm of Wood River.
The firm, one of the most prominent in the metro-east, specializes in personal injury and class-action lawsuits. But its prominence doesn't end with those entrenched in the legal community.
The Lakin Law Firm -- along with a handful of other well-known personal injury law firms in the metro-east -- has become a powerful player on the Illinois political landscape, dumping thousands of dollars into candidates' coffers.
A representative of the Lakin Law Firm didn't return phone calls Friday.
In the past three years, the Wood River law firm has given more than $165,000 to candidates, mostly to Democrats running for statewide offices. In July, it hired Democratic state Rep. Jay Hoffman, a Collinsville resident and close friend of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, as the latest member of its legal team.
"This gave me an opportunity with a larger firm to get into more litigation work," said Hoffman, who dismissed the idea that the Lakin Law Firm hired him for his political connections. "I hope they would hire me because they think I'm good lawyer."
The Lakin Law Firm isn't the only metro-east law firm making large contributions to the state's political system. In the past three years, four of the area's biggest firms gave more than $440,000 to political candidates, according Illinois State Board of Elections records.
"Some of these big trial lawyers' firms are certainly very powerful players in state politics," said Cindi Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.
However, just because a law firm contributes to a candidate, doesn't mean it is trying to buy the influence of that candidate, Belleville attorney Bruce Cook said. Cook's law firm has contributed more than $34,900 to political campaigns in the past three years.
"People who donate money to political parties give it for all types of reasons," Cook said. "Blagojevich's point of view won't change because someone gave him $50,000. They gave him $50,000 because he agrees with them and they think he's electable."
Cook's former partner Thomas Q. Keefe, who has given $48,565 to candidates in the past three years, offered a similar perspective. "The principal reason I (give to candidates) is because they believe what I believe in," he said.
But what does a law firm have to gain from dumping so much money into candidates' campaigns?
"At a minimum, you're buying access," said Kent Redfield, a political scientist at the University of Illinois Springfield. "You get phone calls returned, meetings set up and a seat at the table.
"People who are large contributors certainly get a place at the table and are consulted."
Former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon often tells the story of returning to a hotel room late in the day to find he had 10 messages to be returned. Eight were from people he didn't recognize, two were from people who contributed to his campaign.
He ends the story with a question: "Whose phone calls do you think I was going to return?"
Simon couldn't be reached for comment Friday.
Rex Carr and Stephen Tillery's former law firm -- Carr, Korein, Tillery, Kunin, Montroy, Cates, Katz and Glass in East St. Louis -- chipped in $143,000 to political candidates during the past three years.
That amount includes more than $8,000 for a plane to fly Gov. Rod Blagojevich around Illinois during his campaign last year; $75,000 to his general campaign stash; $36,000 to the Democratic Party of Illinois; and $25,000 to the Democratic leaders in the Illinois House and Senate.
"If you talk to people in those firms, they'll tell you they want good, credible candidates filling those offices," Canary said. "But they also share an agenda with the Democratic party."
In a study conducted by the Illinois Civil Justice League, it was found that more than 75 percent of contributions to judicial races in Madison County in the past 23 years -- $593,061 -- came from plaintiff's trial lawyers. The next highest contributions, $115,394, came from non-trial lawyers.
Said Redfield: "They want to preserve the existing tort system. They are supporting candidates that they believe will maintain the current system, which they certainly like."
But while a status quo of the state's tort system certainly would be welcome, the reason for the large contributions is clear, Cook said.
"People who have a lot, owe a lot," he said. "I would rather give money to the legal aid society than the Democratic Party ... but just barely."