Kerry picks greasy trial lawyer

Why would candidate Kerry allow such a greasy person to help him win the White House?

The Democrats have just announced that Texas trial lawyer Fred Baron will co-chair John Kerry's Victory '04 committee, a joint fundraising effort by the DNC and the Kerry campaign.

What do we know about Fred Baron and his trial lawyer pals?

Baron said trial lawyers run the U.S. Senate (including John Kerry?). "The plaintiffs' bar is all but running the Senate. Now, I really, strongly disagree with that, particularly the words 'all but.'" (Fred Baron, Mealey's Asbestos Bankruptcy Conference, June 3, 2002)
Baron Vowed "Jihad" Against Tort Reform Advocates. "Fred Baron has 10,000 asbestos clients – probably more than any other lawyer in the US – and he has a simple message for those lobbying Washington's lawmakers to make it harder to bring his cases to court. 'There will be a jihad,' he says. 'We will fight them with everything we've got.'" ("Growing Chorus Demands Change In Law," Financial Times, 9/9/02)
Baron admitted planting memories in plaintiffs. "Do we implant memories? Yeah, probably we do. Is that something that is wrong? I don't believe it is." (Dallas Observer, August 13, 1998)
Baron's Law Firm Accused Of Racketeering Suit. "Several major players in the asbestos plaintiffs bar, including Dallas' Baron & Budd, have been sued for allegedly threatening to sabotage pending settlements with a company that pressed for federal legislation aimed at capping recoveries and fees. The racketeering complaint, filed on Jan. 10 in the Southern District of New York, alleges that Perry Weitz and Robert Gordon, ... along with principals at Baron & Budd and Barnwell, S.C.-based Ness, Motley, Loadholt, Richardson & Poole – threatened G-I Holdings Inc. Chairman Samuel J. Heyman with a 'nuclear response' if he persisted in supporting the now-stalled Fairness in Asbestos Compensation Act (FACA). ... The memorandum, the complaint alleges, also 'instructs clients falsely to claim equal exposure to all products,' and directs that 'clients should deny that they ever saw warnings or had any knowledge concerning the harmful effects of asbestos.' ... Baron says the memo, which first surfaced in 1997 after a Baron & Budd lawyer mistakenly turned it over to defense counsel during discovery, is 'old news.'" (Mark Hamblett, "Baron & Budd Lawyers Named In Civil RICO Suit," Texas Lawyer, 1/22/01)
Baron's Law Firm's "Witness Coaching" Memorandum Is Smoking Gun In RICO Case. "After asbestos claims forced the parent company of GAF Materials Corp., the largest U.S. roofing materials company, into bankruptcy this year, it sued three law firms. The complaint reads like a Sopranos episode, alleging that the trial lawyers threatened to crush any company pushing for asbestos tort reform under an avalanche of new claims. It also alleges that doctors reading X-rays for one law firm received sexual favors from female paralegals and secretaries. ... But the real smoking gun is a memo that GAF alleges law firm Baron & Budd used to prepare witnesses. The memo details facts that all clients, regardless of their actual experience, should testify to and comments all should avoid. ... Partner Fred Baron says few people were shown the document: 'A paralegal did a memo she should not have done.'" (Pamela Sherrid, "Looking For Some Million Dollar Lungs," U.S. News & World Report, 12/17/01)

Why would candidate Kerry pick such a greasy person to help him win the White House?

All I can say to you is:

Anyone but Bush!!!!

In your opinion Kerry has made a mistake. I bet you can discover he has made yet another one. And he will probebly not do what you like again.

But he didn't lead this country into an illegal war - but he did fight in one, and I bet he has the experience to get us out of this one.

So why would I vote for Bush?

Betting is bad, especially when you lose.