The trial lawyers’ lobby donated large sums to a political action committee that aired ads defending trial lawyer-turned-Senate candidate Bruce Braley, the Des Moines Register reports.
Braley is the lone Democratic candidate running for the open Senate seat in Iowa and has a long history of advocating the interests of trial lawyers:
Federal Election Commission records show that the trial lawyers’ American Association for Justice PAC in the last quarter gave $200,000 to Senate Majority PAC, which is run by former aides to Democratic U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The lawyers gave their second $100,000 donation of the quarter on March 27. That was two days after a videotape surfaced on March 25 that showed Braley telling a room full of Texas lawyers at a campaign fundraising event that he’d be their "voice," and that they should take care not to let the GOP win the majority in the U.S. Senate because "a farmer from Iowa without a law degree" — Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley — would become chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
On April 4, Senate Majority PAC reserved air time in Iowa — the buy was about $210,000, a spokesman told reporters — and on April 7 began running a TV ad defending Braley regarding farmers.
A spokeswoman for American Association for Justice PAC said the contribution wasn’t earmarked for Iowa. An aide for Senate Majority PAC said the same thing.
The timing of the trial lawyers’ donations and the airing of the ads is raising questions about whether Braley’s campaign was involved, which would be illegal.
A Braley campaign spokesman denied that any coordination happened, according to the Des Moines Register.
A recent Washington Free Beacon poll found that Braley’s disparaging comments toward Sen. Grassley and farmers significantly hurt his standing among likely Iowa voters.