Senator Nichols

Sun August 10, 2008
Lawyered up: State Senate candidates feel the love
The Daily Oklahoman Editorial

WHY would a citizen in Sallisaw care enough about a state Senate race in Norman to contribute to one of the candidates Or someone in McAlester do the same for a candidate running in Stillwater. It's a safe bet they know little about the candidates.
That doesn't matter. What matters is party affiliation in these cases, D for Democrat. The donors in both examples are attorneys who probably don't know the candidate, but do know the best way to remain in the tall cotton to which they're accustomed is to get Democrats back in control of the Senate, which has forever been the burial ground for lawsuit reform.

Republicans and Democrats have shared power in the Senate the past two years, the result of a 24-24 split in party membership. Both sides are going great guns to gain the majority, with three races in particular targeted. In all three, trial lawyers have been especially generous to the Democratic contenders.

In District 37, incumbent Sen. Nancy Riley of Tulsa, who was elected as a Republican but later switched parties, raised $125,065 in individual contributions during the past three reporting periods. Of that total, $85,425 came from lawyers, according to a figures provided by the head of Oklahoma Republican Senatorial Committee.

Two-term Republican incumbent Jonathan Nichols, who has served the Norman area with distinction in District 15, has seen his opponent lawyer up in a big way. Diane Drum raised $74,485 in individual donations in the past three quarters. Three-fourths of that $56,115 came from attorneys.

The open Senate District 21 seat in Stillwater, formerly held by Democratic co-President Pro Tem Mike Morgan, is another key battleground. Democratic candidate Robert Murphy's lone campaign report showed $35,900 of his $51,600 in individual donations had come from the trial bar.

To be sure, the Republicans in these races have raised funds from constituents in the business and medical professions, groups that advocate for meaningful tort and workers' compensation reform. But 70-75 percent?

Some lawyers who gave to these campaigns listed their occupations as "self employed or "consultant. We've seen "rancher and "homemaker used in other cases. This is rich. It also may help explain why "unknown was given as the occupations of many injured workers who donated ? often unknowingly ? to a political action committee run by workers' comp attorneys. How are some attorneys supposed to keep their clients' professions straight when they're not sure of their own.

GOP control of the Senate could put lawsuit reform back in play. Trial lawyers know this and are rallying their forces. Their goal is a return to the good old days when Democrats ran the Senate and ran every tort reform bill into the ground.

Article by Scott Carter in today's (Saturday)Transcript

Is Jonathan's opponent is in bed with trial lawyers?


According to Sen. Nichols, Scott Carter of the Norman Transcript did not give all the facts in today’s Transcript article about Senator Nichols fund raising efforts. After assuring Senator Nichols that he would write a fair article, he does not report the facts.


Scott PROMISED truthfulness and accuracy to Sen. Nichols, yet he stated a false and inaccurate statement on the front page of the Transcript.

Scott PROMISED truthfulness and accuracy, yet he falsely stated that of Nichols $200,000, over half was carried forward from Sen. Nichols previous campaign. False

Scott PROMISED truthfulness and accuracy, yet he falsely and inaccurately stated that Sen. Nichols carried forward $111,000 from his previous campaign. FALSE!

If Scott’s article were true, then Sen. Nichols only raised 89,000 this campaign where his opponent has raised over $90,000 this campaign.

Sen. Nichols carried forward ZERO DOLLARS from his previous campaign. Sen. Nichols raised over $200,000 this campaign for 2008. Of that, $180,000 was raised during the same time period that Diane Drum only raised $90,000.

Sen. Nichols has worked very hard setting fundraising records and out raising his opponent two to one. News of his extraordinary fundraising efforts spread across Norman and the State. Now, in one article in the Transcript by Scott Carter has undone Sen. Nichols hard work with false and inaccurate reporting. No doubt this was his intent.

Scott stated that Sen. Nichols opponent has out raised him this campaign. False. Scott stated that some of Diane Drum’s money is from attorneys when MOST of her money is from attorneys!!

Further, Scott suggests that Sen. Nichols opponent has raised a newsworthy amount when Lisa Prior raised more money than his opponent last campaign. What was newsworthy was
the record setting amount of $200,000 raised By Sen. Nichols campaign. That's why the OKLAHOMAN reported it as such.

Scott states that Sen. Nichols raised $51,000 from PACs, yet he omits the fact that $70,000 of Diane’s $90,000 came from over 100 attorneys, most of who live outside the Norman area.

Not only does Carter make blatantly false statements, but then he misleads the reader with omissions.

Sen. Nichols will now have to spend a great deal of his personal time and campaign moneys trying to undo the damage of Scott’s lies. Scott Carter’s story has altered the momentum of Sen. Nichols campaign, and the damaging alteration was made with Scott Carter false reporting.

Scott Carter political bias has grossly surfaced...