Senator Tom Daschle has a troubling, baffling and disappointing habit of saying one thing in South Dakota and its 180 degree opposite in places like San Francisco and Washington, DC. DVT points out a quote Tom Daschle made in Renner, SD yesterday during a campaign event, as reported in the Argus Leader:
Ron Hefty of Hefty Seed Co. in Baltic said he favors tort reform. He also said one factor leading to high health care costs is that doctors are greedy. Daschle said a big issue is that doctors have to pay "way too much" for insurance.
So when Daschle is face to face with a small business owner in South Dakota who favors tort reform, Daschle doesn't take the opportunity to explain the fact that he not only opposes tort reform, he LEADS the opposition to tort reform. Trial lawyers, who fight tort reform tooth and nail, are Tom Daschle's biggest contributors. To paraphrase a comment made by a Chamber of Commerce official a few years ago (which can be found by clicking HERE and scrolling down to the headline "Trial lawyers give $500,000 as legislation heads to Senate floor") Tom Daschle knows that while the trial lawyers have lots of money, the small business community in South Dakota has a lot of votes. So, instead of explaining his opposition to tort reform, Daschle tries to sound like a Republican on the issue, telling Mr. Hefty of Baltic what he wants to hear.
But what Daschle says is different from what he does. Six weeks ago, Tom Daschle led a successful filibuster of a bill that would have reduced the excessive burden the liability system places on the delivery of obstetrical and gynecological services. Last summer, he spoke at the opening plenary of the Association of Trial Lawyers of American convention held in San Francisco, in the wake of successfully filibustering another tort reform measure in the Senate.
Once again, Tom Daschle is trying to have it both ways, this time on tort reform.
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