Is Gore Guilty of Another Campaign Finance Scandal?

The New York Times, The Washington Post and Time Magazine have reported that a new investigation surrounding an Al Gore campaign finance scandal has been launched by the Justice Department’s campaign-finance task force.

The investigation stems from a 1995 veto of a tort reform bill by the Clinton-Gore administration in which it is alleged that Gore and the Democratic National Committee solicited $100,000 from a wealthy Texas trial lawyer in return for ensuring the legislation would be vetoed.

In response to the Clinton-Gore administration’s veto, current Vice Presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman called trial lawyers “a small group of people who are deeply invested in the status quo, who have worked the system very effectively and have had a disproportionate effect.”

This investigation demonstrates the influence of trial lawyers on the civil justice system and the power they wield to block legislation that would reform the out-of-control legal system. The current civil liability system imposes a hidden “tort tax” that all American consumers pay.