Posted on 08/05/2009 10:05:25 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin
“When speaking in their official capacity, legislators can say virtually anything without fear of civil liability.”
Do you think if they weren’t immune that they would look at tort reform differently ? Also the Dems receive 95% of the trial lawyers contributions.
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?ID=D000000065
Probably not. As you point out, their unwillingness to reform the tort laws in America has much less to do with their exposure (or lack thereof) for slander and libel, and much more to do with how much money the trial lawyers donate to their campaign and PAC coffers.
The immunity is actually a good idea, and has been in place almost since the countries founding. Without it, you'd see at the Federal level what you've seen in Alaska with Palin; Orchestrated efforts to silence outspoken legislators with frivolous libel and slander suits, or in Palin's case, ethics violations.
Your right on the immunity but I just get tired of the shear elitism from these people. They make rules for their subjects but don’t lead. Like Cap and Tax. If they were serious about carbon footprints there would be provisions in the bill requiring all Gov’t agencies to meet the most stringent mileage standards. You ever see a congressmen show up in an escort ? Usually it’s a large SUV.
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