Brunner: I'm only ripping Sarah because she ripped me first

Fights keep breaking out on the playground that was once called the race for the Republican nomination for U. S. Senate in Missouri. In this news release from the John Brunner campaign, he explains that he only went negative on Sarah Steelman because she went negative on him.

Sarah Steelman recently launched a misleading attack on John Brunner and his family foundation over a donation made by one of his children. Since Sarah Steelman opened the door to investigating donations and contributions, it’s only fair that  are informed about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Steelman has accepted from trial lawyers over the course of her political career.

As the old saying goes, “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” Indeed, Sarah Steelman’s glass house is about to come shattering down around her.

In a new web video released today by the Brunner campaign, the full extent of the massive infusions of trial lawyer donations that Sarah Steelman has accepted throughout her political career are outlined.

It’s well-known and has been widely reported that Sarah Steelman was not just the only Republican to filibuster tort reform in 2003, but also the only Republican to vote to uphold the Democratic Governor’s veto of the bill, and the only Republican in 2004 to, yet again, vote against tort reform legislation (Associated Press, March 13, 2003 /Kansas City Star, March 13, 2003 / St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 12, 2003 / The Associated Press, June 28, 2004).

In 2003 and 2004, the Missouri Trial Lawyer Bar was the leading opponent of tort reform legislation. 

And those same trial lawyers also lined Steelman’s campaign coffers, donating $715,345 to her campaign war chest (Missouri Ethics Commission, 1998-2008).

• 1999-2004: $199,345 in trial lawyer contributions
• 2005-2008: $196,925 in trial lawyer contributions
• 2008: $319,075 in trial lawyer contributions, via pass-through campaign committees

“The massive amount of campaign contributions that Sarah Steelman has accepted from trial attorneys is very troubling,” said Todd Abrajano, Brunner spokesman. “Trial lawyers have historically been the most vocal opponents of tort reform bills in Missouri, and, not surprisingly, Sarah Steelman was the most vocal Republican critic of comprehensive tort reform legislation when she served in the state senate.”

For more on Sarah Steelman’s unreliable tort reform record visitwww.SteelmanFacts.com.