ICJL Releases Their Legislative Scorecard

The Illinois Civil Justice League today released a mid-session scorecard tracking the voting records - on civil justice issues - of all members of the Illinois General Assembly. This scorecard reflects the roll call votes on the floor of the House and Senate, as well as committee votes on and sponsorships of bills that are important to the Illinois civil justice reform effort.

By looking at roll call votes, committee votes and bill sponsorships, ICJL has produced the most detailed legislative scorecard – on any issue - in the state of Illinois.

“It is important that Illinois voters know where their legislators stand on issues relating to the reform of our state’s troubled legal system,” said Edward Murnane, president of ICJL. “For too long, the personal injury trial lawyers have held too much clout in Springfield, advancing their stealth agenda of increasing their profits at the expense of hard-working Illinois citizens. This scorecard enables the average voter to know if his or her legislator stands with them – or with the trial lawyers.”

The scorecard assigns each legislator a percentage scored based on the number of times he or she supported or opposed a key bill. ICJL then highlighted the best and worst scores through the following groups:

FRIENDS OF FAIRNESS – This group highlights those legislators who exhibited an exemplary voting record on civil justice reform issues by having an aggregate score of 75% or higher. The legislators honored in this group are:

Illinois Senate “Friends of Fairness”

· Senator Bill Brady
· Senator J. Bradley Burzynski
· Senator Kirk W. Dillard
· Senator John O. Jones
· Senator Chris Lauzen
· Senator David Luechtefeld
· Senator Matt Murphy
· Senator Dan Rutherford
· Senator Dave Syverson
· Senator Frank Watson

Illinois House “Friends of Fairness”

· Rep. Suzanne Bassi
· Rep. Bob Biggins
· Rep. Tom Cross
· Rep. Brent Hassert
· Rep. Sidney H. Mathias
· Rep. Chapin Rose
· Rep. Timothy L. Schmitz
· Rep. Ron Stephens

“We feel that it is only right to honor and call attention to those legislators who consistently support common sense lawsuit reform – and reject the trial lawyer agenda,” said Murnane, who added that the scorecard also recognizes those legislators who consistently support trial lawyer-backed policies as members of the “Trial Lawyer Caucus.”

TRIAL LAWYER CAUCUS – Although there were many legislators who supported the majority of trial lawyer measures, the Trial Lawyer Caucus represents those who were especially vigilant in supporting the anti-civil justice reform agenda: those who had an aggregate score of 15% or lower:

Illinois Senate Trial Lawyer Caucus

· Senator Michael Bond
· Senator Jacqueline Y. Collins
· Senator M. Maggie Crotty
· Senator John J. Cullerton
· Senator William Delgado
· Senator Michael W. Frerichs
· Senator Susan Garrett
· Senator Debbie DeFrancesco Halvorson
· Senator Don Harmon
· Senator Mattie Hunter
· Senator David Koehler
· Senator Dan Kotowski
· Senator Terry Link
· Senator Edward D. Maloney
· Senator Iris Y. Martinez
· Senator Michael Noland
· Senator Carol Ronen
· Senator Martin A. Sandoval
· Senator Jeffrey M. Schoenberg
· Senator Ira I. Silverstein

Illinois House “Trial Lawyer Caucus”

· Rep. Edward J. Acevedo
· Rep. James D. Brosnahan
· Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie
· Rep. William Davis
· Rep. Mary E. Flowers
· Rep. John A. Fritchey
· Rep. Careen M. Gordon
· Rep. Deborah L. Graham
· Rep. Julie Hamos
· Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez
· Rep. Jay C. Hoffman
· Rep. Kevin Joyce
· Rep. Lou Lang
· Rep. Kevin A. McCarthy
· Rep. George Scully Jr.
· Rep. Cynthia Soto

The full scorecard, with analysis, can be viewed online at http://www.icjl.org/.