By Chad Bernard

The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association is a voluntary group of about 2,800 members. The association deals with a variety of issues, and its political money is spread widely throughout the state.

"With the market and economy doing so good in the past couple of years, the insurance and manufacturing sectors have devoted a lot of resources to put restraints on the justice system," said Talmage Williams, a lobbyist for the VTLA. "We look to give money to people who believe in the integrity of the social justice system."

The association gave a total of $220,900 to Virginia legislators during the 1999 election cycle, making the group the No. 4 donor.

The organization’s members are mainly courtroom lawyers.

"Tax lawyers probably aren’t going to join," Williams said. "We’re primarily litigators, dealing with issues such as personal injury cases, worker’ compensation, medical practice liability, slip and falls and things like that.

"We look to support candidates who share our world view about the importance of the justice system," he added. "We like to have it balanced throughout the state, in various regions and both parties."

But the group’s donations have tilted toward the Democratic side: For last year’s elections, the VTLA gave $150,000 to Democrats in the General Assembly and $69,400 to Republicans.

"We make a conscious effort to evaluate the candidates and the races one by one," Williams said. "For a number of years, the Democrats were in firm control, and we developed some really good relationships.

"In the future, we will still continue to support the Democratic Party, but we look forward to working with the Republican caucus a bit more."

Sen. John S. Edwards, D-Roanoke, received the most money – $21,500 – from the VTLA. House Democrats Thomas W. Moss, former speaker, and C. Richard Cranwell, minority leader, had the next highest figures at $12,000 and $10,000, respectively.

"We have worked very closely with Senator Edwards for many years," Williams said. "His race was a competitive one, and we felt that it could have been closer than it actually turned out.

"But like I said, we have a very good relationship with Senator Edwards and we continue to support him."

As with most other associations, the VTLA will always almost certainly give more to the higher-ranking officials of a party.

"Sure, until a couple of weeks ago, Moss was the speaker of the House and Cranwell was the majority leader," Williams said. "When you hold a very strong position, you can influence a lot of people in the Legislature.

"When they ask for help, people want to respond."