Category Archives: Candidates

Paul Johnson: Latham Using Taxpayer Funds to Disseminate Propaganda

Posted on August 17, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Paul Johnson: Latham Using Taxpayer Funds to Disseminate Propaganda In these shocking reports, the Paul Johnson for U.S. Congress campaign and the Iowa Democratic Party detail the alleged spending privilege abuses of U.S. Rep. Tom Latham. “Franking”, the privilege allowing … Continue reading →

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From the Campaign Trail: John Drury Makes A Splash in Britt

Posted on August 15, 2004 by bfialindathieman

From the Campaign Trail: John Drury Makes A Splash in Britt A Report from Drury for Iowa Senate Another busy day on the campaign trail yesterday for the Drury Team at the National Hobo Convention in Britt.  The day started … Continue reading →

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Some Thoughts on Tort “Deform” in Iowa: An Eye-opening Essay by Andrew Smith

Posted on August 14, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Some Thoughts on Tort “Deform” in Iowa

An Eye-opening Essay by Andrew Smith, Democratic Candidate, Iowa House District 40

“This issue is so important to the citizens of Iowa and goes way beyond this one piece of legislation proposed by Rep. Horbach. The Enron scandal of the past couple years reminded me of the importance of a strong civil justice system. It reminded me that altering our civil justice system to favor large corporate interests erodes society’s ability to adequately deter wrongful conduct. It also reminded me how these so-called tort reform measures being proposed year after year by the Republican-controlled legislature come at the expense of the general public.”

–Andrew Smith


To learn more about Andrew Smith or to contribute to his campaign, go here.


My opponent, Rep. Lance Horbach (R), was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in November of 1997, by a mere 9 votes in one of the closest elections in Iowa history. In 2000, he sold his interest in a small furniture business he co-owned and joined a company outside the district he represents called “Independent Insurance,” in Marshalltown, Iowa. According to the company website, “Lance specializes in large account sales development.”

This past legislative session, Rep. Horbach was the floor manager in the Iowa House of Representatives of HF 2440, a bill aimed at capping non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. HF 2440, which almost all the Iowa House Democrats opposed and which Governor Vilsack vetoed would have capped non-economic damages in tort, contract, or other actions against a health care provider to $250,000 unless there was a finding of actual malice against the health care provider. Economic damages, or damages to compensate for past or future wage loss, were not capped under the bill. Essentially, what this means is that if you go in for surgery and subsequently develop a disability due to medical malpractice, you could still sue for purely economic damages such as health costs (related to the disability) and repayment of future money you cannot now earn because of your disability under HF 2440, but you could only sue under the cap for no more than $250,000 for any kind of non-economic or “quality of life” damage suffered due to the malpractice. As a result, the $250,000 cap proposed by Rep. Horbach would have limited recovery on a variety of serious and real damages to medical malpractice victims, including loss of ability to have children, loss of body function, loss of body parts, disfigurement, loss of consortium, and physical pain and suffering.

In my opinion, capping non-economic damages is a bad idea because it disproportionately harms children and elderly victims of malpractice, because they often have little or no economic losses. When children, women, seniors and minorities win malpractice lawsuits, a larger proportion of their compensation is often made up of non-economic damages than economic damages. Therefore, in states that cap non-economic damages, children, women, retirees and minorities usually receive significantly less compensation than white males for the exact same injury.

From the evidence and studies available, it appears that caps also fail to lower premiums in every state that has tried them. Trial lawyers, insurance companies, and doctors will continue to debate the effect of caps with study after study, but to me, there is a greater fundamental principle at stake that makes these studies less important, and that is the constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury.

The right to have justice determined by a fair and impartial jury of one's peers goes to the heart of our system of government, and whether to limit this power of the jury to determine justice is much more than a mere economic question – it is a question of whom do we trust.

By arbitrarily capping non-economic damages, Rep. Horbach et al. are essentially saying that they don't believe Iowa juries can be fair, deliberate and careful in their decisions. They are essentially saying that Iowa juries are out of control and their power needs to be limited. But unlike Lance Horbach, I trust Iowa's juries more than I trust the Iowa legislature.

Trusting Iowa Juries:  The data available seems to suggest that my trust in Iowa juries is well founded. Even the conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce found in a recent state liability study from March of this year that Iowa had the fourth best jury system in the nation. The study also found that Iowa ranked first in jury fairness and fourth best in jury predictability. This study appears to confirm that Iowa juries are already extremely conservative, fair and business friendly even without arbitrary limits being imposed on their power.
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Dave Franker: You Gotta Love This Guy!

Posted on August 13, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Dave Franker: You Gotta Love This Guy! Look at this listing from the DFIA Events Calendar: Dave Franker discussion – Church and State Dave Franker discusses “Separation of Church and State” before a Diverse group of Bible Christians, Atheists, Muslims, … Continue reading →

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Meet Wayne Sawtelle, Democratic Candidate, Iowa Senate District 22

Posted on August 11, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Meet Wayne Sawtelle Democratic Candidate Iowa Senate District 22 Wayne Sawtelle (right) with supporters Dear Friends at DFIA, I want to first thank you for featuring me on your Blog for Iowa.  It’s grassroots organizations like DFIA with Blog for … Continue reading →

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Meet Jeff Danielson, Democratic Candidate for Iowa Senate, District 10

Posted on August 7, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Meet Jeff Danielson Democratic Candidate Iowa Senate, District 10 Firefighter Jeff Danielson (right) Dear Blog for Iowa readers, Greetings!  My name is Jeff Danielson and I’m running for the Iowa Senate District 10 seat.  I was born and raised in … Continue reading →

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Iowa’s 4th Congressional District Race Heats Up

Posted on August 4, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Iowa's 4th Congressional District Race Heats Up Ames Tribune In a letter deriding “money from the biggest special interests to run the dirtiest television advertisements,” Democratic congressional candidate Paul Johnson asked Republican incumbent Rep. Tom Latham to instead debate in … Continue reading →

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News & Notes from Iowa & The Progressive Community

Posted on August 1, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Take a look at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s new movie: “Choice Chick vs. the Judgebots.”  Click here.  Choice Chick has an amazing resemblance to Janeane Garofalo, with Angelina Jolie's lips thrown in for good measure. I got an email … Continue reading →

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Mike Owen on Education in Iowa

Posted on July 31, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Mike Owen on Education in Iowa Mike Owen Mike Owen / Democrat for State Representative District 79 / Cedar, Johnson, Muscatine Counties July 31, 2004 Friends: We are 94 days away from Election Day.  And we all know what that … Continue reading →

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Iowa Poll Shows Tighter-than-anticipated U.S. Senate Race

Posted on July 30, 2004 by bfialindathieman

Iowa Poll Shows Tighter-than-anticipated U.S. Senate Race JOHNSON COUNTY – Returns from a Johnson County mock election show the race between Art Small, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, and Republican incumbent Charles Grassley may be much closer than pundits have … Continue reading →

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