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Do you speak tort 'reform'? Corporate America and its political allies have found clever ways to spin the tort 'reform' message: they speak a common language that is colored green.

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In an uncharacteristic slip during an interview with the Los Angeles Times in January, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue declared: "We plan to build a grassroots business organization so strong that when it bites you in the butt, you bleed." (1)

Was that over-the-top language truly a slip of the tongue? As the leader of America's largest organization representing corporate interests, Donohue issued that warning the day before his so-called State of American Business address, in which he toned down his rhetoric considerably and blandly proclaimed in his speech and a press release: "The country's future is clouded by Washington's failure to seriously address the core competitive challenges that will drive growth, opportunity, and prosperity in the 21st century. The world has changed and so too must our policies and practices."

The "slip" was provided to just one media outlet but was sure to be read by all Chamber members. It was Donohue's way of signaling that no matter how much he might sound like he was making a high-minded speech on the nation's competitive challenges, he was in fact kicking off a national campaign for the Institute for Legal Reform, a Chamber affiliate, to raise more than $40 million and wage a bloody war that would demonize trial attorneys and the civil justice system. The objective: to elect pro-corporate (and pro-tort-"reform") politicians to Congress in 2008.

Donohue's clever tactic is but a small example of how, through decades of research, analysis, and practice, those...

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