The public is not represented. The legislature can consider lobbying by the manufacturer, unions, consumers, economists, retailers, competitors and everyone else, not to mention administrative agencies. Most important, the legislature can be recalled by the public if they do not like the decision. Jan Peterson characterizes plaintiff PI lawyers as heroes. They are not heroes, because all of them work for money and some of them become wealthy taking money from the public and taking policy issues from the legislature where they belong, into courts where they do not belong.
Corporations create most of the bricks, ships, clothes, cars and so forth that everyone uses.
These are important issues. They should be debated. The Bar News should not be a forum for contingency fee lawyers, Columbia Legal Services, Al Gore s campaign, activist courts or any other partisan point of view. Roger B. Ley Seattle and the letters published in this issue constitute another view in the ongoing debate. Readers are invited to submit letters of reasonable length to the editor.