The attorney general has accused Bush of trying to weaken the tobacco settlement to curry political favor with the tobacco companies, an allegation that Bush, the tobacco industry and Rove all deny. Rove also insists that he has nothing to do with tobacco anymore and never tries to influence Supreme Court justices in their decision-making. Some of the legislators challenging the legal fees are Democrats. But most are Republicans, as is Bush. And some observers are convinced that a major reason they are fighting the fees is to keep a bunch of trial lawyers from getting a big stack of money to share with Democrats.
Trial lawyers are a major source of funds for Democratic political candidates.
Robison is chief of the Chronicle's Austin Bureau.