David Baria responds to false negative attack from special interests

Sen. David Baria (D-Bay St. Louis) is running for retiring Rep. J.P. Compretta's seat in Bay St. Louis, and the special interests from Jackson are funding his opponent, Dorothy Wilcox.  Wilcox sent out a repugnant mailer the other day, accusing Sen. Baria of attempting to "roll back" tort reform.  Baria responded with the following:

For the Voters of House District 122:

I wanted to take a minute to respond to the personal attack my opponent recently sent out against me.

I ran for the legislature in 2007 in the wake of Katrina to work on issues important to us and our recovery. Those issues related to Katrina recovery have been my priority for the last four years and, if elected, will continue to be my priority. Working on behalf of Hancock County residents in the Legislature has required me to take on the insurance companies and other out of state corporations who have not done their part to aid in our recovery. My opponent's campaign is being funded by the very corporations I have fought for the last four years. In her last mailer, Mrs. Wilcox attacked my career as a lawyer. Earlier this month I traveled to Jackson to argue a case before the state Supreme Court. I represented a family who had lost everything in Katrina and who was told by their insurance carrier, wrongly in my opinion, that their loss would not be covered. Does my opponent prefer this family not have legal representation in this matter?

I have been proud to represent families in their time of need as well as businesses when they were sued. My opponent cannot point to one bill I introduced over the last four years that would roll back any of the tort reform measures the Legislature adopted in 2004. "Tort reform" has been passed and will remain in place. It is not a front--burner issue with respect to moving Hancock County forward. It has not been a focus for me, nor will it be. However, I promise you that I will never stop trying to bring justice to the thousands of Gulf Coast residents who were treated unfairly and unjustly by the insurance industry following Hurricane Katrina.

Thank you again for the opportunity to represent you in the Mississippi Legislature. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the allegations contained in Mrs. Wilcox's mailer.

While David Baria's been fighting for Gulf Coast families, Wilcox has been taking money from the insurance companies that make recovery on the Coast so very hard.