DR. DUNNAVANT owes HER OPPONENTS and ALL LAWYERS an APOLOGY!

Few things make me see red faster than a political candidate or office holder using anti-lawyer feelings to win or keep office.  Anti-lawyer bigotry had not shown up in several years in our area but now 12th Senate GOP hopeful Dr. Siobhan Dunnavant did it in the TV ad I saw tonight on Fox News.

Surrounded by babies, real and photos, the doctor says:  “My opponents:  All lawyers.  Well, lawyers wrote Obamacare.  And crybaby politicians want to expand Medicare…”

Here’s the Ad:

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s despicable to attach lawyers like that.  Her opponents didn’t write the Obamacare bill nor do they support it.  Bill Janis who I support is a corporate counsel for a medical billing firm.  I suppose physicians don’t need to collect help with billing!  Eddie Whitlock collects debts for small businesses, too.  Vince Haley has used his expertise in the service of a great leader:  Former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

What about the civil rights struggle?  Thurgood Marshall and the lawyers of the Inc. Fund (The NAACP Legal Defense Fund) used the law to bring about needed social change.  (Let’s not forget one of them was Virginia’s own Oliver W. Hill!)

What about lawyers who have sued to get compensation for injuries caused by – let’s say negligent doctors!  Or try to keep defective and dangerous projects and medicines off the market?

Or prosecutors that get criminals off the streets?  Or those who defend indigents (like I did for a short time) at trial and on appeal who are too poor to afford a lawyer?  I know one lawyer who worked hard (and he’s not the only one) on a case and took it to the Court of Appeals, finally won at the full court, only to see the Commonwealth prevail at the state supreme court.  Then he had to try again to get the Court of Appeals to uphold his other point.

What about the fine lawyers at the Institute for Justice – fighting for libertarian values in the courts?

Or lawyers as community leaders trying to run a charity event or promote diversity or go to the schools and speak on what it means to be 18 now?

Yes there are activist lawyers and activist judges for liberal causes.  But there are bad doctors, too.  Dr. Dunnavant owes her three opponents an apology – and all the good, decent, hardworking attorneys in the area who she slandered for votes.