Biden move had 'intersection of interests'

DENVER -- Sen. Joe Biden worked to defeat a bipartisan bill designed to curb asbestos lawsuits at a time his son's law firm was filing them in Delaware and a former aide was lobbying against the measure, according to public records and interviews.

Biden, a longtime ally of trial lawyers who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, opposed legislation that would have replaced thousands of lawsuits with a trust fund for asbestos victims. He proposed a series of amendments in 2003 and 2005 that backers of the bill viewed as "poison pills" designed to kill the bill, said Lawrence Fineran, a lobbyist who supported the measure.

Supporters — including chief sponsors Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. — said the measure would end abusive litigation that had bankrupted dozens of companies. Critics, including Biden, said it would leave some victims without compensation. In February 2006, Biden joined a majority of Democrats, including Sen. Barack Obama, in voting to defeat the bill.

In an e-mail, Biden spokesman David Wade said the senator "consistently opposed the asbestos bill because it was unfair. He thought it was dead wrong that if the trust fund ran out of money for the victims, they couldn't even get their rights back."

There is nothing illegal about a U.S. senator acting in a way that helps campaign contributors or relatives, and Biden has a history of supporting the right to sue in civil court. But the "intersection of interests" among Biden, his son, his ex-aide and his contributors "all steer the senator toward one perspective," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Biden's ties to trial lawyers, some of the country's biggest political givers, will be a test for the Obama campaign, which has promised to free Washington from the grip of special interests, she said. Biden is Obama's vice presidential selection.

The Delaware Democrat had ties to opponents of the asbestos measure at the time he worked against the bill, a USA TODAY review shows: