The State Ethics Commission tore the mask off New Mexico Safety Over Profit and revealed – ta da! – trial lawyers.

After arguing that they didn’t have to register as lobbyists or reveal funding sources, NMSOP had a change of heart after reading the commission’s 73-page lawsuit. They settled by paying a $5,000 fine (the maximum allowed), registering with the state, and releasing their full list of donors, along with expenditures.

We learn that in recent years about 50 trial lawyers and/or their firms dug into deep pockets and found nearly $1.3 million to fight reforms of the state’s medical malpractice law and related measures. Three-quarters of donors are board members or past presidents of the Trial Lawyers Association. Many have waged the big-dollar lawsuits against healthcare providers that appear in the news. Four were outside the state, including showboat Iowa lawyer Nicholas Rowley, who ponied up $425,000. The Trial Lawyers Association was good for $245,000.

(Originally published by Los Alamos Post, August 18, 2025)