Oh this kind of thing sucks if you’re not the incumbent Democrat A.G. This is probably the kind of thing Republican nominee Dan Greear didn’t want to happen, but was probably expecting. This is not going to be the last handout from McGraw’s office between now and the election. The word on the street is that nearly $4 million of this settlement is going to wind up in the pockets of 4 private law firms, and $600,000 will be deposited into the accounts of McGraw’s consumer protection fund – no doubt money spent to protect consumers, and not promote the McGraw name in West Virginia during an election year.  From the Times West Virginia:

From Sept. 1-7, Energy Star qualified products will be exempt from the 6 percent state sales tax.

Approximately $11.6 million in settlement money from a lawsuit is providing this sales tax relief for West Virginians, said Frances Hughes, chief deputy for Attorney General Darrell McGraw’s office.

The West Virginia Office of the Attorney General filed a case in 2003 against MasterCard International Inc. and Visa U.S.A. Inc. under West Virginia’s antitrust and consumer protection laws.

The office alleged that an illegal tying arrangement between the companies’ debit and credit cards caused increased costs to merchants that were passed on to consumers in higher prices over all retail products. The attorney general’s office wanted Visa and Mastercard, which deny the allegations, to provide some sort of relief to consumers for their conduct.

In January, the attorney general’s office received preliminary approval of a court settlement from Judge Ron Wilson in Ohio County, and legislation was required in order to implement it.

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