How appropriate would it be that McGraw’s addiction to settlement funds from cases like Oxycontin is his ultimate political downfall? If reform minded Republican challenger Dan Greear upends this incumbent Democrat AG, who by the way happens to have a seemingly unlimited appetite for settlement bucks, it’s going to take McGraw, and those he doles out his freebies to, a lot longer than just 28 days (parental discretion is advised) to recover. From Legal News Line:

Oxycontin could be the Kryptonite to the power built by West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw during this decade and a half in office.

The 2004 settlement is nowhere near the largest won by McGraw. Its $10 million pales compared to the estimated $1.8 billion awarded to the state from settlements with tobacco companies during the 1990s. And the settlement with Purdue Pharma, makers of the OxyContin, is just another in a sea of lawsuits against companies with names such as Visa, Microsoft and other pharmaceutical companies.

But the state of West Virginia vs. Purdue Pharma, L.P., is the fault line in what critics and opponents hope is a coming earthquake that will crumble McGraw’s influence and control. Likewise, the case is Exhibit A for McGraw’s supporters that the popular attorney general is under attack from billion-dollar companies upset with his legal successes against them.

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