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Palin Bounce In West Virginia AG Race
Last Updated on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 10:34 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 9 September 2008 10:34
From Charleston Daily Mail:
“The level of enthusiasm and excitement on the Republican side of things is exponentially different since that Wednesday night speech,” Greear told Daily Mail editors Monday.
“I think it’s going to make a huge difference in the turnout on the Republican side.”
McGraw was invited but did not attend the meeting with the Daily Mail editorial board. Greear said McGraw has repeatedly declined requests to debate in a public forum.
“I think it’s unfortunate for the citizens of West Virginia that they’re not going to have the opportunity to see a discussion of the vision of that office from the two candidates,” Greear said. “It’s really kind of frustrating for me to try to engage in an election and not be able to have any discussions on the issues. I think that’s unfortunate.”
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WV AG: Blurring the line?
Last Updated on Friday, 26 September 2008 12:00 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 3 September 2008 11:35
Does West Virginia Democrat A.G. Darrell McGraw have a tendency to blur the line between politics and governing? You’ve seen and heard about the ways McGraw uses settlement funds from lawsuits brought in the name of West Virginia taxpayers to selfishly promote his own political interest instead of selflessly promoting the interest of West Virginia taxpayers. It’s been talked about time and again, McGraw appears to think that the West Virginia Office of Attorney General is really all about Darrell himself, and not the people who hired him and pay his salary.
From the outside looking in, it appears that McGraw believes that whatever he gets his hands on while getting paid by the taxpayers is fair game for furthering his political ambitions. Something we came across today that’s been right in front of everybody’s noses for a long time – Darrell McGraw’s campaign website. Right there at the top of his campaign website is a doctored version of the official state seal of the state of West Virginia.
There on the left is Darrell McGraw’s campaign logo, and there on the right is the official state seal of the state of West Virginia. We didn’t doctor this up ourselves – you can see it right on McGraw’s campaign website (until he changes it, but we’ll get a screen shot for posterity, so don’t bother pulling it down). Kind of makes the political website look official doesn’t it? The similarities don’t stop there check out the his campaign biography vs. his official biography – we wonder if the person who wrote the bio was a state employee, or a campaign employee. What other similarities are there?
Posted under Attorney General News, Blog, Dems Behaving Badly | 1 Comment
WV: Legislators See Little AG Change on the Horizon
Last Updated on Friday, 26 September 2008 12:01 Written by rslcpol Friday, 29 August 2008 01:07
It is a first step, and it’s the type of step challenged Democrat incumbent A.G. Darrell McGraw dreads, and Republican challenger Dan Greear needs to pull off the upset of 2008. From Legal News Line:
Among the recommendations is one that suggests any settlement fees over $300,000 be “immediately transferred to the State General Fund by the attorney general’s office.”
To date, none of these recommendations have been enacted. Only HB 104, which requires the attorney general to notify the governor and legislators when filing a lawsuit and when entering into settlement agreements.
Republican Sen. Vic Sprouse called the bill “toothless.”
“I don’t think it’s progress because it is strictly a ‘reporting’ requirement after the fact,” Sprouse, who was a member of the 2001 joint committee, said. “I mean, I guess it’s better than nothing, but it does show how scared the legislative leadership is of Attorney General Darrell McGraw that they only require him to tell them after he settles.”
A May 2007 story in the National Law Journal listed West Virginia as one of several state legislatures introducing bills that would create oversight over the attorney general’s outside interests.
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West Virginia AG Latest To Sue Countrywide
Last Updated on Wednesday, 13 August 2008 12:30 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 13 August 2008 12:30
From the AP:
West Virginia’s attorney general accuses a national mortgage lender of making risky and unconscionable loans in a lawsuit that’s similar to challenges filed in several other states.
In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday, Attorney General Darrell McGraw asks a county circuit judge to stop Countrywide Financial Corp. and four subsidiaries from foreclosing on loans, using “unfair and deceptive” practices and enforcing delinquency judgments.
McGraw accuses the Calabasas, Cal.-based companies of luring customers with teaser rates that rise to unaffordable rates of up to 18 percent. He also claims the companies enticed customers with no-down payment loans and inflated appraisals.
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WV AG: An Election Or An Intervention?
Last Updated on Tuesday, 12 August 2008 12:49 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 12 August 2008 10:03
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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WV: GOP AG Candidate Wants $20 from 5,000 people
Last Updated on Thursday, 7 August 2008 01:59 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 7 August 2008 01:58
You can check out Dan Greear’s website here
From Charleston Daily Mail:
Republican attorney general candidate Dan Greear is looking for support from 5,000 contributors.
The Charleston lawyer says if each donates $20, he will be able to raise $100,000 in his bid to unseat Democratic incumbent Darrell McGraw in November’s general election.
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Wall Street Journal: GOP Candidates Challenging Spitzerism at the Polls
Last Updated on Friday, 1 August 2008 11:00 Written by rslcpol Friday, 1 August 2008 09:09
A closer look at the West Virgina AG race, along with some others. This piece makes credible mention of two GOP AG candidates who could not be further from the Spitzerist mold as AG – Indiana’s Greg Zoeller and West Virginia’s Dan Greear.
From the Wall Street Journal:
It’s also an insight into a new wave of reformist candidates across the country. As state attorneys general have become more brazen with their power, and as outside groups have started shining a light on their backroom practices, voters have become uneasy. It’s this sense of disquiet that candidates like Mr. Greear are tapping into as they promise to refocus lawsuits, rein in the tort bar and restore a sense of justice to prosecutorial office.
In Indiana, Greg Zoeller, the chief deputy for the current attorney general, is running for the top slot and touting the fact his office has never been close to trial lawyers. His opponent, Democrat Linda Pence, is a trial attorney. In Missouri, GOP state Sen. Michael Gibbons is fighting for an open seat and promising transparency in office. In North Carolina, in a strange twist, a pro-business Democrat is defending his seat against a trial-lawyer Republican. Ethics is also figuring in attorney general races in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
To Mr. Greear’s advantage, his opponent is a case study of abuse in office. Mr. McGraw, in more than 14 years as West Virginia’s attorney general, has been a pioneer in the practice of filing questionable lawsuits against big companies, secretly doling out the legal work to outside trial lawyer friends who reap millions in fees. Those lawyers then turn around and donate heavily to Mr. McGraw’s re-election.
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WV: Funeral Home Under Attack By Dem AG
Last Updated on Monday, 14 July 2008 10:40 Written by rslcpol Monday, 14 July 2008 10:40
From Legal News Line:
West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw recently received authority to continue his case against a bankrupt funeral home.
U.S. District Judge Frederick Stamp wrote July 3 that McGraw has the authority to go forward with allegations that Iams Funeral Home violated the state’s Preneed Funeral Contracts Act, even though owner John Iams II declared bankruptcy two days after McGraw’s Wetzel County Circuit Court action was filed.
Iams is represented by Morgantown attorney Hiram Lewis, whom McGraw defeated in 2004 in the closest Attorney General’s race in history.
“The decision allows the Consumer Protection Division of my office to uphold its statutory responsibility to enforce the Preneed Funeral Contracts Act and protect consumers,” McGraw said.
Flatley’s opinion affirmed a decision made by Bankruptcy Court Judge Patrick Flatley. The trial judge had already ruled that “the State may proceed with its action against Iams only to the extent that it seeks a non-monetary judgment,” Flatley wrote.
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WV: Dem AG Supporters Want Money From State Case
Last Updated on Tuesday, 1 July 2008 12:06 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 1 July 2008 11:52
A follow up on a story we brought you last week on this very issue. This definitely beginning to look like a problem for West Virginia. Even the slightest appearance of pay to play is troublesome for a state’s chief law enforcement officer – but an actual paper trail with donors receiving hefty fees that are a part of a settlement intended to compensate tax payers is just wrong. There’s a certain arrogance of power about this story – at some point West Virginia’s Democrat A.G. needs to recognize that having always done things a certain way doesn’t necessarily make them right. The person who all of is good for is Republican A.G. candidate Dan Greear. From LegalNewsLine:
Campaign contributors given state contracts by West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw will try to stake their claims to portions of nearly $4 million in fees in August.
On Aug. 20, attorneys for four firms involved with a settlement between the State and Visa and MasterCard will argue for $3.9 million in fees at a final approval hearing in Ohio County Circuit Court. Members of two of those firms are contributors to McGraw, seeking re-election this year.
“(T)he settlement agreements provide that Visa shall pay up to $3,000,000 and MasterCard up to $900,000 for the State of West Virginia’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs arising from the work involved in filing and pursuing this lawsuit and in bringing this settlement about, in an amount to be approved and awarded by the Court,” a notice on McGraw’s website says.
“Those payments shall be made to an account designated by the Special Attorneys General that assisted the Attorney General or as otherwise ordered by the Court. Those payments are in addition to the other payments described above and shall not affect the payments for the sales tax holidays or the payments to the State’s Attorney General Consumer Protection Fund.”
Posted under Attorney General News, Dems Behaving Badly | 1 Comment
WV: Campaign Funding Bill Extends Legislature Session
Last Updated on Friday, 27 June 2008 10:46 Written by rslcpol Friday, 27 June 2008 10:46
From the Charleston Gazette:
A special session of the Legislature will run at least through today and probably through Saturday, as Republicans and Democrats continue to wrangle over a bill to restore financial disclosure requirements for big-money election advocacy campaigns.
The House of Delegates Thursday passed the bill (HB219) on a 64-20 vote, after rejecting seven amendments from Republican delegates.
Later Thursday, Senate Republicans blocked a motion to suspend rules requiring a bill be read on three separate days – arguing that Democrats were trying to rush through a potentially unconstitutional election law.
At least one Republican argued that the intent of the bill – and the rush to get it passed – is to shield Attorney General Darrell McGraw from election advocacy campaigns that would target him this fall.
“There are two reasons why we are here today. One is Darrell McGraw, and the other is the Supreme Court race,” said Sen. Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha, adding, “I think it’s a terrible, terrible precedent to set to rush in here a couple of months before the election to affect two races.”
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