WVCala

Attorney General Ethics

Questionable Practices Continue in the Attorney General’s Office.

For years now, WV CALA and its Justice Watch project have been highlighting abuses in the Attorney General’s office.  And Attorney General Darrell McGraw’s actions continue to raise serious ethical issues.

Since his 2004 re-election, Attorney General McGraw has continued the practice of hiring his campaign contributing personal injury lawyer friends for lucrative legal contracts.  In fact, the Attorney General’s recent actions raise even more serious questions about whether he is putting the interests of his personal injury lawyer friends above the interests of the average West Virginia taxpayer.

• In one recent case, the Attorney General’s office reached a $10 million settlement on behalf of the state.  $3.3 million of that settlement went to lawyers who had recently contributed to McGraw’s political campaign.  The rest of the money went into the Attorney General’s own political slush fund.  The state agencies, on whose behalf McGraw filed the suit, received no settlement money whatsoever!
  http://www.wvrecord.com/news/newsview.asp?c=175190

• In another move reeking of “cronyism,” Attorney General McGraw “deputized” a couple of his personal injury lawyer campaign contributors to act as “special assistant attorneys general” against a company that the personal injury lawyers were already suing – a move that put the defendants at an extremely unfair disadvantage.  When the Attorney General’s office was sued to challenge its actions, Attorney General McGraw dismissed the case.  http://www.wvrecord.com/news/newsview.asp?c=176498

Momentum is building for reform in the Attorney General’s office.

• A state auditor’s report has warned that the Attorney General’s hiring practices are likely unconstitutional.
• Defendants targeted by the Attorney General’s abusive practices have also started opposing McGraw’s questionable delegation of powers with lawsuits of their own.  In cases in which defendants have opposed McGraw’s appointment of “special assistant attorneys general,” the Attorney General’s office has been known to back down.
• And just last year, a major committee of the West Virginia Legislature reported sunshine legislation to make public and curtail the Attorney General’s hiring practices.

Only through continued efforts to highlight the abusive practices of the Attorney General’s office can we restore much needed fairness to our state’s legal system.