Campaign Cash
Attorney General Darrell McGraw has repeatedly awarded lucrative no-bid legal contracts to personal injury lawyers who contribute to his election campaigns. These contracts are awarded with no public scrutiny whatsoever, raising serious questions of a pay-to-play practice.
In one such case, four law firms appointed by McGraw as “outside counsel” were linked to $47,500 in campaign contributions – nearly one-third of all Darrell McGraw’s campaign contributions for the 2004 election cycle. Two days after the 2004 election, those lawyers reached a settlement agreement on behalf of the state which ultimately netted them $3.3 million in legal fees.
During the 2008 election, one of the Attorney General’s appointed counsel threw Darrell McGraw a fundraiser while a motion was pending in court to award the attorney more than $3,000 an hour in legal fees.
WV CALA routinely reviews both the Attorney General’s campaign finance reports, as well as his outside counsel hires, to help shed light on these questionable practices.
The following is a breakdown of all large campaign contributions (those greater than $250 which require donors to disclose their occupation and employer) to Attorney General candidates in 2008, based on WV CALA’s research of publicly available campaign finance reports.
Click to enlarge photo.
