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This article originally provided by
The Charleston Gazette
May 4, 2008
Lawyers give most money to Maynard
Chief Justice Elliot "Spike" Maynard says it's the "worst hypocrisy" to focus on
campaign donations from business interests while ignoring big money from
lawyers.
By
Paul J. Nyden
Staff writer
Chief Justice Elliot "Spike" Maynard says it's the "worst hypocrisy" to focus
on campaign donations from business interests while ignoring big money from
lawyers.
But Maynard took in the most money from lawyers of any candidate for the
state Supreme Court. That's according to an analysis of contribution reports
made by the Sunday Gazette-Mail.
Maynard has been attacked for his friendship with Massey Energy CEO Don
Blankenship. In January, pictures emerged showing the two vacationing together
in Monaco. Since then, Maynard has recused himself from several cases involving
Massey.
Last month, he said donations from lawyers deserve at least at much scrutiny.
"We have lawyers every day raising big money for judges, giving money to
judges and appearing in front of those judges, when they have million-dollar
cases at stake and million-dollar fees at stake," Maynard said during a debate
sponsored by The Associated Press and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
"And I don't hear any outrage at that. That's the worst hypocrisy," added the
Mingo County native.
Maynard received $134,050 from lawyers and their relatives, primarily from
lawyers whose firms represent business interests. That's out of a total of
$586,873 raised.
All five Supreme Court candidates received significant contributions from
West Virginia lawyers.
Former Supreme Court Justice Margaret Workman received almost three-quarters
of her donations from lawyers - the highest percentage of any candidate.
Four candidates - Maynard, Workman, Huntington lawyer Menis Ketchum, and West
Virginia University law professor Robert Bastress - are on the Supreme Court
ballot in the May 13 Democratic Party primary. The top two vote getters will run
in the November general election.
The unopposed Republican candidate is Elizabeth "Beth" Walker, a lawyer with
the Charleston firm of Bowles Rice McDavid Graff & Love. Her husband is an
executive with Walker Machinery in Belle, which produces coal-mining machinery.
Lawyers biggest donors
Lawyers as a profession are the largest contributors to the Supreme Court
race so far, according to Julie Archer, a research analyst with the West
Virginia People's Election Reform Coalition.
The group has completed its own analysis of pre-primary contributions made to
the five Supreme Court candidates.
"Excluding loans candidates gave to themselves, one-third of the money
donated came from the legal profession, 12 percent came from coal and 7 percent
came from health-care related donors, including physicians, dentists, hospital
administrators and political associations," Archer said.
Archer's analysis also revealed Bastress received the highest percentage of
donations from contributors who gave $250 or less.
The analysis of contribution reports made by the Sunday Gazette-Mail reveals:
Business lawyers gave the most to Maynard, but trial lawyers also gave
$22,500, including: $5,000 from the Charleston firm of Hill, Peterson, Carper,
Bee & Deitzler; $3,000 from the J.R. Rogers firm; and $1,000 each from
Charleston lawyers Marvin Masters and James Humphreys.Maynard received $5,000
from Scott Segal's Charleston-based firm, which won a $405 million jury verdict
in Roane County that found Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy withheld gas
royalties legally owed to individual and corporate property. Segal also is
married to Supreme Court Justice Robin Davis.
Chesapeake Energy officers gave Maynard $4,000 in donations. The Supreme
Court is likely to review the huge Roane County verdict in the near future.
Ketchum received $107,271 from lawyers, nearly $45,000 from colleagues in
Huntington, where he practices law, including $9,000 from his own firm of
Greene, Ketchum, Bailey, Walker, Farrell & Tweel.Ketchum also received $5,000
from lawyers in the Charleston firm headed by Rudolph L. DiTrapano, a long-time
state Democratic Party leader.
Former Supreme Court Justice Richard Neely gave Ketchum $1,000.
Candidates aren't supposed to know who gave them money. But at the AP debate,
Ketchum said, "Judges say they don't look to see who gave. But they know who was
at the fundraiser. That's why we need merit selection of judges."
Bastress received $39,175 from lawyers, nearly 55 percent of all his
donations.Franklin D. Cleckley, a West Virginia University law professor and
former state Supreme Court justice, is running his campaign. Cleckley was the
state Supreme Court's first black justice.
Walker received $37,200 from lawyers, including $21,600 from her own firm of
Bowles Rice and $7,500 from Steptoe & Johnson, another Charleston firm.
Workman received $30,325 in donations from lawyers, nearly 74 percent of all
money she raised when she filed her first report.Those contributions came
primarily from plaintiff- and consumer-oriented lawyers, including $3,000 from
Berthold Tiano & O'Dell, a Charleston firm.
Coal donations
Maynard has received the most donations from the coal industry, by far.
Maynard has received at least $97,000 in donations from coal companies,
related mining machine and mine maintenance firms. He also received at least
$12,500 in oil and gas donations, according to a Sunday Gazette-Mail analysis of
his two campaign reports.
Coal donations came from several companies, including: Massey Energy, Magnum
Coal, Arch Coal, International Coal Group (ICG), Pritchard Mining, Eastern
Associates, Patriot Coal, Alpha Natural Resources and Eagleback Carbon.
After the vacation photos of him and Blankenship became public, Maynard recused
himself from two major appeals to the Supreme Court. One involved a Boone County
jury verdict now worth $76 million against Massey in a case filed by Harman
Mining and Hugh Caperton. The second involves a Brooke County jury verdict worth
$240 million against Massey in favor of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel.
Last month, the court upheld its November 2007 ruling overturning the Harman
verdict. The Wheeling-Pittsburgh case in still on appeal.
Walker received $7,500 from coal companies and their lawyers, including
donations from: Arch Coal, ICG, Trinity Coal, and Pritchard Mining. She received
at least $10,900 from Walker Machinery and other mining machine and trucking
companies.
Ketchum received $6,500 in coal contributions, including $2,500 from Eaglehawk
Carbon and companies owned by the Bunn family.
Ketchum also received $1,000 from D.C. Offut, a Huntington lawyer who
represented Massey Energy, and $5,000 from Berthold Tiano & O'Dell, the
Charleston firm that represents Harman Mining in the case that will be appealed
to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Coal companies gave no donations to either Bastress or Workman.
Other donations
Ketchum also received $8,000 in donations from eight unions, including: the
United Mine Workers, American Federation of Teachers, West Virginia Laborers'
District Council and state AFL-CIO COPE, its political action committee.
Workman received $4,000 from unions including: the Building and Construction
Trades, District Council of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen, Laborers District
Council and West Virginia AFL-CIO.
Bastress received $1,000 from the state chapter of the American Federation of
Teachers.
Neither Maynard nor Walker received labor donations.
Ketchum also received $1,000 from retired Gen. H.F. Mooney and $500 from former
Marshall University football coach Bob Pruett.
Bastress received $1,000 from Emily Spieler, a former West Virginia Workers'
Compensation commissioner and now dean of the Northeastern University Law
School, and $500 from Gene R. Nichol, president of William and Mary College.
Walker received $500 from Scott Rotruck of Chesapeake Energy's offices in
Charleston; $500 from Steven Cohen, executive director of West Virginia Citizens
Against Lawsuit Abuse; and $100 from Gregory Thomas, who has worked for CALA and
Blankenship.
Maynard may have raised the most money, but Ketchum has spent more. At the end
of the first reporting period, expenditures came to: $314,712 by Ketchum,
$143,878 by Maynard, $40,874 by Bastress, $34,816 by Walker and $2,456 by
Workman.
Those expenditures do not include independent expenditures by other
organizations.
In this election, independent expenditures have included money spent by the
Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation to air television ads criticizing
Maynard and money spent by the Chamber of Commerce to air ads backing Maynard.
Most campaign expenses for all candidates went to pay consultants and to air
television ads.
Workman's expenditures also included $24.25 in costs to mail packages of honey
to four local Democratic committees.
Archer pointed out how much expenditures have increased since previous
elections.
"When Maynard first ran for the Supreme Court in 1996, he raised only $181,755
in the whole primary cycle. He raised $411,805 during that entire election,"
Archer said - compared to almost $600,000 so far this election.
In 1988, when Margaret Workman became the first woman to win a Supreme Court
seat, she raised a total of $143,133, Archer said.
To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.
Campaign finances
This year's first pre-primary campaign finance reports in the state Supreme
Court race reveal:
Elliot "Spike" Maynard raised $484,775 in contributions, but made no personal
loans to his campaign. According to his second campaign report that became
available Friday, Maynard raised another $102,098 for a total of $586,873 in
contributions.
Margaret Workman had $644,550 in her campaign coffers, including $41,050 in
contributions and $603,500 in personal loans.
Menis Ketchum had $546,727 - $356,729 in contributions and $190,000 in personal
loans.
Robert Bastress raised $73,736 in contributions and loaned his campaign nothing.
Elizabeth Walker has $118,205, including $113,514 in contributions and $4,691 in
personal loans. |
