West Virginia's Chief Justice of the Supreme Court lost his primary race this week in the wake of scandal. West Virginia is Big Coal country, and Chief Justice Elliott Maynard was found to have cavorted in Monaco and on the French Riviera with Don Blankenship, CEO of a major energy company that
just so happened to be a defendant in a $50 million suit that the WV Supreme Court later dismissed with Justice Maynard casting the deciding vote for the defense.
The photos from the summer of 2006 show the two men together at a time when Mr. Blankenship's companies had cases pending before or heading to the state's high court, including one involving a $50 million jury verdict against Massey. A little more than a year after that vacation, Justice Maynard voted with the majority in a 3-to-2 decision in favor of the coal companies.
Critics said the photos indicated that Chief Justice Maynard had played favorites in his judgments or at least showed a potential conflict of interest. Chief Justice Maynard, who later recused himself from hearing cases related to Massey, countered that his longtime friendship with Mr. Blankenship was well known and that it had no bearing on his rulings. Despite the appearance conveyed in the photographs, the chief justice added, he and Mr. Blankenship had been on separate vacations and had met only for a dinner or two.
While this appearance of outright corruption may be rare, the perception of state Justices being in the pocket of big money interests is growing around the country as judicial races become increasingly expensive. Powerful special interests have taken an increasing role in funding judicial campaigns. This week's West Virginia primary, in fact, was no exception.
The State Chamber of Commerce spent more than half a million dollars on Chief Justice Maynard's behalf, and the political action committee for the West Virginia Medical Association bought television and radio spots promoting his candidacy.
One labor group, the West Virginia Building and Construction Trades Council, spent more than $170,000 on advertising to remind voters of the vacation photos.
An increasingly popular and sensible solution is to enact full public financing or "
Clean Elections" systems in the states where they elect their justices.
North Carolina passed such a law earlier this decade and has had incredibly high (75% or more) participation in the system, allowing them to
diminish the influence of big money in the judicial election process.
This is a trend that we'll be pushing to extend throughout the country, with allies like Justice at Stake and others, all a part of the effort to change the way we finance elections in this country from top to bottom.
