Big Coal's All Too Cozy Relationship With the W.V. Supreme Court Under Fire
A six year old West Virginia jury award now worth $70 million against the country's fourth largest coal company was overturned last week by the West Virginia Supreme Court. Now a look back at what happened in between is raising eyebrows, not to mention Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship's hackles. This one seems eerily similar to John Grisham's latest, only this is for real. ABC's Brian Ross explains.
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After Massey Energy appealed the case, its CEO Don Blankenship, a Richmond Virginia resident, helped bankroll a $3.5 million ad campaign to successfully unseat W.V. Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw and replace him with Justice Brent Benjamin, or as fellow Justice Larry Starcher put it, "the election was bought, a seat was purchased on our Supreme Court, and I'm highly offended by it." Then pictures surfaced of Blankenship and W.V. Supreme Court Chief Justice Spike Maynard vacationing with their girlfriends on the Riviera. "It was a trip the Chief Justice never disclosed to the court, even when he voted with the majority to overturn the huge Massey verdict, according to Justice Starcher, who is now being interviewed by the FBI."
After the pictures became public, Justice Maynard did recuse himself, but so did fellow Justice Starcher because (gasp), he had dared to have been critical of Blankenship's relationship with the Court. So the three remaining W.V. Justices, including Blankenship's 3.5 million dollar Justice Benjamin, reheard the case last week and again overturned it.
When approached for a comment by ABC News, Blankenship threatened that the reporter was "liable to get shot" and attacked his camera.
W.V. Chief Justice Maynard insists he's been the victim of "the mother of all political smears," even after it came out that Blankenship's chief political consultant is now helping Maynard's re-election bid. Let's hope that goes about as well as Blankenship's $3 million attempt to finance a GOP takeover of the W.V. House in 2006.
CORRUPT REPUGS AGAIN?
What?!? Big Business in bed with Federal and State Governments? When did this start?
Ok ok, enough with the snark talk...The truth of the matter is that until we realize that Big Business and our legal system have been working against the American middle class for what 232 years now...in America anyway. Hell, it's the reason America was created in the first place, because our founding fathers wanted to be free from corporate and religious persecution. but no matter how we fight it it always comes back.
What we need is like our founding fathers idea that Church and State should be kept separate, we need to keep the Corporation and State separate. AND we need to agree once and for all that a corporation is not a person! this would be a good start
CoIntelPro @ 1:
Ditto. I'm shocked, shocked! So when will we see these crooks and liars thrown out of office....
Best government money can buy! All the blatant behavior we are seeing is thanks to 20+ years of Republican rule, all the back to St. Ronnie. My ex-husband laughed at me because I cried when Reagan was elected; he works in a profession connected to construction - and he's not laughing now.
there is a whole book about the coal industry, i cant remember the name of it. but, i do remember the interview with the author on npr. i'm paraphrasing but he said something like if your were to write a movie script you couldn't come up with a more evil character than this ceo. the ceo's claim to fame is also driving out unions from the industry.
As always, follow the money. No matter who is involved that instruction seems to work
And the hits just keep on coming.
Greed is destroying this country. When will these people ever have enough riches? They deregulate to make more money, they cut corners to make more money, they put thier very own workers in danger, for what? Money. Money has corrupted the entire political system. From the federal levels on down.
I'm glad this story came out when it did. Last election coal miners tried to replace Sen. Byrd with one of their own and we told him to fvck off. This year they're trying to do it again and all I can say is that we in WV have been economically hurt by the coal industry leaders and their greed enough.
They destroy.
Come, come, come...this is coal country...where breaking your knees is a friendly message. If you're left alive, it's because Big Coal wanted to leave an example, the old
pour encourager les autres
Only the voters can get rid of these guys. If the people of WV. want justice or equality, they must demand it!
actually, that's typical southern justice. it's been that way in the south for 200 years.
It's people like these guys who spend millions to keep Repugs in office to fight against clean air and renewalbe fuel. They will pollute the very air we breath to make money.
P.D. @ 11:
keep in mind that these einsteins elected the deciding vote in 2006. their biggest concern is someone willing to be a mine canary for a lower salary.
"liable to get shot"? Or "libel to get shot"?
Oh, never mind...
3 Million Dollars.... wow... Can I have some of that money? I promise I'll spend it wisely!
P.D. @ 8:
Greed is the natural consequence of addiction to money.No amount of money or power can satisfy one who is addicted to it.And one addict adversely affects 7-10 others who are close to him/her.It all stems from family of origin issues where the child for whatever reason toes not get basic childhood dependency needs met.He/she grows up;feels empty;learns how to fill the emptiness with money or power or alcohol ,drugs etc..Since what caused the addiction is a response to childhood needs which are insatiable, thaose needs will never be met.Never ever because an adult cannot fill his/her childhood needs.What they can do to heal the addiction is to grieve the loss of the original needs.
Good luck,because we do not know how to grieve loss in this country. If we did we wouldn`t be in the Iraq quagmire trying to grieve the losses of Vietnam.
CointelPro, then they are on their own. I can't believe how ignorant some people are, but if they are willing to be sheeple, so be it. You can't help someone who wont help themselves.
Wow sully18, your post made my head spin.
P.D. @ 8:
remember the european feudal system? the one where you get to work on someone else's property and if you were lucky, you could eke out enough to eat or had a master generous enough to feed you before the livestock? and if you were really lucky, you might have a parcel of land of your own, but you gave half of what you grew to the master as taxes for living in his county.
we are almost there. and we each hate the other enough to ignore our own suffering because we see them suffer. we are a nation of people who vote our fears and hatreds.
Argh!
Is anyone else having a problem today loading pages or opening links here?
Its driving me to drinkin'
Sorry.When I discovered this it saved my life. Alice Miller has written several books on the subject.
pinkobait, I've been wanting a drink since Bush got reelected in 2004. Just to kill the pain.
P.D. @ 19:
Sorry,P.D., you can find much more at Arthur Silber`s web site.He writes alot of essays based on Miller`s works.It`s chilling
It's nice to know that W. Virginian justices don't come cheap or everybody would be buying them.
Pinkobait,I always have that problem.but I think it`s bacause my computer sucks.
Sully18, I'm already scared for the future right now. After seven years of Bush, we should all be afraid.
Well, hopefully the ending to this drama will be better than Grisham's novel.
(I won't give away the plot if you haven't read the book yet).
FYI
The surge twins, Petraeus and eh eh eh Crocker, are on c-span live right now. They are being questioned by members of the House.
Peter G @ 25:
I`ve been reading John Dean`s book Broken Government and it gives compelling
evidence that the Supreme Court of the U.S. is being stocked with fundamentalist Conservatives,as are many federal courts.
this kind of shit happening from the "rich and devious" is
a great example why the poor go "postal" because they
have no voice or power to displace this kind of corruption.
Great, more religious so-called conservatives making policy! Like we haven't had enough of that for the last friggin seven years.! If we keep this up, we won't have a pot to piss in. As Homer would say,"Fanfugutastic!"
P.D.,the gift of fear is wisdom and that`s a good thing.I f we confront our fear we can deal with it.We just have to keep working on it.
Press charges you stupid cameraman. Show the world and not just your viewers of what he's really like.
sully, that's the problem. The more I find out about this corrupt Administration, the more I fear. Ironic, no?
I hate to break the news to you all, but Spike Maynard is a Democrat. WV's current governor, also a Democrat, Joe Manchin, has been attending major fund raisers for him.
This is nothing new here in WV, and it's not about Republicans or Democrats. It's about coal and getting it out of the ground as fast as possible.
Does WV have an Olympics we can boycott?
This is a great thread.It shows me that I have to keep on confronting these kind of people and what they think.I think that with guys like John Dean,who is a Republican, writing about the evil of these folks;eventually we`re going to turn this thing around.
Dems and progressives have alot of strong people.Nothing changes until it becomes real, and we`ve seen alot of shit become real under Bush.Now we have to start changing it.
well bh, It just confirms what I have always thought. Politicians totally suck. Funny, I guess it doesn't matter whether your a R or a D. There was just that crazy Democrat in Illonis who wants to rid the US of (gasp!) atheists.
Blankenship's a thug.
So?
bh @ 36:
See It`s not just the Rethugs who are corrupt,it`s both.We`re fighting corruption,not just the Rethugs.But there are good honest people on both sides.
Anaconda in Butte, anyone?
miss kitty--What?
@42, Huh?
Mining company. Montana.
The plot of Grisham's book is also real. He was interviewed on TV and gave the factual basis for the fictionalized plot. In his book the names are changed to protect the guilty. Hopefully justice will be done in this case at least.
Do you mean you haven't left for the freedom road yet?
fiver @ 45:
Do you take your name from Watership Down? If so I think it's really cool, cause the warren is fucked.
IOIYAR
That was one of the bills obama showed up to vote for. He went along with the senators from WVA and of course since he was from Illinois they wanted it bad. Check the congressional record if you are convinced of this. Last year he missed 150 votes more than any other Senator except Johnson, but he voted for this one.
Anaconda Copper Mining Company in Butte
A horrible bunch of assholes who took over the town the mining and had no regard for the personal safety of its workers.
After a fire in the mines that killed over 150, a general strike ensued.
An organiser was grabbed up one night and lynched. The courts ordered the records involving the martial law action that took place after the ['unsolved' to this day] lynching, burned. The records concerning the lynching disappeared, magically.
The big lake that formed in the pit after the mining stopped in the town has a pH of about 2. It also contains high concentrations of arsenic, as well as copper, cadmium, lead, zinc.
It is the largest superfund site.
Peter G @ 25:
Well, based upon evidence from some of the vote-buying scandals here, individual votes do come cheap. Some folks have sold their votes for a 12-pack of beer or all the mini-bottles of booze they could carry. Of course, it does not work to buy only a few individual votes.
Don Blankenship just bypassed the bottle approach and went all modern with a radio and TV blitz, push polls and astroturf websites.
miss_kitty Hussein @ 42:
The biggest local attractions are toxic waste sites. One visit is enough.
Are there ANY decent people left in government? Anyone who isn't corruptible? I hate to say it, but I'm seeing parallels in the way our world today works with the fall of Rome in the 4th-5th centuries. One by one, they all fall down. We need a leader to get us on the right track, and the one who is least in bed with anyone is Barack. I guess that means I shall vote for him.
BTW, the West Virginia Record (one of the sources cited in the blog post) is not what most people would consider to be a newspaper. It is a platform for the the 'Citiizens Against Lawsuit Abuse,' who's only real purpose seems to be the ouster of the current Attorney General and the elimination of class-action suits.
Every one of their articles under 'State Government' focuses on the Attorney General. Apparently we don't have a Legislature, a Governor, or even any executive branch agencies in this state.
Given the chance all Republicans would man handle the press like that. Yeah, they'd even do it to the stenographer boot lickers, too.
FOX is State Sponsored TV @ 56:
ESPECIALLY stenographer bootlickers...I think it's an S&M thing...
Wow!
That's a mighty fine trailer!
sully18 @ 41:
We have GOT to understand that not only have the fascist capitalists invaded and destroyed the Republican party (is that possible?) but they have infiltrated our party as well. There are numerous examples of people who are registered "democrat" to win an election, but practice neo con fascist business practices... WV has too much of this.
You need to learn how Massey Energy is DYNAMITING ENTIRE MOUNTAINS AND THROWING THE SLAG INTO RIVERS AND RUINING THE WATER FOR THE FAMILIES IN THE AREA. They are destroying the entire state of West Virginia. The people there are under attack by a company, which, if it were an invading nation, would be fought back by the U.S. Military. How did we come to a place where our GOVERNMENT PROTECTS A DESTROYER OF OUR HOMELAND?
Go to this site and support the cause PLEASE????
WWW.ILOVEMOUNTAINS.COM
PLEASE.
Holler Boy @ 55:
Um, it's a "Legal Journal" not a newspaper, so its focus on the Atty General would be totally apropos. No?
I wasn't aware that using a "Legal Journal" article with a direct quote pertinent to this post (the statement Justice Starcher himself referred to making in the video) as a source instead of a "newspaper" was a bad thing. Honestly, if I had to make sure sure I agreed with every position taken by every source/publication before using it then there would never be any links nor video to ever post about in the first place.
You mention the new John Grisham novel set in West Virginia. Anyone interested should also check out Robert K. Tanenbaum's "Absolute Rage" from 2002.
I more or less agree with Dahgrostab 'ph-r-i@2's post.... And the truth of the matter as regards West Va. is this state has been getting the shaft from government and big bid-ness for far longer than I have been alive.. That state was well on its way to being enviromentally and economically raped via clear cutting and mountaintop strip mining and state sanctioned sweetheart deals for timber and coal interests when I was a young boy on a butterfly handlebarred 20 inch Schwinn bicycle in Ohio..... It's sad what that state has been put thru..for ages.... All that industry smoke stacking away for generations... And now? This is one of the poorest states in the union.. Yet, with one of the nations richest motherfuckers as a governor... go figure... And then there's that whole co-opting of the states judiciary.. Just another can-o-worms. A state judicial system that now is nothing more than an enabler of this continued raping of that state and its citizens health, pocketbook, you name it...... Yea, fucking sad is the only word to describe it....JD
Justice is blind my ass. All that talk about this being the "greatest country in the world" is hyperbole.
In other news, Mukasey says the fact that his son is a lawyer for Verizon has no influence on his support for retroactive telecom immunity.
Blankenship first threatens a news photographer with physical violence, then grabs the man's camera to avoid being seen.
This is a man for whom the truth means prison.
Why oh why do they ELECT judges?! Doesn't the very idea completely undermine the concept of an independent judicial branch?
welcome to Bush world .
Tim Ed Anshabby @ 66:
Well, I tend to agree but ...
.
C O R P O R A T I S M = F A S C I S M
.
I hope when the dems take over in 2009, the justice department uses the RICO statute to go after republicans.
The Political Junkie @ 28:
err, I think you just did.
Yellowbird @ 59:
or www.CRMW.net it is environmental RAPE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PabyFxD2mFc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhmmXlpg2H0
We don't call it King Coal for nothin'.
and of course FAKE Justice Brent Benjamin
is a Republican!
Don Blankenship owns WV's biggest Rightwing/Republican talk radio syndicate too!
It has lots of local programming that talk about "unfair regulation" and "intrusive courts" and "frivoulous lawsuits". Lawsuits brought by entire communities that have been destroyed by his coal mining practices... Typical rightwing propoganda; Liberals, the "Democrat" Party, environmentalists, unions, lawyers are all bad bad bad, and the lights will go out because of them! After that they air the faux-wisdom of Rush and Hannity all afternoon.
BTW: West Virginians are not ALL redneck coal miners... but our politicians are for sale... just like everyone else's.
CoIntelPro @ 1:
No, WV is basically a one party (democratic) state but most of the WV "democrats" should be registered republicans.
GREED !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjPIavRfIwc&feature=related
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