Litigation

Blankenship?s Defense: ?Politicians Don?t Stay Bought?

By Charlie Hall

A Sunday New York Times article,  containing a rare interview with West Virginia coal executive Don Blankenship, brings  attention to two important points about  Caperton v. Massey, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court on the impact of special interest money on impartial courts.

The article, titled “Case May Alter Judge Elections Across the Country,” describe’s Blankenship’s rationale for why he spent $3 million to elect Justice Brent Benjamin in 2004. It also discusses an argument by the James Madison Center for Free Speech that is, to be plain, utterly untrue.

Blankenship’s rationale says a lot, maybe unintentionally. In his own words, Blankenship wanted incumbent Warren McGraw off the court because of McGraw’s purportedly anti-business decisions, and Blankenship ran a campaign that had nothing to do with his real motives–focusing on a ruling by the court involving a pedophile.

Blankenship’s defense is that he had no interest in gaining influence with now-Chief Justice Benjamin, who later cast the deciding vote to overturn a $50 million judgment against Blankenship’s company, Massey Energy. Said Blankenship:

?I?ve been around West Virginia long enough to know that politicians don?t stay bought, particularly ones that are going to be in office for 12 years. So I would never go out and spend money to try to gain favor with a politician. Eliminating a bad politician makes sense. Electing somebody hoping he?s going to be in your favor doesn?t make any sense at all.?

It’s hard to feel too inspired by Blankenship’s defense. Justice at Stake, other civic reform groups, and leading jurists have been concerned for years about the tendency of special interests to bend courts to their will, by running covert, dishonest ad campaigns to put more friendly judges on the bench. Blankenship, in his interview, acknowledges doing just this.

More quotes are available from the Times article, which also cites a scuffle between Blankenship and a TV reporter. A video of the scuffle is among many resources at Justice at Stake’s Caperton v. Massey online resource site.

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 16, 2009 (boomark / email).