Editorials: Court Contest Is About Jobs

McGraw's home cooking costs West Virginians dearly

Charleston Daily Mail, October 1, 2004

The state Supreme Court decides, in large measure, what "justice" is in West Virginia . Justices are elected to 12-year terms. They affect West Virginians far longer than most governors do. The five-member court is currently controlled by a majority that critics contend has had damaging effects on the state. One member of that majority, Justice Warren McGraw, is up for re-election.

The McGraw majority has drawn complaints from business owners and the medical community. They say Justices McGraw, Joe Albright and Larry Starcher have used the court to help plaintiffs' attorneys, who contribute heavily to their campaigns, win fat settlements from employers, doctors and hospitals.

This atmosphere has cost the state investment, jobs, doctors and insurers. The nature of West Virginia justice has helped make West Virginia 's economy what it is -- dead in the water. West Virginians dare not ignore this complaint from their private sector. The state's high court is part of our economic problem. Businesses are not going to put money into a state where the justice system is designed to relieve them of it.

It's a hard-fought race -- labor and trial lawyers, who have been well served by this majority, versus a job-providing business community that says it can't survive the tilt much longer.

The campaign was complicated recently by ads sponsored by a group independent of Republican Brent Benjamin's campaign for McGraw's seat. In its ads, the group And For the Sake of the Kids blasts McGraw as a radical who is soft on crime.

In March, McGraw voted to order a trial judge to reconsider his revocation of probation for a child molester who had violated probation.

It's fair to ask why the court even entertained an appeal, much less overcalled a trial judge familiar with all the facts. It's fair to ask why not everyone on the high court apparently bothered to get familiar enough with the case to reach a reasoned decision.

But the ensuing sideshow between Justice Larry Starcher, who attacked Justice Robin Davis, who felt forced to defend herself, should not long distract people from the main issue.

That is Justice McGraw.

His willingness to shape law to produce awards for plaintiffs and their attorneys has caused businesses and doctors to flee West Virginia .

Such use of the law may be clever, but manifestly, it's not wise. It's costing West Virginians a chance at economic recovery.