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BUYING JUDGES? - Blankenship Seeking To Oust Justice Starcher |
| (10/27/2005) |
| By Bob Weaver "The Don" is after another Supreme Court seat. After spending millions to help knock Warren McGraw off the West Virginia Supreme Court and elect Republican Brent Benjamin, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship has set his sights on Justice Larry Starcher. Blankenship says Starcher, a native of Roane County, symbolizes all that's wrong with the court. He's prepared to once again spend large amounts of his own money to get Starcher off the court. The state's Republican party has embraced Blankenship and his money. Blankenship spent some two-and-a half million dollars last year to defeat McGraw. Major cases affecting Massey Coal are coming before the court, and there are calls that Justice Benjamin step back. Court watchers say that is not likely. During a speech yesterday at the West Virginia University College of Law in Morgantown, Blankenship said he blames the Supreme Court for what he calls an unfair media, and for holding West Virginia back in economic development. Blankenship is already showing a video clip of a speech Starcher recently gave in Virginia, where he says that whatever critics have to say about McGraw can also be said about him. Blankenship paid for ads claiming McGraw was weak on sex offender laws, and he formed his own For the Sake of the Children organization to protect them. West Virginia voters turned out to defeat McGraw. Starcher's term doesn't end until 2008, and he says he hasn't yet decided whether to seek re-election. He says if he does, it would be his pleasure to make Blankenship spend a lot of money. Blankenship is also after Gov. Joe Manchin, after Manchin stopped his company's construction of a coal silo a few feet from an elementary school in Raleigh County.
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