Senate Judiciary Chairman Jeff Kessler recently told a Wheeling newspaper that he’s eager to require disclosure of those funding campaign ads, such as the spots an independent group sought to air in the Supreme Court primary this spring.

Maybe the chairman has an opinion about West Virginia Consumers for Justice, the personal injury lawyer front group that spent nearly $2 million on behalf of former Justice Warren McGraw without disclosing its contributors. Surely, Kessler’s less than zealous pursuit of the Consumers for Justice’s contributor names has nothing to do with the fact that a trial lawyer associated with the group - Tim Bailey - recently contributed to Kessler’s campaign.

Bailey just so happens to be a law partner of House Judiciary Chairwoman Carrie Webster, who has also pushed for new campaign finance reforms. Webster’s firm stands to possibly make as much as $1 million in legal fees as a result of one of Attorney General Darrell McGraw’s no-bid legal contracts. Could Webster’s actions be motivate by the fact that her law partner wants to prohibit election spending criticical of the Attorney General’s abusive practices?

Campaign finance laws shouldn’t be used to selectively quiet political viewpoints. Perhaps Chairwoman Webster can ask Tim Bailey to explain to the Judiciary Committee just who contributed to the Consumers for Justice.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 8:39 am and is filed under Attorney General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.