CHARLESTON – A statewide conservative legal reform group has issued its list of political candidates whose campaigns it says have accepted the most money from personal injury attorneys.
West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse released its “Dirty Dozen” report April 15. Half of this year’s list are candidates for circuit court judge, while five more are state legislative candidates. The other is the first county prosecutor to make the list, and this year’s edition also features a dishonorable mention.
WV CALA said it did not include candidates for statewide office, and it did not look at campaigns of those running unopposed. The figures in the WV CALA list have not been independently verified by The West Virginia Record.
Peana
| Courtesy photo
Incumbent Kanawha Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Bailey’s campaign tops the list, with $156,666.28 from personal injury lawyer interests based on WV CALA’s research of campaign finance reports. Closely behind Bailey is First Circuit Judge Ron Wilson’s campaign, which WV CALA says has received $151,325 from trial lawyer interests.
“Personal injury lawyers broke out their hefty checkbooks once again in an attempt to buy influence with Judges and state legislators to the tune of over half a million dollars directly into candidate’s campaigns and over $200,000 in an independent expenditure for Judge Jennifer Bailey in Kanawha County,” WV CALA spokeswoman Pepper Peana said in a press release. “And as mentioned previously, Bailey’s total is boosted by an independent expenditure of over $200,000 in her race.
“Personal injury lawyer interests are spending over one third of a million to keep liberal Judge Jennifer Bailey on the bench.”
The independent expenditure is a $215,000 campaign ad purchase on two television stations in the Charleston-Huntington market by a political action committee called Mountain State Safety Action for ads supporting Bailey. WV CALA calls the PAC “a newly formed out-of-state organization led by liberals from San Antonio.”
In a separate statement, Bailey’s campaign hailed the incumbent’s war chest advantage over opponent Ashley Deem.
“Bailey has a commanding cash on hand advantage over her opponent, $197,164 to $27,917, going into the final five weeks of the campaign,” the Bailey campaign said. “Bailey outraised her opponent $235,436 to $31,200 from January 1 to March 31 – a 7 to 1 edge.
“The numbers don’t lie: Judge Bailey has strong, widespread support from across Kanawha County. The people understand that we need to keep Judge Bailey on the bench to apply the rule of law, uphold the Constitution, and deliver swift justice. Judge Bailey is not a politician and vows to never let politics enter her courtroom.”
Putnam Circuit Judge Phillip Stowers is third on the CALA list with $58,710 in such campaign donations. Richard Lindsay, who is running for a newly created circuit judge seat in Kanawha County, is next with $56,437.27. Deb Rusnak, who is running for Kanawha County Prosecutor, is listed next by CALA at $41,000.
Bob Richardson, a candidate for Greenbrier Circuit Court, is sixth on the CALA list at $19,700, followed by current delegate and state Senate candidate Chris Pritt is seventh on the list at $17,300. Delegate Joey Garcia, who is running a state Senate seat, is listed at $16,400. State Senator Robert Karnes is next at $15,300, and Mingo Circuit Judge Miki Thompson follows at $11,900.
State Senator Patricia Rucker is listed at $10,300, and Fayette County Delegate Tom Fast rounds out the list of 12 at $9,250. Finally, state Senate candidate Christ Rose at $7,000 makes the dishonorable mention list.
“We will continue to monitor how much money is being spent by personal injury lawyers in these competitive elections and will release an update version of our report after the next campaign finance report,” Peana said in the WV CALA press release.
The primary election, which is the only one for the non-partisan judicial races, is May 14.
