WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

1. Return settlement monies directly to the taxpayers—the State Legislature, not the Attorney General, must decide how precious taxpayer dollars are spent. (Administrative and Statutory Changes)

2. Eliminate misuse of taxpayer resources for political self-promotion: bar the Office of Attorney General, and other elected officials, from spending taxpayer money on commercials, mass mailings, and other self-promotional devices during an election year or at least within four months of an election. For example, the State Legislature should determine whether the $6 million dollars in "educational assistance" monies from the mortgage foreclosure settlement can be better spent on improving our state's substance abuse problem or ensuring that our poorest citizens don't lose their Medicaid benefits. The State Legislature should act immediately to reclaim those resources and prevent their misuse. At a minimum, elected officials should not have the ability to use taxpayer funded commercials in the middle of an election. Recently, the AG's office coincidentally announced that it was establishing a new office in Berkeley County funded by the settlement. Shouldn't the State Legislature authorize these types of decisions? (Administrative and Statutory Changes)

3. Prohibit taxpayer-financed production and distribution of pens, magnets, and all other trinkets with the officeholder's name. (Administrative and Statutory Changes)

4. Conduct a detailed audit of the AG's office and how taxpayers' resources are spent during election years and non-election years. (Administrative and Statutory Change)

5. Limit the Attorney General to two consecutive terms in office, just like the Governor. (Statutory and Constitutional Change)

6. Institute competitive bidding for private legal services to ensure the state receives the benefit of competition, quality, and lower prices. (Administrative and Statutory Changes)

7. Expand citizens' ability to file requests for legal opinions to gain greater clarity of the law. (Administrative and Statutory Changes)

8. Increase Transparency of Lawmakers' Personal Assets and Income on Financial Disclosure Forms, so the public is better able to evaluate lawmakers' financial dealings to ensure that conflicts of interest are eliminated. (Statutory Change)

9. Expand Authority of the Attorney General to Prosecute Election Law Fraud—working with the Secretary of State's Office, we need to clarify that the Attorney General is the chief enforcement officer of the state's election laws. During the Lincoln County fiasco, the Office of Attorney General was effectively absent from the investigation uncovering voter fraud. The State Legislature should provide the Office of the Attorney General with explicit authority to prosecute individuals who try to steal elections and undermine our state's election laws. (Statutory Change)

10. Request that the U.S. Department of Justice oversee elections in Southern West Virginia to ensure that the theft of votes in Lincoln County does not occur AGAIN during the important 2012 elections. As evident from the Lincoln County cases, our Attorney General has been unwilling or unable to execute the most basic requirement of his job to protect the integrity of the ballot. Until West Virginia law is clarified, the Attorney General's office should ensure that the Department of Justice is involved. (Administrative request)

11. Pass a tough voter identification law, drafted in a way that passes constitutional muster, to limit the potential for fraud at the ballot box. (Statutory change)