West Virginia Record

CHARLESTON – After his first 100 days in office, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has released a progress report.

Morrisey’s 2012 campaign against longtime AG Darrell McGraw included a promise to keep a 17-point plan within his first 100 days in office. The Republican’s victory in November ended McGraw’s bid for a sixth term.

Morrisey says the 17 goals have been met or are on their way to being met.

“The goals of the plan were to advance ethics reforms, promote freedom, begin the process of taking on the federal government, and improve the state’s business climate,” Morrisey said.

“Much more work remains, but I firmly believe we have honored our promises to the public and have made significant efforts to achieve all of the points of the plan.”

Morrisey’s progress report is 279 pages long.

Completed goals of his include the passage of legislation that would send settlement monies to the general fund instead of to his Consumer Protection Fund, the signing of a policy to prevent the use of public funds for the purchase of self-promoting trinkets by the Attorney General’s Office and a draft Outside Counsel Policy that will require a competitive bidding process for private attorneys hired to represent the state of West Virginia in litigation.

All three promises were made in response to criticism of McGraw.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day. Similarly, it will take more than 100 days to fundamentally improve our state’s business climate,” Morrisey added. “But at least West Virginians know we will always follow through on our word.”

Other actions taken by Morrisey to complete his 17-point plan include:

-An advertising policy that prevents the attorney general’s personal name or likeness from being used on broad-based advertising if the advertising falls during an election period;

-An ongoing audit of the Attorney General’s Office to examine past expenditures and current policies;

-A letter to President Barack Obama urging him to weigh West Virginia’s interests when nominating a new Environmental Protection Agency administrator;

-A review of other AGs’ lawsuits against the EPA;

-Joining seven other states in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act;

-Joining 19 other states in an amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in a Second Amendment case;

-A Jobs Summit held on April 17;

-Joining a letter with 47 others AGs to urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make generic painkillers harder to abuse;

-The establishment of the position of Public Integrity Officer; and

-Joining 12 other state AGs to ask the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to adopt broader religious exemptions to the contraceptive insurance mandate.

“The goals we set many months ago were aggressive and viewed by some to be impossible, but the Office has taken great steps to tackle each point,” Morrisey said.

“Obviously some of these issues cannot be completed in 100 days or even four years, but by taking these 17 steps now and continuing to work toward solutions for the remainder of my term, we will be able to see substantive changes in not only the Office of the Attorney General, but the state as a whole.”

From the West Virginia Record: Reach John O’Brien at jobrienwv@gmail.com.