Don Blankenship

[underpants]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Blankenship
Washington political journalist Michael Tomasky, himself a native West Virginian, claims that Blankenship is "famous in West Virginia as the man who successfully bought himself a state supreme court justice in 2004 and then tried to buy himself the state legislature, failing spectacularly at the latter effort"<31>.

The justice he succeeded in having replaced in 2004 was Warren McGraw. McGraw was up for reelection in 2004, and Blankenship wanted him out. That McGraw had sided with workers was not likely to stir much passionate opposition, so Blankenship found a case in which McGraw had been part of a 3–2 majority that had freed a mentally disturbed child molester who then went to work in a school. Blankenship established and funded an independent tax-deductible group called And for the Sake of the Kids, which ran ads attacking McGraw's part in the decision. McGraw was defeated, and Brent Benjamin, the conservative candidate took his seat on the court. To demonstrate that his interest in the children was sincere, Blankenship had vowed that after the election, he would endow a foundation to help the state's needy children.<31>

Although Blankenship was the primary donor to "And For the Sake of Kids," other groups, including Doctors for Justice, contributed over $1 million to ASK. Another group, Citizens for Quality Health Care, funded in part by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, spent over $350,000 to defeat McGraw. <32>. Meanwhile, several groups spent millions opposing Benjamin and supporting McGraw, including West Virginia Consumers for Justice and Hugh Caperton, CEO of Harmon Development Corporation.<33>

Massey has a $77 million case pending, Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal Co. in which a smaller coal mining company, Harman Mining, alleges contract interference by Massey <34>. In November, 2008, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Harman Mining's appeal of the case<35>. Wal-Mart, PepsiCo, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Common Cause and Public Citizen filed briefs in the case urging the Supreme Court to throw out the West Virginia Supreme Court's decision in favor of Massey. The corporations contend that Justice Brent Benjamin is biased in the case. Blankenship made approximately $3 million in independent expenditures against McGraw, the incumbent judge in the 2004 campaign for the West Va. Supreme Court, and only contributed $1000 to Benjamin's campaign. On June 9, 2009 The New York Times opined that the case involved "egregious ethical myopia" on the part of Justice Benjamin. <36> <37>.

Following the decision, many legal scholars disagreed with the Supreme Courts decision, "If the U.S. Supreme Court rules that an "appearance of impropriety" such as to require recusal by a judge may be determined by forces external to the judge's own conscience ... it will place our system on a slippery slope that knows no boundaries." <38>

On April 3, 2008, ABC News reported that Blankenship attacked an ABC News photographer at a Massey facility near Belfry, Kentucky as the photographer attempted to question Blankenship about photos published in the New York Times <39> showing Blankenship on vacation in Monaco with West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard. "If you're going to start taking pictures of me, you're liable to get shot," Blankenship stated in the video<40>.

Following the incident, Justice Maynard lost his bid for re-election to the West Virginia Supreme Court in the West Virginia primary election <41>.

A former employee of Blankenship, Deborah May, has filed a lawsuit claiming that stress from personal abuse forced her to quit her job as Blankenship's personal maid in November, 2005. The lawsuit claims that a wrong breakfast order from McDonald's, misplaced ice cream in the freezer and an improperly hung jacket in the closet caused difficulties with Blankenship <42>.

At a public speech to the Tug Valley Mining Institute on Nov 20 Blankenship called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Harry Reid and former Vice President Al Gore "crazies" and "greeniacs" <43>. In the same speech he also stated "i don't believe climate change is real"<1> (see: Climate change denial). He referred to the support of President Jimmy Carter for energy conservation in the 1970s to communism: "Buy a smaller car? Conserve? I have spent quite a bit of time in Russia and China, and that's the first stage."

In a letter to the editor of the Charleston (WV) Gazette dated Oct. 30, 2009 Blankenship denied that global warming exists, and states: "Why should we trust a report by the United Nations? The United Nations includes countries like Venezuela, North Korea and Iran." <44>