With campaign donations?
Massey CEO Don Blankenship Spent Millions to Influence State Elections
Top Exec of Company That Runs Upper Big Branch Coal Mine Threatened Reporter During ABC News Investigation By MARK SCHONE
Apr. 8, 2010
Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, has long had a lot of influence in West Virginia. The top executive of the company that owns the mine where 25 miners died this week looms large in state affairs both because of Massey 's economic importance and because of his own penchant for political bluster. But in 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Blankenship might be wielding too much influence, after he spent $3 million of his own money to get a judge elected to a West Virginia court that was ruling on a Massey-related case.
Coal Boss Don Blankenship: If you take photos, "you're liable to get shot."
As detailed in an ABC News investigation, Blankenship vacationed on the Riviera with one West Virginia Supreme Court Justice and underwrote an ad campaign supporting the election of another while a $50 million judgment against Massey Energy was before the court. Blankenship's apparently successful multi-million-dollar attempt to change the composition of the court became the basis of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision -- and the source of a slew of controversial television ads.
More:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/west-virginia-mine-disaster-massey-energy-ceo-don/story?id=10311477