West Virginia Blue
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has one again ranked West Virginia as "as the worst in the country for its business legal climate." (Third year in a row.)
Here's a challenge for those parroting this statistic: instead of talking about the climate, let's talk about the weather.
- What specific lawsuits in the last year do you think were incorrectly decided?
- What specific lawsuits should have never been brought to court?
- What out of courts settlements occurred in West Virginia because companies were afraid of W.Va. courts?
I'm willing to bet most West Virginia citizens support the outcome of those cases. In fact, most small business owners might be happy with the outcomes, too. I'll even take it a step further... I wonder what most businesses not named Massey Energy thought of those cases?
Come on, I'm listening, let's starting hearing that list. If the climate was so bad all last year, what days did we have really bad weather?
Darrell McGraw's office reached a $12.l million settlement with Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard International Inc. on Monday, McGraw said during a Tuesday news conference.
The money will be put in a trust and will be doled out to customers via sales-tax holidays, McGraw said.
[snip]
Tuesday's announcement was the first step in getting the money to consumers, but the Legislature will address the specifics, he said.
There likely will be three to five holidays sometime this year, McGraw said.
Congratulations to Darrell McGraw's legal team for this settlement. I look forward to my sales tax holidays (pending the legislature's approval).
The US Chamber of Commerce apparently wants to have it both ways-- blocking any national solution to the health care crisis while tying the hands of state governments to solve the problem as well. The Chamber recently announced its health care agenda for 2008. While it touts "providing health care and retirement security for every American", the Chamber promotes health savings accounts and consumer-driven health care, all favorites of the Right's anti-family health care agenda, but also rails against a Washington solution to the health care crisis. At the same time, however, the Chamber wants to preserve "the ERISA preemption" of state health care laws, standards often cited to beat back state laws regulating health care benefits and requiring employers to pay their fair share of employee health care costs. As the decision upholding the San Francisco employer responsibility measure under ERISA shows, the Chamber is likely to lose that legal shield, but their hypocrisy in opposing federal solutions while depending on federal law to block state reforms reflects their opportunistic hypocrisy on the health care issue.
MORE ON THE U.S. CHAMBER OF GIBBERISH. A great source of information for WV current events is Lawrence Messina's Lincoln Walks at Midnight, a "just the facts" blog.
Check the above link for a great summary of the bizarre jihad the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is waging against El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia, which seems to be embarrassing local chambers of commerce. I don't think the US Chamber would be happy unless we abolish the whole civil justice system. As the link shows, basic fact-checking shows their propaganda to be, shall we say, factually challenged.
CRONY CAPITALISM REVISITED. This little item about Massey Energy appreared this weekend:
CHARLESTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency allowed Massey Energy Co. to continue selling coal to government power plants after two subsidiaries pleaded guilty to violating the federal Clean Water Act five years ago.
The agreement is outlined in a new government lawsuit that accuses Massey and 27 subsidiaries of thousands new Clean Water Act violations from 2000 to 2006. Federal prosecutors filed the new lawsuit last week.
Provisions of the Clean Water Act could have allowed the EPA to bar other Massey operations from government contracts in 2002. That's because subsidiaries Omar Mining and Independence Coals pleaded guilty to Clean Water Act violations.
It looks like our friends at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have mostly succeeded in alienating local members in their airwave war against West Virginia. This AP item appeared in today's Huntington Herald Dispatch:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- The ads may have left the airwaves, but the backlash continues against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its campaign attacking West Virginia's courts.
The Charleston Regional Chamber of Commerce became the latest offshoot of the national business group to complain, earlier this month.
"The tone of these advertisements has a negative impact on our ability to recruit new businesses to the state," Chairman James M. Sturgeon Jr. wrote to U.S. Chamber President Tom Donahue. "We also doubt that these ads will aid in achieving improvements in the legal system."
There's plenty more to the article, including a scathing review of U.S. Chamber propaganda by FactCheck.org.
El Cabrero has mixed emotions here. Part of me wants them to just pipe down and the other wants them to spend lots of money for nothing...
The U. S. Chamber of Commerce is continuing to spend millions of dollars attacking WV's legal and political system in television ads, despite the protests of some state and local chamber members.
Let's hope they spend all their money. It doesn't look like they're winning any friends or influencing people. Here's the latest from the Gazette in case you missed it.
Is anyone else out there as tired as El Cabrero and the critters at Goat Rope Farm of the ceaseless barrage of commercials from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about what a terrible legal climate we have here?
They love to harp on a survey of the corporation-backed American Tort Reform Association that claims to show that WV is a "judicial hellhole." Most likely, they surveyed members, corporate defendents and their attorneys.
Scientifically, methinks it's almost as good as asking eighth graders whether algebra sucks and using the results as a basis to evaluate that branch of mathematics. Here's an evaluation of the "judicial hellhole" rankings from The Center for Justice and Democracy.
This is a bizarre situation....the WV Trial Lawyers and WV Chamber of Commerce (and other businesses) worked together on a civil justice issue, got it passed and now the US Chamber is flooding the governor's office with Robo Calls asking him to veto it since it doesn't further restrict WV citizen access to the courts.
The Venue Bill (HB 2956) was passed unanimously by both the House and Senate but now it appears that the governor will veto it.
Please take a minute and call the governor's office and ask him to sign the HB 2956. His number is (304)558-2000 or 1-888-438-2731 (toll-free).
Please tell the governor: "I am calling to ask you to sign HB 2956. It's a good bill that will keep out-of-state lawsuits out of our courts, but not limit the rights of West Virginians."
Thanks for making this call!
Gary Zuckett, WV Citizen Action
For more info, [see below the break] a press release from the WV Trial Lawyers Association....
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