West Virginia Blue
The Best Blogging Community in West Virginia Democratic politics, progressive policies, the good life and free living in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.
Every year, we can expect an annual dose of propaganda from the American Tort Reform Association about "judicial hellholes," among which West Virginia can be expected to rank prominently
This is usually followed by further noisemaking along similar lines by the Chamber of Commerce.
Presumably, the idea is to shock us into such a state of awe that we no longer allow workers, consumers, and citizens access to the legal system.
a new study by two West Virginia University professors disputes the Chamber's claims. It says the number of tort cases are actually declining, and the state's judges don't see an increase in frivolous lawsuits.
Among its conclusions is that the legislature develop
better data collection systems that would allow West Virginians to more intelligently assess and debate what our courts do and how that might be improved, rather than relying on self-interested representations of reality to pass for cogent analysis on the state of our courts.
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.
Copyright 2009 West Virginia Blue
Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified.
This site exists thanks to financial support from BlogPAC, the tireless efforts of volunteer contributors and continued participation from this community. The views expressed at West Virginia Blue belong soley to their respective authors.
