Charleston, WV – Today, The Charleston Daily Mail highlighted McGraw challenger and Attorney General candidate Dan Greear’s speech at the annual West Virginia Business Summit. See below for the entire article by George Hohmann. 

“WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Dan Greear, Republican candidate for attorney general, took an opportunity here to showcase his campaign by skewering his opponent, incumbent Darrell McGraw.

Greear and McGraw were invited to participate in a forum at the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Business Summit, which opened Wednesday at The Greenbrier Resort. But McGraw didn’t show. Chamber spokesman Larry Malone said he thought McGraw may have had a scheduling conflict, but was not certain.

‘I thank my opponent for ceding his time,’ Greear joked in his opening remarks. ‘I’ve tried letters, a certified letter, e-mail and every way I can think of to try to get some debate, to discuss these very important issues. So far he (McGraw) has not responded. I hope in the future he will show up at some of these events so people can hear our competing visions.’

Greear said that earlier this week he heard Fran Hughes, one of McGraw’s top aides, ask on a radio talk show, ‘Why would you change something that works?’

‘I think that’s a fair enough question,’ Greear said. ; My first question is, exactly who is it working for? I don’t think the current attorney general’s office has been particularly business friendly.’

Also, ‘As near as I can tell, it’s not working for the government agencies,’ Greear said. He noted that McGraw hired outside lawyers who won $10 million from the maker of OxyContin, but the lawyers got $3 million and “the state agencies who were involved not only don’t receive any money but have to pay back millions to the federal government. That isn’t working for them.

‘It’s not working for the consumers,’ Greear said. He alluded to the fact that a federal agency is withholding $4.1 million from the state Department of Health and Human Resources because federal officials determined that some of the OxyContin settlement money should have gone to the federally funded Medicaid program. ‘When Medicaid and Medicare funding is in jeopardy, it is our poorest who are at risk,’ Greear said.

‘I don’t think we have a system that is working for the business community, for government agencies or for the consumers of West Virginia.’

Greear said, ‘I believe much of the way business is done (by McGraw’s office) is illegal. There is no statutory authorization for the attorney general to enter contingency contracts with trial lawyers on a case-by-case basis,’ he said. ‘When elected, I will work on legislation that clarifies how outside counsel can be obtained. There needs to be a more rational, open, competitive process than just looking down at who made contributions to your last campaign and need a little work.’

‘It’s unethical, handing out money to attorneys who contributed to his campaign,’ Greear charged. ‘The OxyContin lawyers who got $3 million gave him over $40,000 in campaign contributions.

‘We will take the office back to simply representing the interests of the state,’ Greear pledged. ‘As the attorney general, you’re not there to make the rules, but to enforce the rules that are already there.

‘Critics of Darrell McGraw are accused of wanting to give business free reign to pillage the state and cheat,’ Greear said. ‘That’s not going to happen. If you do wrong, you’ll be prosecuted. But if you come to West Virginia and follow the rules, we’re going to work with those companies and eliminate the antagonistic relationships.’

On Tuesday the state Chamber of Commerce issued a policy position paper calling for more accountability in the attorney general’s office. Greear told the more than 150 business leaders at the forum, ‘With the help of the business community, we will win this race.’

Greear said McGraw carried Kanawha County by about 2,000 votes in 2004. Greear, who is from Kanawha County, said, ‘We can turn this election around in Kanawha County.’

Greear contended that some people in the business community who sat out the last election looked back on McGraw’s last victory ‘and thought it could have won if it had been involved. Don’t let that happen again.’

Greear joked that his law partners think he’s lost his mind, ‘trying to get a job with longer hours with less pay.’ 

Greear said he’s running because ‘we can make a huge difference for West Virginia in this one race. I can’t imagine a greater way we can send a signal to the rest of the country and be more positive for business than to replace Darrell McGraw. I humbly ask for your support. I’m in this all of the way and I ask you to be, too.’

Charleston, WV – “Today I participated in the West Virginia Business Summit at The Greenbrier.  I was invited to participate in the Attorney General forum to share my views and platform on the current litigious business environment that exists in our state. I felt it important to speak to the business community about my ideas and blueprint for protecting consumer rights while creating a business-friendly environment which will drive economic development and job growth here at home. 

Also invited to speak was my opponent and sitting Attorney General, Darrell McGraw, who opted not to show up. He must not feel it important enough to address these issues or work toward achieving a consumer and business friendly environment. Or perhaps McGraw did not want to expose himself publicly to scrutiny for his litigious, unethical, money-wasting abuses while in public office. 

The people of West Virginia deserve the truth. They deserve answers. They deserve a public forum. They deserve transparency. They deserve a proven leader and a positive change. And when I’m elected West Virginia State Attorney General, that’s what they’ll get. 

As for McGraw, he can run, but he can’t hide. He’s a no show that must go.” 

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Charleston, WV – Today, Dan Greear received recognition by the leading national seniors’ organization, the 60 Plus Association, a non-partisan group. The Guardian Award is presented to Democrats and Republicans in Congress based on their “senior friendly” voting records. The Honorary Award is given to those running for office and is based on their views on seniors’ issues.

“I am truly honored to have received this award and acknowledgment from the 60 Plus Association. The message is quite clear on not only the state, but also the national forefront as to how much the people want a proven leader and positive change,” said Dan Greear, McGraw challenger for West Virginia State Attorney General. “West Virginia is home to a large senior population that I pledge to stand up and fight for. To protect their consumer and other rights while creating a business-friendly and job growth environment, so their loved ones – their children and grandchildren – have the opportunity to work and live at home, enjoying the wonderful West Virginia upbringing they once did.“

The 60 Plus Association, a 15-year-old non-partisan organization taking on important issues such as death tax repeal, saving Social Security, working to lower energy costs, affordable prescription drugs and other senior-friendly issues featuring a less government, less taxes approach, calls on nearly 4.5 million senior citizens nationally with over 90,000 in West Virginia. Its national spokesperson is celebrity and senior advocate Pat Boone. 60 Plus publishes a quarterly magazine, Senior Voice, and a Scorecard, bestowing a Guardian of Seniors’ Rights award on lawmakers of both parties who vote “pro-senior.”

Jim Martin, President of 60 Plus, “thanked Greear for his pledge to protect Social Security and Medicare. Martin also cited Greear’s support for repealing the 1993 tax on Social Security benefits, as well as his support to repeal the ‘Death Tax’ which hurts small businesses and farmers across West Virginia and the country. ‘Greear, running for the office of West Virginia’s Attorney General, knows a bad tax when he sees one…and the Death Tax is as bad as they come! Dan Greear has stated he will counter a growing trend of state attorneys general of turning settlement proceeds into political patronage. Greear said, ‘As Attorney General, I pledge that all settlement recoveries by the AG’s Office will be turned over to the state legislature for appropriation and dissemination.’ ‘Governance like this,’ said Martin, ‘as well as Greear’s commitment to enforcing consumer protection all redound to a positive for West Virginia’s senior citizens.’”

Previous recipients of 60 Plus Association awards include Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) as well as Reps. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Nick Rahall (D-WV).

For more information on the 60 Plus Association, visit www.60Plus.org.

View PDF press release by The 60 Plus Association.

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Charleston, WV – Today, Dan Greear was featured in The Wall Street Journal by Kimberley A. Strassel:

“Take one part ego, one part ambition and one part lawyer, mix it with an office that has few restraints on power, and you’ll end up with the worst sort of state attorney general. Take Dan Greear, and you’ll have a man at the front of a nascent electoral movement to change the formula.

Mr. Greear is the 40-year-old Republican lawyer working to unseat West Virginia’s entrenched top
prosecutor, Darrell McGraw. His quest has become a case study in the opportunities, and pitfalls, of an upstart reformer challenging an incumbent attorney general who, like New York’s Eliot Spitzer, has cemented his position through populism and political patronage.

It’s also an insight into a new wave of reformist candidates across the country. As state attorneys general have become more brazen with their power, and as outside groups have started shining a light on their backroom practices, voters have become uneasy. It’s this sense of disquiet that candidates like Mr. Greear are tapping into as they promise to refocus lawsuits, rein in the tort bar and restore a sense of justice to prosecutorial office.

In Indiana, Greg Zoeller, the chief deputy for the current attorney general, is running for the top slot and touting the fact his office has never been close to trial lawyers. His opponent, Democrat Linda Pence, is a trial attorney. In Missouri, GOP state Sen. Michael Gibbons is fighting for an open seat and promising transparency in office. In North Carolina, in a strange twist, a pro-business Democrat is defending his seat against a trial-lawyer Republican. Ethics is also figuring in attorney general races in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

To Mr. Greear’s advantage, his opponent is a case study of abuse in office. Mr. McGraw, in more than 14 years as West Virginia’s attorney general, has been a pioneer in the practice of filing questionable lawsuits against big companies, secretly doling out the legal work to outside trial lawyer friends who reap millions in fees. Those lawyers then turn around and donate heavily to Mr. McGraw’s re-election.

Polls show the public, in theory, disapproves. In a Tarrance Group survey last year, 75% of West Virginians think an attorney general should publicly disclose outside contracts with lawyers. Nearly 60% think attorneys should have to competitively bid for those jobs.

It’s this that motivates Mr. Greear. ‘I’ve watched what’s going on and thought: If I were doing this to a client, I’d lose my law license. I don’t think any fair-thinking person can think this is good government, or good solid legal representation for West Virginia,’ he tells me.

Also helping is that Mr. McGraw’s own sense of political immortality has recently landed him, and his state, in hot water. In 2001, he appointed four private law firms to sue drug companies for alleged deceptive advertising of OxyContin. Having forced a settlement in 2004, he handed his tort allies $3.3 million of the $10 million haul. Mr. McGraw had sued on behalf of state agencies (including the state’s Medicaid program) — yet his office kept the rest of the settlement money.

The federal government, which pays a significant portion of the state’s Medicaid bills, remains furious the program received none of the settlement, and is now threatening to withhold millions in Medicaid money. Mr. Greear is hitting hard on the uproar, using it to suggest Mr. McGraw has lost sight of why he’s suing companies, other than for the headlines.

That’s the upside. On the downside, Mr. McGraw remains relatively popular in the state, in part because one of his greatest innovations has been the art (as with the OxyContin suit) of turning settlement proceeds into political patronage. When the West Virginia attorney general crafts a settlement, he makes sure it goes to his own office, where he doles it out with great fanfare to universities, health-care centers and county commissions. In January, he grandly announced that a $12 million settlement he’d negotiated with Visa and Master Card would be going to fund statewide sales-tax holidays.

His other main asset is fear. Mr. Greear admits a big hurdle is fund raising, even among a business
community that is desperate to throw out Mr. McGraw. ‘I go to so many people and hear the same thing: I sure hope you beat him, but I can’t afford to have my name on your records. He might come after me next.’

This is a frightening example of how the power of an attorney general can corrupt even the electoral
process.

For now, Mr. Greear’s strategy has been to gin up grassroots support, hoping to reach a ‘tipping point’ at which more people in the corporate community will believe he can win. Up and down the state, he hits on the ethical points, and he recently signed a model ‘Attorney General Transparency Code’ that is being circulated by the American Tort Reform Association.

Mr. McGraw is still tipped to win, but the difference this time is that he’s being asked to justify his methods.

That’s a change, and it’s overdue.”

To read the article in entirety, go to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121754833081202775.html.