Palin joins forces with Massey CEO Don Blankenship

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

You all know, Massey CEO Don Blankenship, the evil bastard on the right, but the guy on the left is someone you should familiarize yourself with.

Elliott "Spike" Maynard was the chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court - until this photo was released.

Massey and Don Blankenship were defendants in a case in front of Maynard's court, and while the court was considering the case, Maynard decided to go on vacation to the French Riviera with his old friend from Massey. (Maynard had long been an ally of Blankenship, having ruled in his favor many times in his union-busting efforts)

Blankenship and Maynard's secret vacation was caught on film by a private detective hired by the other litigant in the case. When this betrayal of the public trust and violation of impartiality was brought to the media, voters didn't like it. Maynard lost reelection in a landslide defeat in the 2008 Democratic primary.

Maynard soon after gave up his ruse of pretending to be a conservative, "strict constructionist" Democrat (if such a thing existed) and officially joined the W.Va. Republican Party.

When ABC News did a report exposing the corruption, Blankenship assaulted the cameraman and threatened to have the news crew shot.
You can see it on video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Ym8qqR5vU

As Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette report, Maynard mocked the idea of Massey's responsibility in making its mines safe in an e-mail exchange with Blankenship after two miners were killed in a fire at the company's Aracoma mine in 2006.
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/02/02/reminder-spike-maynard-on-the-aracoma-mine-fire/

Two years later, Maynard's back. This time running for Congress to unseat longtime Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall. Maynard's run is paid for, to a great extent, by Massey and Blankenship.

Around $21,000 of Maynard's money during the quarter came from Massey employees, Blankenship's family and former political operatives including Thomas.

http://wvablue.com/diary/6009/surprise-maynard-funded-by-massey-palin-alligns-with-blankenship

Blankenship will probably spend millions independently to try to take down Rahall, a longtime progressive. Blankenship spent $3.5 million on a court race in 2004, in order to elect Massey-friendly Republican Brent Benjamin to the bench.

After the Upper Big Branch disaster, in which 29 workers were killed in a Massey mine riddled with safety violations, Blankenship has had a hard time getting his old rightwing celebrity friends to rally to him publicly. Gone are the days when Hannity and Nugent would fly in to take part in his events, as was the case at the company's 2009 anti-Labor Day, pro-mountaintop removal festival.



The one person he can count on is Sarah Palin. As the AP reports today, Palin is using her PAC to steer money to Maynard's race. The district was one of the targets on her infamous 'crosshairs' chart earlier this year.

Maynard and McKinley also each attracted $3,500 from SarahPAC, Palin's political action committee that provided at least $87,500 to candidates during the quarter..

http://dailymail.com/News/statenews/201007250229?page=1&build=cache

Maynard's quite happy to receive Sarah's support and has invited her to campaign with him in the state by touring a mine and touting, of all things, its safety. (Maynard's invite to Palin was made just a week before the Upper Big Branch explosion).


At the center of all of this is mountaintop removal. The basis of Blankenship and Maynard's campaign is to demand 100% support for MTR from the state's congressional delegation. With the Obama administration ending the Bush era policy of rubber stamping permits for the destructive practice, coal operators have been furious, accusing the administration of engaging in a 'war on coal."

Rahall, who's long been a defender of miners, issued a statement in which he said it was irresponsible to demonize a government agency that was simply doing its job.

That's why Blankenship has demanded that Rahall be kicked out of Congress after three decades. And he's willing to spend whatever it takes to get there. A victory by Blankenship would be guarantee that Massey gets to continue running unsafe mines and destroying the mountains of Appalachia.

And Sarah's eager to help make that a reality.

[ingac70]

1. k&r

[saigon68]

7. Skunk

[Bluzmann57]

2. So Palin and Maynard want to be accessories to murder?

Because Blankenship is a murderer, plain and simple. I say lock all three of them up.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Republicon Family Pharisee Values

Sarah lacks a moral compass.

[dmr]

4. This makes me sick & it totally disgusts me.

Seeing that pic with the mountains removed makes me cry. Absolutely heartbreaking - death & destruction.
:cry:

[Turborama]

5. The evil tentacles of John McCain's legacy continue to spread wider and deeper...

...into the veins of America.

[mwb970]

6. Why do conservatives always coalesce around the worst imaginable ideas?

If it isn't mountaintop mining, it's the war in Iraq. If it isn't endless tax cuts for the rich, it's eliminating the "death tax" (and Social Security, and Medicare, and Medicaid). If it isn't corporate handouts, it's denying benefits to the unemployed. These all represent horrible policies and ideas that repel thinking, caring people everywhere.

Every time an issue of importance comes up, you can count on every single conservative to come down on the mean-spirited, destructive, false, un-American side of the issue. I mean every conservative, every time. On every issue.

It's so easy to predict. BP destroys the Gulf, so the right sides with....BP! Breitbart smears an innocent woman, so the right sides with....Breitbart! Massey Energy kills 29 miners through negligence, so the right sides with....Massey!

(*Sigh*) Always the wrong answer. Always.

[DailyGrind51]

8. Economic conservatism IS a secular religion, "Mammonism" would be a suitable name.

[starroute]

9. Blankenship is someone who knows how to buy elections

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-millhiser/supreme-courts-judge-for_b_171498.html

When a jury ordered Don Blankenship's company to pay $50 million to one of its competitors, Blankenship had a plan; rather than pay the money, Blankenship decided to buy a judge. An unknown lawyer named Brent Benjamin was in the midst of a quisical election campaign against incumbent West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw. With no name-recognition, and only $25,000 in the bank, Benjamin's campaign was going nowhere.

That is, of course, until Don Blankenship showed up.

Seeing an opportunity to shape the judges who would decide his appeal, Blankenship spent $3 million dollars in contributions, independent ads and other expenditures intended to place Brent Benjamin on the bench. One ad, funded entirely by a front-organization created by Blankenship, accused incumbent Justice McGraw of voting to free an free an incarcerated child rapist, and of allowing that rapist to work in a public school. Armed with Blankeship's millions, Brent Benjamin became Justice Benjamin, and he soon cast the deciding vote in a case overturning the verdict against Blankenship's company. Blankenship paid $3 million to buy a judge, and saved $50 million for his company---a 1667% return on his investment.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/politics/campaign/24judicial.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&sq=Warren%20McGraw&st=nyt&scp=1

October 24, 2004

Voters in West Virginia saw a surprisingly similar advertisement recently, suggesting either judicial leniency for child molesters or a message that focus groups find compelling. "He sexually molested multiple West Virginia children," the announcer says. "Liberal Judge Warren McGraw cast the deciding vote to set this reprehensible criminal free." . . .

Justice McGraw said the advertisements attacking him have had a profound political and personal impact. "I'm just a West Virginia country lawyer running for office," he said. "They say our court set a child molester loose in our schools. It's absolutely untrue. I'm embarrassed to go out in public. They've absolutely destroyed me."

Not all of the advertisements about the Arbaugh case were paid for by the Benjamin campaign. Most came from an organization known as And for the Sake of the Kids. It is devoted solely to defeating Justice McGraw, according to its Web site.

The group has raised about $2.5 million, with $1.7 million of it from Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive officer of Massey Energy, a coal mining company. In a statement, Mr. Blankenship said he had donated "approximately $1 for every West Virginian."

[starroute]

10. More -- Blankenship and the Chamber of Commerce in 2008

http://wvablue.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3587

Oct 30, 2008

Didn't we just oust Don Blankenship's vacation buddy Spike Maynard?

Now we've got Blankenship the U.S. Chamber of Commerce attempting to buy two other West Virginia races to install their own bought and paid for politicians: the pro-adultery attorney general candidate Dan Greear and the pro-theocracy, anti-worker Supreme Court candidate Beth Walker.

As Randolph Clark pointed out, the large amount of money dumped by outside organizations is a blatant attempt to subvert the West Virginia electoral process. . . .

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, in the past a relatively sane organization that had distanced itself from such practices, has joined with the always anti-West Virginia U.S. Chamber of Commerce in an attempt to buy offices for their two hand-picked candidates in order to guarantee that workers and consumers are not protected in this state.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

11. In addition to Maynard, Blankenship is trying to buy a seat for the GOP's David McKinley

McKinley may not be tied to Blankenship to multiple scandals, but Massey wants as many Republicans representing WV as possible.

And, of course, Sarah also gave McKinley money

WV currently has one GOP representative - Shelley Moore Capito. You'd think with Maynard's baggage, she would have stayed out of the race, but she's shamelessly backing and funding him, despite his multiple scandals and stated intent to push the Massey agenda. Upper Big Branch and Massey's abysmal record simply don't matter to the GOP, as long as the Blankenship checks keep coming to the party.

[glitch]

12. K & R excellent post

These people are mentally ill.