Leading West Virginia Newspaper Endorses Challenger Morrisey for Attorney General

West Virginia’s leading newspaper has endorsed challenger Patrick Morrisey over five-term incumbent Darrell McGraw in that state’s closely watched race for attorney general.

The Charleston Daily Mail says that “McGraw has turned the office into a mass tort trial lawyers firm, . . . color[ing] the state’s legal climate.”  In fact, West Virginia owes some of its reputation as a perennial judicial hellhole to McGraw’s litigious antics. Furthermore, “McGraw has shamelessly used the office to promote his name recognition among voters,” says the paper.

“Enough. West Virginians deserve better.”

In endorsing Morrisey, on the other hand, the Daily Mail says he “would pursue ethics reform, institute competitive bidding for outside counsel, return all settlement money to the state, and be aggressive in challenging overreaching federal regulation. He is experienced in health care law, which could be helpful.”

A change to Morrisey in the attorney general’a office, the endorsement concludes, would be “most welcome.”