We've seen the old strumpet in action before, the selling of the Bush/Cheney invasion and occupation of Iraq via the lip-synching of the Times' Judith Miller and others with Cheney's point man, Irving "Scooter" Libby amidst the silvering birch trees of the west.
This time it involves the buying of a state supreme court judgeship in West Virginia in 2004 by Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive of the nation’s fourth-biggest coal mining company (Massey Energy). Actually, it was a matter of Blankenship's putting out $3 million in attack ads against a sitting justice of the West Virginia court unnamed by the Times until paragraph 16 of the article (which is buried on page A29), a Mr. Warren R. McGraw. The Blankenship/Massey Energy campaign went so far as to intimate that McGraw had freed a sex offender.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
As a result of Blankenship's tossing $3 million into campaigning again McGraw, Brent D. Benjamin won the critical judgeship and went on to join a 3-to-2 majority which threw out a $50 million jury verdict against Massey Energy, not a bad return for a $3 million investment.
For the record, Blankenship directly contributed only $1,000 to Justice Benjamin's campaign.
It appears that the United States Supreme Court may have under consideration the matter of whether or not Benjamin should have recused himself from the Massey case before the court.
Hugh M. Caperton, et al., Petitioners v. A.T. Massey Coal Company, Inc., et al.
There are several other cases involving Massey and other corporations before the court, but I'm going to presume that this is the pertinent case.
I find a major problem with the way the New York Times covered the situation:
MATEWAN, W.Va. — Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive of the nation’s fourth-biggest coal mining company, is not shy about putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to West Virginia politics.
In 2004, he spent $3 million on tough advertisements attacking a justice of the State Supreme Court who was seeking re-election. Some of the advertisements said the justice had agreed to free a sex offender.
"I thought we would beat him more easily than we did," Mr. Blankenship said, reflecting on how hard it was to persuade voters.
Brent D. Benjamin won that election and went on to join the 3-to-2 majority that threw out a $50 million jury verdict against Mr. Blankenship’s company, Massey Energy.
The old who, what, when, etc., is put together by the Times in piecemeal fashion, leaving the hapless reader to sort out the details by reading the entire article to fill in the holes.
Who: Don L. Blankenship and the company, Massey Energy, which is not named until paragraph four, as well as the hapless justice attacked by Blankenship and company, Warren R. McGraw, not to mention the fellow who benefited from the Blankenship largesse, Brent D. Benjamin,
What: the buying of a West Virginia Supreme Court judgeship by a major executive of a major coal corporation, be it ever so indirectly by virtue of attacking the standing judge in order to install the company's candidate.
Where: West Virginia, of course, where it is very easy to buy a judge if you have enough money.
When: November, 2004.
How: didn't I mention how easy it is to buy a judgeship in West Virginia if you've got enough money?
Why: Yeah, why is this kind of stuff still happening?
Anc why: Why is the New York Times kissing the ugly corporate butt of Don L. Blankenship and Massey Energy?