McGraw Snubs Legislators Again

The Intelligencer
State Attorney General Darrell McGraw’s arrogance is spectacular. Sometimes it seems as if McGraw has made it his mission to combine all three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial — in his own office at the Capitol. Add to all of that the reelection campaign function of the office, and it must be a pretty crowded, busy place.

McGraw’s office revealed this week that a lawsuit it filed against two big credit card companies, Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard International Inc., has been settled. The lawsuit alleged that the companies had violated antitrust and consumer protection laws.

According to one report, the credit card companies will pay $12.8 million as part of the settlement. McGraw’s office announced that $12.1 million of that will be used “for the purpose of providing tax relief in the form of a sales tax moratorium for West Virginia citizens.” The last sentence of his press release states, “We are proud to be a part of providing sorely needed tax relief to West Virginians.”

Once again, then, McGraw is taking money from a lawsuit settlement and handing it out himself. That isn’t how state revenue is supposed to be handled. By law, the Legislature is the only body of government authorized to appropriate funds.

It is not the first time that McGraw has used the technique, for which some lawmakers have criticized him in the past. For some reason, however, the Legislature has not seen fit to crack down on the attorney general.

This time around, McGraw has pulled a stunt that has the distinct appearance of being a reelection tactic. By promising all West Virginians “tax relief” — courtesy of Darrell McGraw, he hopes they will think — the attorney general may well win a substantial number of votes this year.

He has added a wrinkle to his strategy, however. In the past, McGraw has simply used money from lawsuit settlements as he saw fit, handing it out to various organizations, institutions and programs. This time he is publicizing his intention to help all Mountain State residents.

And this time, he has attempted to paint the Legislature into a corner. The settlement agreement, to use the money for “tax relief,” is subject to the Legislature setting specifics of how the cash will be utilized, McGraw has made it clear.

But, should any lawmakers think the agreement actually gives them any real power to appropriate the money, McGraw has added that any change in his “tax relief” proposal would require that the lawsuit settlement be renegotiated with the credit card companies.

Take it or leave it, McGraw is, in effect, telling lawmakers.

That should make them furious. We hope it does.

Legislators should have put a leash on McGraw long, long ago. If his most recent stunt does not result in legislation doing just that, West Virginians’ anger at McGraw should extend to their elected delegates and state senators. Are lawmakers so fearful of the McGraw political machine that they will not even stand up for their own authority to appropriate state funds? We hope not — but, at this point, there is some question about that.