Facing a re-election battle, Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard let loose on fellow Democratic candidate Bob Bastress during a recent interview with the Charleston Daily Mail editorial board.
"Maynard's ire was prompted by Bastress' continued criticism of the much-discussed photographs of the chief justice with Massey Energy chief Don Blankenship while the two were vacationing on the French Riviera in 2006," the newspaper reported.
"(I)t's a two-way street. If I wanted to attack Professor Bastress, it would be very easy to do," Maynard told the editorial board.
Maynard alleged Bastress was campaigning at the expense of his post at West Virginia University, including "using the law school as his campaign headquarters," the article said.
Bastress sought to rebut those charges, as well as allegations from Maynard of legislation introduced to benefit Bastress' legal work by his wife, Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, the newspaper reported.
"And I won't talk about your personal life. I'll leave that alone," the chief justice was quoted as saying. "Maynard did not elaborate further."
01 April 2008
Maynard, Bastress Trade Barbs
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3 comments:
Bastress has his wife try to do his dirty work for him since she is in the legislature, but Messina, you do the dirty work for your wife who works for ACT, the pro-union lobby that opposes Maynard in his re-election bid.
That's somewhat off. My wife tells me what to WEAR, not what to write.
No matter Bastress or ACT, it's reasonable to expect that the state's Chief Justice make a best effort not to associate w/ litigants.
The question is whether even the perception of impropriety will play a significant role in the upcoming election?
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