I’ve been writing about WV Governor Jim Justice’s run for Joe Manchin’s seat and on Tuesday night he officially became the GOP nominee. There are a lot of reasons that Justice is wholly unsuitable for that office, but right now it would be really helpful for the national news media to look beyond that stupid dog and to look at all the financial trouble Justice is in. My previous posts on Justice’s woes are available at the “Justice Files” category, above.
There has been some interest in Justice’s problems, but not enough.
The New York Times had a story on Justice about a week ago.
And for a long time, Mr. Justice and his family’s companies have managed to stave off one threat after another with wily legal tactics notably at odds with the aw-shucks persona that has endeared him to so many West Virginians. On Tuesday, he is heavily favored to win the Republican Senate primary and cruise to victory in the general election, especially after the departure of the Democratic incumbent, Joe Manchin III.
But now, as he wraps up his second term as governor and campaigns for a seat in the U.S. Senate, things are looking dicier. Much like Donald J. Trump, with whom he is often compared — with whom he often compares himself — Mr. Justice has faced a barrage of costly judgments and legal setbacks.
And this time, there may be too many, some suspect, for Mr. Justice, 73, and his family to fend them all off.
“It’s a simple matter of math,” said Steven New, a lawyer in Mr. Justice’s childhood hometown, Beckley, W.Va., who, like many lawyers in coal country, has tangled with Justice companies.
Mr. Justice and his scores of businesses would be able to handle some of these potential multimillion-dollar judgments in isolation, Mr. New said. But “when you add it all up, and put the judgments together close in time, it would appear he doesn’t have enough,” he said.
Don’t threaten me with a good time, NYT.
JoeMyGod.com had a quick look at the NYT article.
Then on Tuesday the Financial Times had a detailed look at how Justice borrowed all that money that he now owes to Carter Bank, with this interesting detail:
The lawsuit, filed in February, argues that Carter Bank received the $226mn in “legally improper transfers” from Justice’s mining group, Bluestone Resources.
Here’s the thing: Justice is in dire financial trouble. He is a prime target for blackmail. He has terrible judgment and can’t be trusted. Where is the national media on this?
One thing I saw in the election coverage Tuesday night was a bunch of people who know nothing about Justice slobbering over his stupid dog. Instead of looking into the shady dealings Justice has been engaged in for years, they cooed over the dog. None of them appeared to know anything about Justice beyond that.
Local papers have been faithfully covering this story. Now Justice has been elevated to a run for a national office. The big media outlets need to get to work.
Elvis can take it from here:
