America’s most (deservedly) hated coal baron, Don Blankenship, was convicted of ignoring safety regulations, directly leading to the death of 29 men. But just because he's on his way to prison doesn’t mean West Virginia is free of his influence.
As CEO of Massey Energy, central Appalachia's largest coal producer, Don Blankenship towered over West Virginia politics for more than a decade by spending millions to bolster Republican candidates and causes. … But even in absentia, he casts a long shadow over state politics.
Blankenship’s ability to bribe his way through life without consequence is enough to make anyone despair of the whole idea of democracy. This is the guy who lost a jury trial, appealed, then took a state Supreme Court justice to Monte Carlo for gambling and hookers, then spent three million dollars attacking another justice, all to get his trial result overturned. And it worked. Twice.
Now that he’s going to be serving a paltry year (12 days for each person he had a direct role in killing), he’s still in the middle of the next election. Of the two candidates in the Democratic primary for governor, one is Booth Goodwin, the prosecutor who convicted Blankenship. The other is Jim Justice, another billionaire coal operator who happens to have a long-term friendship with Blankenship. And who happens to have a stack of delinquent safety fines.
Justice holds a double-digit lead in the polls and (not unlike another billionaire running for office this year) is spending much of his time arguing that his 10-figure net worth will insulate him from special interests. But when he was asked about the Blankenship conviction at a campaign stop earlier this month, he ripped into Goodwin for what he considered to be a sloppy, opportunistic prosecution.
Yes, it’s a shame that Blankenship is going to jail for a year. Because it should be for life.