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OPINIONS
Editorial: State's judicial ethics reputation sullied by friendship
This photo which has been entered into evidence as part of a court motion by lawyers seeking to remove West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard, left, from hearing a case involving Massey Energy Inc., shows the justice and Massey CEO Don Blankenship together in Monaco in 2006. A Massey spokesman calls it a coincidence that the two men were vacationing in the area at the same time in July 2006.
Elliott "Spike" Maynard, chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, did the right thing Friday. He agreed to recuse himself from a pending case involving Massey Energy Co. following the release of photos that showed him on a European vacation with Massey CEO Don Blankenship.
Maynard said he was stepping down from the matter "despite the fact that I have no doubt in my own mind and firmly believe I have been and would be fair and impartial in this case."
In a three-paragraph statement, Maynard said, "It has now become an issue of public perception and public confidence in the courts."
He got that one right, even if it came a few months late and only after the photos surfaced, but at least Maynard has finally seen the light.
Maynard helped form a 3-2 majority in November that overturned a $76.3 million judgment against Massey, won in a coal contract dispute by Harman Mining and its president, Hugh Caperton. Petitioning the court to reconsider that decision, Caperton and Harman argued that Maynard should recuse himself because of his friendship with Don Blankenship, Massey's president, chairman and CEO.
The photos, filed Monday with the court, include three that appear to show Maynard and Blankenship together in Monaco in early July 2006. The dual ,recusal petitions also allege other evidence of a social relationship, including a dinner just before the November ruling.
Maynard isn't the only person on the five-member court with connections to Blankenship. Blankenship spent millions of dollars to help elect Brent Benjamin to the court two years ago. Benjamin has not yet responded to Caperton's motion to recuse himself from the case, too. But he should recuse himself.
With the Maynard-Blankenship photos, there is a chance we may have reached a tipping point in the long-held concern by some West Virginians that the state's court system is too political. Things rolled along for decades with justices being chosen in partisan elections. That necessitated campaign contributions and appearances at political rallies sponsored by various groups. Once in office, justices were supposed to forget who their friends and donors were before the election.
Everyone suspects this sort of thing happens, but there's been no real smoking gun. The Maynard photos could be the two-by-four upside the head that the state has needed to recognize these many conflicts of interest among Supreme Court justices.
The other three justices on the court will have to be more careful in the future about when to recuse themselves. After this episode, there likely will be more scrutiny on the justices' private lives and how that may affect their decisions on the bench.
It must be noted here that West Virginia is a small state, and campaigns are increasingly expensive. But candidates for any court must be exceptionally careful when their friends and donors come before the court, and they must be even more careful with whom they choose to socialize with after the election.
What happened with Maynard and Blankenship has been an embarrassment for the state, but it could lead to real reform if we focus on the right lessons to be learned.
