Lookin' For Ugleeeeeeeee

Those darned McGraws. They can't seem to avoid shadowy conspiracies. First the photographers roaming Marmet trying to take ugly pictures of Warren McGraw, now the Bush administration is plotting the demise of West Virginia's Attorney General.

West Virginia at one point brought suit against the manufacturers of painkilling products such as OxyContin, challenging the manner in which they had been advertised. OxyContin and like drugs are highly addictive and untold thousands suffer from this problem. At issue here is how the settlement money ended up being spent.

The Attorney General's office paid the lawyers who fought the case (fair enough) but placed the rest into the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Fund. The federal government argues that it ought to receive some reimbursement for the Medicaid dollars it pours into the state annually. State Legislators assert that McGraw violated the law because only the Legislature can disburse money.

What is worse is that the Consumer Protection Fund pays for billboards, pencils, and other items that feature the Attorney General's name. Allen Loughry, former Caperton administration official, has blasted this practice as taxpayer funded campaigning. McGraw's office paints this as a Bush administration political move to discredit his office.

Now come on. President Bush sits in his Oval Office every day trying to think of ways to discredit our state attorney general? Kind of unlikely. This money ought to go to the Legisture to be budgeted and sent out to the proper recipients.