A Kanawha County judge on Friday heard arguments over the $500,000 of public campaign financing money state Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin was awarded for his reelection bid.
Morgantown lawyer, Beth Walker, who is running against Benjamin, says Benjamin shouldn't have ever been awarded the money over technical issues during the campaign financing application process.
"We can't give Justice Benjamin an A for effort, he has to follow the rules," Thomas Ryan, an attorney for Walker, told Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman.
Ryan, a former assistant U.S. attorney for West Virginia's Southern District, who is now a lawyer in Pittsburgh, alleged that Benjamin's campaign missed deadlines for filing the application for certification and a report of exploratory campaign contributions -- issues that the Walker campaign also raised during a State Election Commission hearing, and that SEC commissioners ruled were not valid.
The SEC unanimously approved public financing for the Benjamin campaign earlier this month over Walker's objections. The campaign appealed the ruling and is asking that Kaufman overturn the SEC's decision certifying Benjamin's qualification for public campaign financing, order Benjamin not to spend any of the funds, and to return the public financing money.
Benjamin's attorney Jonathan Marshall said Friday that the election law doesn't require a Supreme Court candidate to begin an exploratory campaign as a traditional candidate and then opt to pursue public campaign financing. Therefore, the justice's campaign didn't have to turn in several reports Walker accuses him of never providing, Marshall argued. Benjamin shook his head, agreeing that he didn't start out with the intention of public financing and therefore didn't miss any reporting deadlines.
Under the law, in order to qualify for public financing, a candidate must raise at least $35,000 from at least 500 contributors, with maximum contributions of $100. Benjamin met those requirements,the SEC ruled, even though the Walker campaign challenged every contributor to Benjamin.
The SEC determined that a glitch in the electronic reporting system made it impossible for Benjamin's campaign to electronically file a financial report for the exploratory period after he opted to pursue public financing. The campaign was instead allowed to file a paper copy of the form.
Ryan said that the report should have been filed at the latest in September and that Benjamin's campaign didn't report electronic issues until Feb. 5. Walker didn't attend the hearing.
Kaufman asked attorneys to file findings of fact and conclusions of law by Monday and that he would make a ruling within several days of that.
Time is of the essence with the introduction of nonpartisan judicial elections this year, the Supreme Court election will be on May 10 - less than three months away.
The SEC also earlier this month certified public campaign financing for a second Supreme Court candidate, Beckley lawyer Bill Wooton, over objections from the Walker campaign, who contended Wooton should be disqualified for allegedly filing his application for certification a day late.
"Do deadlines in reference to the campaign finance law matter?" Ryan said is the question that surrounds his argument.
Marshall argued on behalf of Benjamin that the law is discretionary. Ryan said, though, that would set a dangerous precedent.
Benjamin's seat is the only one on the court up in this year's election. He was elected in 2004 after a hard-fought battle to oust incumbent justice Warren McGraw, Darrell McGraw's brother. Darrell McGraw, former state Attorney General, who also served as justice 12 years from 1976 to 1988, is also running for the seat held by Benjamin, as is Clay lawyer Wayne King.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.