A new round of negative ads in West Virginia governor's race has sharpened the Democratic candidates' attacks, with state Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler accusing businessman Jim Justice of running as a Republican and former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin issuing a statement whose headline screams "Justice is lying again."
Justice released two negative ads this week, one calling Kessler and Goodwin two "insiders who think more government is the answer" and "want to raise taxes."
Another attacks Goodwin specifically, as "another career politician," and accusing him of taking contributions from lawyers with cases before his father, a federal judge.
The three men are fighting for the Democratic nomination for governor.
"When a candidate starts going negative, that tells me they're in a freefall," said Kessler, who is unabashed in his calls to raise taxes to fill the gaping hole in the state budget. "You can't solve this budget problem without some additional revenue, so he's been bashing me for saying I want to raise taxes, yet here's a guy who's not paying his own taxes."
Kessler, in a news conference Thursday, repeatedly attacked Justice over unpaid taxes and bills. Several times, Kessler cited a recent Gazette-Mail story that reported Justice's companies had $3.9 million in delinquent property taxes owed to six southern counties.
Two weeks ago, Justice's campaign said the taxes would be paid in April. They remained unpaid as of Thursday afternoon, according to county tax databases.
"The best thing you can do for education, since 70 percent of property taxes go to education, is go down to the courthouse and pay your taxes," Kessler said.
Goodwin responded to Justice's ad against him with a blistering statement that said, "This is not how a leader behaves."
"This shows me that he is desperate and scared. It shows Jim's true character: He's a bully who is used to buying whatever he wants," Goodwin said. "My opponent doesn't have any substantive plans for West Virginia's future, so he resorts to throwing money at lies. This is what desperate politicians do: lie about you and attack your family."
Justice's campaign did not respond to phone and email requests for comment. Goodwin's campaign did not respond when asked what, specifically, he was accusing Justice of lying about.
Prior to airing the Goodwin attack ad, the Justice campaign sent a list of 17 Goodwin donors - lawyers it alleged had cases before Goodwin's father, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin.
A search of federal court records found no cases before Judge Goodwin for several of those donors. Judge Goodwin's docket is largely filled with hundreds of lawsuits related to allegedly defective pelvic mesh. The remaining donors on the Justice campaign list included lawyers on both sides of those cases.
This week, Goodwin released a negative ad of his own, in which a family member of a miner who died at Upper Big Branch accuses Justice of siding with former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship.
Goodwin's office prosecuted Blankenship, resulting in a one-year prison sentence for willfully conspiring to violate mine safety standards.
Justice also has been the target of attack ads, by a dark-money group that he claims is supporting Goodwin. After Justice sent a "cease and desist" letter to TV stations airing the ad, it continued to air, but two words of a subtitle had been changed.
Kessler also hammered Justice for his campaign's lack of specifics.
"I'm the guy talking specific solutions to real problems and not just vague generality - rocket ships to the moon and how much you love the state," he said. "I'm insulted that he thinks he's the only one in the state that thinks he loves West Virginia. I assure you, I love it, I'm sure Mr. Goodwin loves it."
Justice often has promised a "jobs rocket ride" if he's elected governor.
Kessler also keyed in on Justice's promise not to raise taxes while declining to name specific programs he would cut, despite budget deficits in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
"He's behaving, as a Democrat candidate, like a tea party Republican with a no-tax pledge," Kessler said.
He also attacked a recent Justice statement to the Beckley Register-Herald that he would not "campaign with anybody," in reference to a question about whether he would campaign with Hillary Clinton.
Justice has, in the past, been a registered Republican and made substantial donations to both parties.
"Seems to me, he's already abandoned ship, not only on our presidential nominee but also on the down-ticket folks," Kessler said. "That's a strange, strange, in my view, a very strange platform for a Democrat seeking the nomination."
Reach David Gutman at david.gutman@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5119 or follow @davidlgutman on Twitter.