Benjamin is wrong for Supreme Court

Shame on Republican Supreme Court candidate Brent Benjamin! His campaign of sleazy political ads demonstrates that he is ethically unfit to serve on our Supreme Court.

As a former chairperson of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board and an attorney active in our state, I am appalled by Benjamin’s willingness to distort the facts of a recent Supreme Court case to further his own political ambitions.

Benjamin knows his attacks on Justice McGraw are false and misleading. He knows Justice McGraw did not vote to set a dangerous criminal free. Worse, by repeating his misleading message often enough, he intends to confuse voters who have little opportunity to study the complicated history of the case at issue.

So why is Benjamin launching a smear campaign? Simple, Benjamin, an attorney with a corporate firm, could never win an election on his own qualifications. The only public service listed on his Web site is a stint as treasurer of the West Virginia Republican Party.

Justice McGraw, meanwhile, has proven himself as a prosecutor, a legislative leader and a justice of the Supreme Court. He has earned a reputation as tough on crime and a champion of victims’ rights.

On election day, we need to remember Benjamin’s misleading, negative ads and vote to reject his contemptible tactics.

Allan Karlin
Morgantown