Justice Warren McGraw:Press

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee will launch a television advertising campaign next week accusing the state Supreme Court of driving doctors out of West Virginia. But state statistics say there are more doctors in the state.

The 30-second ad, titled “Good Health,” comes during a hotly contested Democratic primary between incumbent Justice Warren McGraw and Greenbrier Circuit Judge Jim Rowe.

The chamber has made no secret of its desire to see McGraw ousted in favor of Rowe, whom it believes will have a more business-friendly voting record when cases reach the state’s highest court.

“We anticipate a series of messages that extend beyond the primaries and go on for several years,” said Chamber President Steve Roberts said. “It reflects a strong belief that our third branch — the judicial branch — needs more attention than it’s getting.”

But Roberts conceded the primary campaign is a convenient time to air ads about the court.

“Do we think now is a good time to try to get people’s attention? Yes, it’s an issue the media is covering,” he said. He said the ads are not specifically aimed at McGraw.

McGraw’s spokesman, Andy Gallagher, said the ads are a part of a smear effort by the chamber.

“It’s part of their campaign to let out-of-state corporations tell West Virginians how to vote,” he said. “I don’t think anybody’s going to fall for this propaganda. Most voters in West Virginia know McGraw’s long record, they know how he’s voting and they know this can’t be truthful.”

The ad opens by showing doctors and nurses performing an operation, with a narrator saying: “Our lawsuit-friendly Supreme Court is driving doctors out of West Virginia.”

The ad shows numbers on a rolling dial while the narrator says, “In one year, we lost 167 doctors. On the other hand, we did get 169 new lawyers.”

It ends with the sound of a patient flatlining, and the narrator says, with accompanying text, “The West Virginia Supreme Court. Good for lawsuits. Bad for your health.”

The ad’s numbers come from the U.S. Census Bureau, which says the drop in state doctors happened between 2000 and 2001.

But the West Virginia Board of Medicine’s Web site shows the number of doctors practicing in West Virginia actually has increased since McGraw was elected to the court in 1999. The board issues licenses to doctors in the state.

On Dec. 31, 1997, there were 3,317 actively practicing doctors in the state. On Dec. 31, 2003, there were 3,575, an increase of 258, according to the board’s Web site.

Roberts points to another set of statistics from the board showing that the total number of doctors licensed by the state had decreased from 5,251 in 1999, when McGraw started to serve, to 5,182 at the end of 2003. Those statistics include doctors licensed in West Virginia but who practice out-of-state.

Roberts says the board’s figures concerning active doctors who practice in the state are not accurate, but the board’s executive director, Ronald D. Walton, said every figure on the Web site is correct.

Gallagher did concede that the number of lawyers in West Virginia had gone up since McGraw was elected to the court. There are 4,294 active, in-state members of the State Bar, according to its Web site.

“So what?” he said.

The ad does not mention McGraw by name because political action committees are barred from naming candidates in advertisements.

The ad will run dozens of times in the Huntington-Charleston viewing area over the next three weeks. Roberts said the chamber anticipates buying ads statewide. He could not provide the total amount of money the chamber will spend, but three weeks worth of ad buys at one Charleston-Huntington station cost about $34,000.

Rowe has been running TV advertisements for weeks, some of which are critical of the court’s performance.

McGraw began running his own ads this week touting his blue-collar background and 40-year career in state politics. He will spend about $250,000 before the primary on Tuesday, May 11, Gallagher said.

“We don’t have any attack ads planned,” said Gallagher.

A spokeswoman for Rowe’s campaign said the campaign would have no comment on the chamber’s ads.