CHARLESTON – When is Greg Thomas going to start telling West Virginians the truth? For two decades he’s misled us, claiming that he’s fighting for what’s best for West Virginia and the people who live here. Nothing is farther from the truth.
Thomas represents woke, out-of-state corporations worth billions, not our local businesses and not us. These corporations hide behind front groups called “Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse” and “American Tort Reform Association,” and they have bankrolled his efforts from Day 1. It is their spokespeople and lawyers who provide testimony before legislative committees — usually on Zoom because they don’t live here.
Broadwater
Thomas uses scare tactics to make you worry about issues that aren’t even problems.
In March he claimed that a “tort tax” was “a major blow to average working families.” He claimed it was making insurance premiums higher and increased health care costs. The truth is that the “tort tax” is based on an analysis by the insurance industry consulting firm that admitted 20 years ago that “the costs tabulated in this study are not a reflection of litigated claims or the legal system.”
Thomas didn’t mention that — or that even in this fake West Virginia has the second best rate in the country. He also fails to mention that while the insurance industry is hiking your premiums and claiming it can’t afford to do business, profits last year totaled $144 billion.
Thomas
Thomas attacks West Virginia lawmakers who have received campaign contributions from trial lawyers. Trial lawyers who donate to these campaigns are West Virginia business owners who provide jobs in their towns. They are support lawmakers who believe in our constitutional rights and protecting the civil justice system. It’s the billion-dollar corporations who want to rig the system.
Thomas never mentions the hundreds of thousands of dollars pouring into our state from out-of-state, corporate political action committees. Former Senate President Craig Blair alone received more than $56,000 from them. A few were based in New York and California. I doubt those woke states know what’s best for us.
What is more outrageous is that Thomas now attacks some of our most conservative legislators for sticking to fundamental Republican values. The Republicans he’s targeting have the independence and integrity to stand up for their constituents — even when that means going against Thomas’ corporate funders. They do what’s right despite ongoing threats that they will be challenged in the next election.
One bill Thomas pushed this year would have taken away the rights of local governments to hire their own attorneys. Instead, they would have to go through the state government, increasing its governmental powers and allowing the state to dictate contract terms.
That violates three conservative values right there — local government, limiting government overreach and freedom to contract. If the City of Huntington or the Berkeley County Commission wants to hire a lawyer, that decision should belong to the elected officials there, not someone in Charleston. They should be allowed to hire whom they want, when they want, and negotiate the contract themselves.
The Republicans Thomas attacks voted this bad bill down. Thomas even claimed that this bill would help bring new jobs. Who would believe that?
Personal responsibility is another fundamental value. Thomas applauds so-called “legal reform” despite the fact that these laws allow corporate abuses without consequences. The bills he’s pushed make it easier for powerful corporations to cut corners and increase their profits while risking the lives, safety and finances of West Virginians.
Increasing corporate profits on the backs of West Virginia workers, consumers, and small businesses doesn’t lead to prosperity. They get corporate immunity, and we’re left holding the bag.
Real conservatives support and protect our constitutional rights. One of the most fundamental we have is our 7th Amendment right to trial by jury in civil cases. In fact, it’s so important that it is the one right that protects every other right we have.
If the government would pass a law that limits our 2nd Amendment rights, you can challenge that bad law in civil court. It is only in our courtrooms where a single citizen is equal to our government or the most powerful, wealthy corporation. The laws being pushed by Thomas and his funders take that away by limiting your right to jury trial and access to the courts.
To advance this agenda, Thomas attacks trial lawyers. I am proud to be a trial lawyer, and I have spent my career representing West Virginians. He attacks us because we’re the ones representing you, your neighbors and the small business on Main Street against the out-of-state billionaires who are behind Thomas’ campaign.
I believe this latest attack has come because Greg Thomas realizes that the truth is getting out. Lawmakers and voters see his campaign for what it is, one that will strip West Virginians of their rights in order to make corporations richer and more powerful than they already are.
If we want a West Virginia that values fairness, justice, and our constitutional rights, we need lawmakers who answer to the people who elected them, not to the billion-dollar, corporate interests signing Thomas’ paychecks.
Broadwater is a Charleston trial lawyer and the 2024–2025 president of the West Virginia Association for Justice.
