CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The two major-party candidates for attorney general came to verbal blows during an impromptu debate on the steps of the Capitol building Wednesday.
“Doug Reynolds represents a return to the past,” said incumbent Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican candidate. “Doug Reynolds has been deceitful in this campaign. He has attacked my wife. And he is an avowed supporter of Hillary Clinton, having donated 2,300 dollars to her campaign.”
Doug Reynolds (D-Cabell, 17), a member of the House of Delegates since 2007 and now the Democratic Party’s candidate for attorney general, cited his time as a prosecutor and public defender.
“I’m a fourth-generation West Virginian,” he said. “I have a history of service. I have graduated from WVU College of Law. I went my first year as a public defender. I am the only one of the candidates that has worked in the trenches as a prosecuting attorney and has put drug dealers in jail.”
Reynolds claimed Morrisey hasn’t done enough to combat the growing opioid epidemic in West Virginia.
“The last four years we have lost the battle with drugs,” Reynolds said. “Can anyone really deny that? We look at the substance abuse problems all across our state. We look at it in Southern West Virginia and the pill mill suit that’s going on down there — 241 million doses.”
LIVE on #Periscope: #MorriseyReynolds #BattleattheCapitol https://t.co/rmQa2v9QAQ
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) October 19, 2016
Statewide correspondent Brad McElhinny’s signal gave out before the end of the debate. He was able to video closing statements and upload them to YouTube. See below:
Additionally, Reynolds has accused Morrisey of using the drug epidemic as a political football.
“We’ve had this drug epidemic for four years,” Reynolds said. “Just this year, just several months before the election, he’s spending $150,000 advertising on MetroNews for these football games of the week. We had a drug problem for four years. A drug problem doesn’t pop up right before an election.”
(Disclosure: Both candidates advertise with MetroNews.)
Morrisey took aim at Reynolds qualifications as a lawyer.
“He’s barely practiced law in the last four years,” he said. “He’s a part-time lawyer. He’s not ready for the job.”
“This is a man that cannot be trusted, and this is a very important job. That’s why I’m eager to have a debate on the issues and to learn more, finally, about where Doug Reynolds stands.”
Morrisey also repeatedly attempted to link the Reynolds campaign to that of Democratic presidential candidate Clinton, who lost the Democratic Primary in West Virginia and has been polling poorly in the state’s general election matchup against Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“I have not donated to Hillary Clinton since Mr. Morrisey has been a practicing lawyer in the state of West Virginia,” Reynolds said.
The Reynolds campaign has attempted to portray Morrisey as an out-of-state “carpet-bagger” during the race, while also defending his credentials as an energy sector champion.
“I will fight the EPA any time they threaten jobs,” Reynolds said. “Whether that be the coal industry, whether that be the natural gas industry, or any industry, frankly.”
Morrisey cited his actions in leading the lawsuit against the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
“If this case goes up to the Supreme Court and Doug Reynolds is the attorney general, one, he will not be leading the national lawsuit,” Morrisey said. “And I think all AGs and people would know that. Two, he would compromise the litigation — putting many more thousands of coal miners jobs at risk.”
Morrisey also touted his fight against the Waters of the United States Rule as a victory for West Virginia.
“We took on the Waters of the United States Rule and helped organize a 30-state coalition to get a stay of that terrible regulation, which would have a negative impact on farmers, on land owners, on energy interests, on teachers,” he said. “Across the board, people would be hurt under the WOTUS rule.”
The two also sparred over the scope and power of the AG’s office. Reynolds has said he would prefer to see a more collaborative effort in state government to determine what lawsuits the state should involve itself in–defending failed legislation that would have changed how the AG’s office approaches case selection.
“As a lawyer and as a client, I think we all know about that special relationship,” Reynolds said. “We should all be pulling together on these suits, not having our independent whims when we file suit on behalf of the state.”
Morrisey called it an unprecedented and partisan attack.
“He tried to limit my authority to sue the EPA and came up with all these nonsense political reasons, dressed it up in a party line vote that 36 Attorneys General had never seen before,” Morrisey said. “That was a partisan effort to defang the Attorney General’s Office from going after the EPA.”
Then, things got explosive.
“[House Bill] 4490, you don’t know what it did,” Morrisey said. “But it would have blocked me from suing the EPA. Interestingly, it would have blocked me from going down to Mingo County. I went down there to protect kids who are sexually abused. Under Doug Reynolds’ legislation, I wouldn’t have been able to stop child rape. Let’s be clear about this, this is someone who does not know the office of the attorney general.”
“Oh, come on,” Reynolds responded.
“I think it’s clear that no matter who the attorney general is, I had proposed this almost exact legislation under former Attorney General [Darrell] McGraw,” he said. “I would support the same legislation if I were the attorney general, frankly.”
No further debates are scheduled at this point. MetroNews was unable to reach an agreement with the campaigns to host a debate.
“We were unable to resolve a few of issues as to how the debate would be conducted,” said MetroNews “Talkline” host Hoppy Kercheval. “However, I hope to have both of the candidates on ‘Talkline’ separately before the election so voters statewide have another opportunity to hear from them.”
Early voting begins Oct. 26.