Veteran state Supreme Court Justice Tom McHugh says he’s “absolutely” running for the two-year unexpired term on the court in 2010 even if other Democrats get in the race.
“I’m going to run in 2010,” McHugh told me without hesitation. “It sounds Pollyannaish, but I can contribute.”
The Charleston Democrat was elected twice to the Supreme Court (1980, 1992), but left during his second term to go into law practice with his sons. McHugh returned to the court in 2008 to serve while Justice Joe Albright was sick. After Albright died, Gov. Manchin appointed McHugh to serve until the 2010 election.
Clearly, Manchin has an interest in McHugh serving until 2012.
McHugh, 73, could sit back and enjoy retirement, but says he feels a sense of loyalty to the court and the state. “If you step out and there’s a vacuum,” McHugh said, “You don’t know who’s going to fill it.”
McHugh apparently does not want to see the high court return to how it was before the last election. The outspokenness of Justice Larry Starcher and the cozy relationship between Justice Spike Maynard and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship kept the court volatile and in the news
Some Democrats, however, had been wondering whether McHugh was going to run in 2010 and that has prompted others to consider getting in the Democratic Primary. The name that keeps surfacing is Letitia “Tish” Chafin.
Yes, she is interested in running for the high court says political strategist Larry LaCorte, who is working with Chafin. “She has decided she’s going to run for the Supreme Court,” LaCorte told me. “It’s just a matter of when.”
That “when” is not now.
Just today (Tuesday), Chafin called McHugh and told the justice she would NOT run against him next year in the Democratic Primary and she will support his candidacy. But she does plan to run in 2012 when McHugh will be retiring.
The next question is what will Tish Chafin’s husband, Senator Truman Chafin, do in 2010?
Truman Chafin already knows he has a tough race if he runs again. Greg “Hootie” Smith, who battled Chafin to within 128 votes in 2006, has said he’s running again in the Democratic Primary in the 6th district.
Even if Tish Chafin had decided to run in 2010 McHugh said it would not have affected his plans. “Absolutely not,” McHugh told me. “There’s no way that’s going to change” (his decision to run).
McHugh will have to get out and fund raise, something he’s dreading. “That’s not my favorite thing to do,” McHugh said.
But McHugh, who has earned respect during his tenure on the bench and has a reputation for fairness, expects to get broad based support from both labor and business, the trial bar and defense lawyers.
Meanwhile, Republican John Yoder expects to be in the 2010 race. The Jefferson County Circuit Judge has filed his pre-candidacy papers. Republican Beth Walker, who ran unsuccessfully for the court in 2008, is not expected to run in 2010, but has not ruled out a 2012 run.
McHugh will be a guest Wednesday morning on Metronews Talkline.
