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Jim Justice's 2016 campaign for Governor of West Virginia made a simple pitch: Justice is the richest man in WV, a billionaire, and therefore he is better than everyone else and will do a good job governing the state.
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Unfortunately (for WV), every billionaire is policy failure and Justice is no exception.
You know the old saw about how rich people are super cheap and that's why they're rich? It's definitely true that a lot of plutes are cheap, but what's MORE true is that plutes CHEAT.
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You know the old saw about how rich people are super cheap and that's why they're rich? It's definitely true that a lot of plutes are cheap, but what's MORE true is that plutes CHEAT.
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Justice made his money the old fashioned way: fraud.
After inheriting a coal empire from daddy, Justice built up the family fortune by (checks notes) not paying his bills.
Justice companies have been named in 600+ nonpayment suits in 20+ states.
https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/27/literal-gunhumping/#injustice
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After inheriting a coal empire from daddy, Justice built up the family fortune by (checks notes) not paying his bills.
Justice companies have been named in 600+ nonpayment suits in 20+ states.
https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/27/literal-gunhumping/#injustice
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Justice is good at fraud: he stiffs you and makes you sue him for nonpayment. Then he stiffs you on the judgment and makes you sue him again. And again. And again. He's been at it since the go-go coal days of the 1990s and never stopped - not even after becoming governor.
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Justice is an equal-opportunity deadbeat. He stiffed his coal companies' insurance company, stranding his own workers with no care for chronic illnesses they got while working in his coal businesses.
(Justice also stiffed the DoJ when they fined him for safety violations)
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(Justice also stiffed the DoJ when they fined him for safety violations)
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Many of the untreated workers died.
Justice has stolen his workers' wages, then stiffed them on their judgments. He's stolen from the federal government, defrauding them and then stiffing them on their judgments.
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Justice has stolen his workers' wages, then stiffed them on their judgments. He's stolen from the federal government, defrauding them and then stiffing them on their judgments.
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Back in May, @propublica's @Kenwardjr and @Amierjeski created an interactive Jim Justice crime explorer, allowing you to search through the $128m in outstanding claims against the governor.
https://www.propublica.org/article/see-whos-taken-billionaire-gov-jim-justice-to-court-over-unpaid-bills
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https://www.propublica.org/article/see-whos-taken-billionaire-gov-jim-justice-to-court-over-unpaid-bills
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In the few short months since, Justice's bad debts have ballooned to $140,000,000 (!!), thanks to crimes involving stiffing Essar Steel Algoma for steel shipments, stiffing a Texas company over bulldozers, and more.
https://www.propublica.org/article/this-billionaire-governors-companies-have-now-reached-140-million-in-lawsuit-settlements-and-judgments-over-unpaid-bills
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https://www.propublica.org/article/this-billionaire-governors-companies-have-now-reached-140-million-in-lawsuit-settlements-and-judgments-over-unpaid-bills
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Justice is running for re-election and standing on his record as a businessman and a governor. He followed Trump's lead in 2016, refusing to put his assets in a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest.
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He has conflicts! Like the environmental protection settlement he's on both sides of, which stands to save him millions.
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