Bloomberg has published a short profile of West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey which is worth reading. Morrisey has risen quickly as a leader in the state AG world, impressing many with his humility, intelligence, tireless work ethic, and commitment to recruiting top talent. His impact has been particularly pronounced in the area of energy policy, where he has probably earned a place on the EPA’s enemies list. As the Bloomberg piece explains:
People who know Morrisey said his fight against the power plant rules reflects their impact on West Virginia’s economy. “It certainly seems to be a natural, given the impact of coal on jobs,” David Marventano, Morrisey’s boss on the Energy and Commerce Committee, told me.
In conversation, Morrisey is the epitome of modesty. He said he only ran because nobody else would. “I spent a good part of 2011 trying to recruit people to run for attorney general,” Morrisey told me by phone at the end of September. “When I was unable to find the right candidate to step forward, I thought it was critical that I do that.”
He also downplayed his prominence in the EPA lawsuit, for which his office is chief plaintiff and his solicitor general is the counsel of record. (“This is a team effort by state AGs.”) And he portrayed his EPA challenge as simply an attorney general trying to uphold the law. (“My job is just to ensure that legal processes occur.”)