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"CHARLESTON &ndash; For the first time since 1933, a Republican is West Virginia&rsquo;s attorney general.<br /><br />Patrick Morrisey was sworn-in Jan. 14, more than two months after he defeated longtime AG Darrell McGraw in the general election. Morrisey, of Harpers Ferry in the state&rsquo;s Eastern Panhandle, is the first Republican AG since Howard Lee.<br /><br />He&rsquo;s also the state&rsquo;s first new attorney general in 20 years. McGraw was first elected in 1992, becoming the 15th Democratic attorney general in a row.<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;m honored and humbled to serve as your next attorney general and pledge that I will carry out the duties of this office in a transparent and ethical manner,&rdquo; Morrisey said in a statement.<br /><br />&ldquo;I intend to adhere to the oath of office I took and will passionately defend the Constitution of the State of West Virginia and the Constitution of the United States of America.&rdquo;<br /><br />Morrisey named several of the key members of his staff the previous week, vowing not to stay &ldquo;behind the scenes.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I plan to be right in there, rolling up my sleeves and putting my imprint on matters,&rdquo; he said.<br /><br />Among his hirings as Dan Greear, a Charleston attorney who lost the 2008 election to McGraw by a few thousand votes, as chief counsel.<br /><br />During his campaign, Morrisey introduced a 17-part strategy for his first 100 days in office. Many of those measures appear to be in response to McGraw&rsquo;s policies.<br /><br />Morrisey plans to eliminate trinkets with the Attorney General&rsquo;s name on them, send settlement funds back to the state Legislature and use competitive bidding for hiring outside counsel.<br /><br />McGraw drew criticism during his tenure for his practice of hiring private lawyers on a contingency fee to file lawsuits on behalf of the state against corporations. In many instances, the lawyers he hired were campaign contributors of his.<br /><br />He also used his Consumer Protection Fund, filled with settlement monies, for consumer awareness efforts that his critics said were essentially taxpayer-funded campaigning.<br /><br />But McGraw also drew praise from consumer groups that applauded his efforts against businesses.<br /><br />Morrisey&rsquo;s plan is more centered on fighting the federal government. He stated taking on the Environmental Protection Agency as one of his 17 plans.<br /><br />&ldquo;We have a bold vision for what the Office of Attorney General can do to protect jobs and consumers in this state, improve West Virginia&rsquo;s business and legal climate and advance ethics reforms,&rdquo; he said.<br /><br />&ldquo;We will work every day to make West Virginians proud.&rdquo;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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