Democrats’ Gubernatorial Candidate Pressures Cop on Country Road

West Virginia’s Democratic candidate for the 2016 gubernatorial race just drove his own campaign into a ditch, according to a newly released video. 

In December 2014, businessman Jim Justice was caught speeding at 54 miles -per-hour in a 40 mile-per-hour zone. OK, it happens, especially on the long country roads outside cities.

But then Justice stepped in front of the policeman’s camera — 10 minutes into the video — to question the policeman’s mental state and to not-so-subtly threaten him with political retaliation.

“What’s your name,” Justice asked the policeman, while standing beside his auto.

“I am a long way from being, you know, too big for the law, but you have got to be a total lunatic for what I did… to give me a ticket,” Justice told the policeman, reportedly Sgt. J.A. Vance of the Lewisburg Police Department.

“I don’t want to you to explain anything [now]. I want you to explain it to your boss,” he said.

That’s a poorly timed effort at intimidation, if only because of the rising anti-government mood throughout the country, and especially in his home state. The attempted intimidation will likely be used by the state GOP party to undermine Justice’s campaign by painting him as a crony capitalist.

Justice’s spokesman, Derek Scarbro, did not respond to requests from Breitbart News.

The video was exposed by a local newspaper, The Bluefield Daily Telegraph.

Justice has made his money in the farming, logging and coal businesses, and so’s donated heavily to the Democratic Party to counter the various environmental groups which would like to put him out of business.

He’s upping his his political protection-money by trying to become the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial candidate in 2016. If he wins the primary race and the election, he’ll be much poorer, but also well positioned to help Democrats in exchange for a modest slowdown in Democrats’ regulatory attacks on the coal and logging industries.

He’s the state’s richest man, so he’s got the funds and name-recognition to win the nomination. Until early 2015, he was a registered Republican.