West Virginia Senate candidate Morrisey says Blankenship should be disqualified for failing to submit financial disclosure

Patrick Morrisey, left, is facing off against Don Blankenship, right, and Rep. Evan Jenkins in West Virginia.

Most candidates spend the weekend before an election making a last-minute appeal to voters.

Now, one candidate is making a last-minute appeal to his competitor’s probation officer.

In a press conference Sunday, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey laid out a plan to have the former coal baron Don Blankenship disqualified from Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary for failing to submit a financial disclosure, in violation of election law.

“My campaign will be informing his probation officer in Nevada about this issue right away, to determine if this refusal to comply with federal law violates the terms of his supervised release,” Morrisey said. “West Virginians don’t need a candidate who may not even be able to campaign in the state against Joe Manchin.”

Blankenship recently served a year in jail on a misdemeanor conviction for conspiring to violate mine safety laws, connected to an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in 2010 that killed 29 miners.

His probation is set to end Wednesday, the day after West Virginia’s primary.

According to the Blankenship campaign, the candidate has already spoken to his probation officer, who wasn’t concerned about the financial disclosure.

“Mr. Morrisey is just having a tantrum,” Greg Thomas, a Blankenship strategist and spokesman, told Fox News. “Everything will be OK in a few days.”

For weeks, Morrisey aimed most of his attacks at another primary opponent, GOP Rep. Evan Jenkins, but refocused his attention on Blankenship this weekend, with the press conference Sunday and a robo-call Saturday.

If Blankenship wins Tuesday’s primary, his campaign says paperwork detailing his finances will be released next week.