I must admit today that here and in my regular weekly visit to the Tom Roten Morning Show in Huntington, I have somehow failed to take up the issue that most concerns West Virginians.
I’ve likely wasted your time and mine wondering about liberty and whether a Republican supermajority might stand up for freedom in the legislature. We’ve speculated about the personal income tax and how to turn around the thousands leaving the state.
You must have been bored to tears.
Why? Because we have never discussed the most pressing issue on the minds of West Virginians.
Yes, gentle readers, I now know that you are most concerned about whether the pepperoni roll is made the official state food. It took only hours of the current session for legislators to take up this burning issue. Today, I’m prepared to discuss it.
The answer, in a word, is “no” to the roll.
Before the troops revolt, let me point out that I like pepperoni rolls. I actually loved the hot, fresh pepperoni rolls the late Phyllis McHenry Powers baked at her Hurricane bar.
But, like all history it seems, West Virginia and pepperoni rolls have been so romanticized it’s ridiculous. And for whatever reason Mountain staters love to fulfill stereotypes that are not, shall we say, always positive.
I see the stories of the poor West Virginia coal miner, struggling just to survive on the low wages the robber baron coal companies are paying him. He is just managing to put a meager pepperoni roll in his lunch bucket.
Baloney!
Literally — two ways. First, the famous bologna sandwich got first dibs in the rusting lunch bucket. Second, pepperoni was not a traditionally available deli item for many years in most of the state.
I feel relatively confident that pepperoni rolls were not routinely stocked in southern West Virginia stores before 1990. They were not staples on the shelves of every convenience store and mom-and-pop operation in the state.
But to read the resolution adopting them, you’d think differently.
Noting that the roll was created in Fairmont “around 1927” (that’s pretty specific), the resolution waxes eloquent.
“It quickly became a daily staple for coal miners and struggling families” it says as one can imagine violins in the background. Well, it wasn’t too quick since growing up in the fifties and sixties I never saw a Gilmer County miner with one.
“Eaten cold or hot, this simple food continues to sustain West Virginians from every walk of life, coal miners, artists, business people and students,” the verbage continues.
Lord can we get a “hallelujah” and pass the collection plate, please?
In my humble opinion, the bologna sandwich that every coal miner I ever knew ate regularly; or beans and cornbread; or biscuits and gravy; or wilted lettuce salad should be the state food.
I could write a resolution about pintos that would bring tears to any eye.
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The borderline insurrection put on by House of Delegates members last week was mostly the result of frustrated Iibertarian Republicans shocked at their Senate colleagues.
Even those who had expressed disgust for a year that the Senate would not demand a Covid special session had been led to believe the Governor’s powers would eventually be curtailed.
As it became more and more obvious senators in the conference committee meeting were not about to cut Jim Justice down, tempers flared. A trickle of delegates peering into the meeting from the hallway changed to a deluge.
Soon the hall was overflowing.
Coarse words flew — and even coarser. When one delegate referenced the governor’s anatomy as it related to the senate, reason had basically been abandoned.
I know there were freshmen legislators in both houses that honestly believed leadership when told to keep their powder dry until push came to shove. Then, they were told, “you’ll get a law tougher on the governor than you ever dreamed of.”
Many of us who have watched the legislature cautioned that the leadership stories would not pan out. The conference committee proved the point. We went from limiting the governor’s emergency powers to 60 days to carte blanche for him to rule forever.
A good man, Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Trump (R-Morgan) turned the debate around by arguing that the House’s proposal was unconstitutional because it usurped the governor’s discretionary powers. Wow.
Trump’s fellow Senate conferees, Charles Clements (R-Wetzel) and Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin (D-Greenbrier) agreed with him.
It might normally be alarming that the committee Senate Democrat shared the constitutional views of Trump. But not these days.
House Majority Leader Amy Summers (R-Taylor) chaired Friday’s meeting. Delegate Jeff Pack (R-Raleigh) was on the committee and Delegate Nathan Brown (D-Mingo) was the third House member.
Give credit to them for at least declaring the Senate position a disaster in less than an hour.
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Involvement by Justice and his staff in negotiating the emergency powers bill showed the legislative heart was never in actually controlling a power-crazed governor.
One statehouse wag put it this way: “you knew we were in trouble when you figured out Mitch Carmichael still had more power than Amy Grady.”
Carmichael, now the state’s economic development director, lost his Senate seat to Grady last year. He was constantly present when negotiations on the emergency powers bill were going on since January.
In this whole debacle, then, there are a few heroes and several villains to liberty and freedom. We’ll see what the voters think next year.
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Of course Carmichael is not more powerful than Grady. As a freshman, it’s a bit hard for her to be distinguished from the pack.
Still, many veteran legislators have already tabbed her as Governor material.
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Earning great respect from freedom lovers was Putnam County Republican Delegate Joe Jeffries. He was vocal in the hallway during Friday’s conference committee meeting and he left no doubt where he stood.
It was Jeffries who vainly fought to discharge anti-mask legislation to the floor a few days earlier.
That’s when Cabell Republican Delegate John Mandt Jr. was prompted to call the Tom Roten in the Morning radio show to defend his “no” vote on discharge.
Most listeners/voters would likely have not known or forgotten how Mandt voted but he made certain to remind them.
Basically, Mandt defended the legislative “committee system” as the reason for his “nay.” In other words, he is against masks but essentially voted for them to protect the committee integrity.
Such a defense is weak and unconvincing to the liberty lover who wishes to decide whether he or she will wear a mask himself or herself. Then there’s the segment of the population that doesn’t know or care about the “committee system.” They surely didn’t send Mandt there to defend it.
The Cabell Countian remains his own worst enemy.
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Incidentally, word from Congresswoman Carol Miller’s camp is that she is not contemplating early retirement.
In fact, one associate reported her comment in regard to last week’s item here as, “I’ve got plenty of miles left in me.”
Actually, the scenario outlined last week couldn’t happen anyway. Vacancies in the House of Representative seats must be filled through election — not appointment.
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In causing Republican legislators to cower at his feet, Justice likes to point out how popular he is.
He reminds that he got more than 60% of the vote last November and that he is constantly sought out for nationsl interviews.
He doesn’t mention what is being paid to an out of state public relations firm to earn him those appearances as part of selling his tax package.
Despite assurances from his devoted worshippers, he has not yet walked across the Kanawha River.
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I enjoy Public Broadcasting as much as anyone. But the Senate budget that would eliminate funding to the group is not the end of the world as The Charleston.Gazette-Mail maintains.
I have long believed that if the public really needs something, they will financially support it.
There should be sufficient advertising to support public radio, along with listener donations.
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On the subject of liberty-loving Republicans, it was my long- time friend, the late Elmer Fike, who summed such situations up.
“When one of us becomes one of them,” Elmer said, “he’s not one of us any more.”
Ron Gregory is a regular political columnist who also covers state politics for lootpress.com. Contact him at 304-533-5185 or ronjgregory@gmail.com.