During this holiday period, nostalgia envelopes many of us. While we’ll continue to share rumors about upcoming developments, I have always been amused at some West Virginia political history as we sit around the coal stove and wait for snow to reach the rooftops.
Complementing history, the 2022 West Virginia congressional election sets up a scenario where a current congressman could be “retired” by the voters.
By now, anyone interested knows that a population loss (which came despite the unbelievable economic progress the state has made under Governor Jim Justice and Babydog), caused us to have two House of Representatives members rather than three.
Regular readers know I predicted from the beginning that the Republican legislative supermajority would attempt to eliminate their least favorite Congressman, Republican Alex Mooney, in the reshuffling.
That’s what they did.
So if Mooney wants to remain in Congress, he can either move to another district (which he’s done before) or wait for a different opening.
The legislature, in its infinite wisdom, placed Mooney in the Northern Congressional District with fellow incumbent Republican David McKinley.
Casual observers immediately noted that two-thirds of the new district is composed of counties formerly in McKinley’s district. The residential and voter registration differences are even more pronounced. It’s basically forcing Mooney to run in McKinley’s district.
If GOP legislators had announced plans to eliminate Mooney, they could have at least warned him of what was coming. But, as we all know, members of the redistricting committees didn’t know which members their decisions would effect.
How can redistricting leaders keep a straight face while trying to convince anyone of that?
Anyway, conventional wisdom would maintain that McKinley will beat Mooney like the proverbial drum. I certainly think that’s likely but not yet a sure thing.
Nevertheless, West Virginia will lose a congressman. Unless Mooney moves to Bluefield and defeats the third current Republican Congressman Carol Miller, either he or McKinley is a lame duck.
It won’t be the first time the legislature eliminated a sitting congressman. But my nostalgic side is specifically thinking of the dynasty I recently mentioned.
The Kee family controlled their Southern West Virginia district for 50 years. From father John to his widow Elizabeth to their son James, it was passed for decades.
Eventually, legislative redistricting was clearly aimed at the younger Kee.
To say the least, Kee was bitter about his defeat. In the rough and tumble of Southern coalfield politics, things got very nasty.
Kee was so furious that he made the decision to destroy the personal and political papers of his father and mother, along with his own.
In fact, some reports said Kee destroyed some of the files in a bonfire within city limits on his WV property.
Regardless, his decision deprived historians of a full and complete record of a political dynasty that was among the country’s most successful. That’s too bad.
Just to finish the record, James Kee’s mother Elizabeth Kee retired to her home in Bluefield, an attractive and large villa-like structure after she replaced the elder Congressman Kee. Mrs. Kee died suddenly on February 15, 1975 at age 79 following abdominal surgery.
James Kee died March 11, 1989 at age 71 from lung disease.
Kirsten Kee, first hired as her father James’s administrative assistant when she was only 24 years old, died in 2012 following complications from a stroke.
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“Governing in the 21st Century” will be the topic of a discussion led by State Auditor J.B. McCuskey on December 1 at Lyburn.
What’s being called an “evening social and fundraising event” will benefit the “Committee to Elect J.B. McCuskey.” It’s being hosted by Republican Logan County Commissioner Diana Barnett and her daughter, Leah Vance Williams.
The event is planned from 6:30 to 8:30 at The Broken Axle, a new craft beer spot and restaurant located located where Shoe Show was in the old Rita Mall at Lyburn. Williams is a co-owner of the business.
I’ve mentioned that the current crop of statewide elected officials — all Republicans — have been crisscrossing the state like lightning bugs drawn to lanterns since they were elected.
All of them have pledged to support term limits for their current offices. Except for Treasurer Riley Moore, they will all exceed their limited term proposals in 2024 and thus might be running for other offices then.
Like Moore, McCuskey is rumored to be considering a run for governor in three years.
The Lyburn shopping/lodging area is being hailed as quite an economic development project between Logan and Man. It was a booming retail operation that fell into disrepair and is now rejuvenated in connection with all the trail and other outdoor activities in Logan County.
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The Cabell County Commission’s policy of taking its good, sweet time with magisterial redistricting might create problems down the road.
As I’ve suggested here, there are those who think Commissioners Nancy Cartmill (Republican) and Jim Morgan (Democrat) long ago made up their minds to support three new districts that would keep current GOP Delegate John Mandt, Jr. from challenging Morgan’s re-election next year.
Mandt earlier announced he would not seek re-election to the House but would run for Morgan’s Commission seat. That was before the three district map was introduced that places Mandt in Cartmill’s district.
Since state law prohibits more than one serving commissioner from any magisterial district, Mandt would not be eligible if the three district plan is adopted when the Commission (hopefully) votes December 9.
I will remind readers that we discussed here months ago a state Supreme Court ruling that basically eliminated residency and related rules for the 1992 election. It might have application in Cabell right now.
Case number 20868 came from the January 1992 term of court. In it, then-Delegates Greg D. Martin and Robert Burk, Jr. brought a Writ of Mandamus against their county clerks and then-Secretary of State Ken Hechler.
The clerks and Hechler had refused to accept candidacy forms from Martin and Burk, maintaining that they did not meet the one year residency requirement for residing in their new District’s.
Here’s how the order granting the mandamus explained the case: “In those cases in which a person moves to a new district, a part of which was his old district, after a legislative reapportionment occurring so close to election day that less than a year remains before the general election, the residency requirement of W.Va. Const., Art. VI, § 12 has been met.”
In short, since the two legislators lacked sufficient time to live a year in their new district due to legislative wrangling, the residency requirement “has been met,” according to the court.
I’m no lawyer but it seems to me that some application to the current Cabell case could be argued.
The law, for one thing, clearly allowed Mandt to file pre-candidacy papers in his old district that was one of five. He suffers irreparable harm if he has pulled out of the House race and announced a Commission contest he is now not eligible for.
What’s the solution? It would have been for Cabell Commissioners to quit dragging their feet and passing new redistricting as soon as they received population figures weeks ago.
This is not rocket science. No wonder it took them years to figure out what to do with the airport/restaurant property.
Agree with his political philosophy or not, Mandt deserves better, just like any other citizen. He should not be the target of arbitrary commissioner decisions which don’t trust the voters to pass on Mandt’s suitability for office.
Mandt is a right wing Republican. Cartmill isn’t. She doesn’t want a staunchly-conservative Republican county commission if Mandt makes the third. She has a right to her opinion.
Voters should express their opinion and replace her the next time they have that option.
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Republican Commissioner Kelli Sabonya is the bright light on the Cabell Commission. She has always stood for honesty and transparency, as a former legislator and commission. If she received any support from the other two, things would be much different at the Cabell courthouse. For one thing, the public would be welcome.
Sabonya can’t be blamed for this latest debacle since she favors keeping the districts at five and would have done just that when the numbers first came out.
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Long time readers know I love Mingo County and its people. I claim honorary residence in Harts, Lincoln County. My fondness for all of the Southern coalfields is no joke. Some of the best folks I know hail from South of Route 60.
I’ve always advised other reporters that Mingo is a newsman’s paradise. If one can’t find interesting, one-of-a-kind news happenings in Mingo, local attorneys will immediately do something so whacky it demands national attention.
Williamson attorney Robert Carlton made a couple runs for judicial office while I was writing for the Williamson Daily News.
He seemed quiet, peaceful and almost aristocratic. Compared to some Mingo lawyers, he could have played the part of wise Ben Franklin.
But what the Hades is this latest court procedure involving him? One would need an interpreter to even guess at what’s going on.
All I know is what I read in the WV Record in this case.
It seems defendants in some cases involving a break-in at Carlton’s office and alleged intimidation by sheriff’s deputies and state police have sought to have the a cases against them dismissed.
As might be expected, the state claims to be immune from any liability claims. They say any damages suffered by Carlton and paralegal Amanda Goff were a result of the defendant troopers.
As a disclaimer, I should interject right here that I’ve seen and heard of enough intimidating conduct by Mingo deputies that those charges hardly surprise me. While there are some very good law enforcement officers in Mingo, the handling of the Sheriff Eugene Crum and Dawson Isom murders alone is sufficient to raise eyebrows.
Carlton, in his response to the state’s motion to dismiss, argued that he clearly stated a claim against the state for “fraudulent, malicious and oppressive behavior.”
He continued, “Wherefore, the plaintiffs can clearly show that there was a wrongful attempt, by use of fraudulent, malicious and oppressive behavior by state police and sheriff’s department, to prosecute Robert Carlton, and sexual harassment against Amanda Goff by viewing the video and then five officers take her to an enclosed area pressuring and touching her after all had seen the video and she had been advised by then of that fact and therefore the complaint should not be dismissed,” Carlton wrote.
I’m sure glad he wrote that paragraph because he lost me before we dangled the first participle.
The West Virginia State Police and Troopers Dustin Contos and Cory Maynard also want the complaints dismissed, arguing that there were no fraudulent or malicious prosecutions or charges that occurred and, therefore, the plaintiffs cannot recover any damages.
In her response, Goff argued that she was threatened and intimidated by the defendants and if the court needed a more definite statement she would seek leave to amend her complaint.
In the original lawsuits, the plaintiffs claim on Aug. 26, 2020, Samantha Sexton and two accomplices broke into Carlton’s law office and stole several computers that contained case files, client files, videos and tax returns. The individuals also ransacked the office and broke furniture, they allege.
The complaints say the Sheriff’s department later found the laptops at Sexton’s residence but never returned them, despite the county’s prosecuting attorney directing the department to do so several times.
When the department agreed to a request to allow recovery of the information on the computers, Goff went to the department to obtain the files and was taken into a private basement where deputies pressured her to change her story regarding the actions in a video on one of the laptops.
That summarizes it. Sounds like typical Mingo County to me but we’ll hopefully learn more as time moves along. And we’ll share it here.
Ron Gregory is a regular political columnist and reporter for lootpress.com. Contact him at 304-533-5185; ronjgregory@gmail.com; or PO Box 20297, Charleston, WV 25362. Confidentiality is guaranteed.