It’s getting more difficult to identify “normal” in the age of West Virginia Republican Governor Jim Justice.
Most of us figured we were in for a different train ride when Justice was elected as a Democrat governor in 2016.
That whole process was a bit weird with Justice seemingly not sure if he was a Democrat or Republican. Nevertheless, the voters managed to elect the Greenbrier Resort’s owner as their governor.
Details as to how Justice planned to govern were sketchy at best.
They still are.
The ink had hardly dried on his oath of office before Justice descended on Huntington to join Republican President Donald Trump and announce that he was now a Republican.
What a ride it has been.
One evidence of “normalcy” came at the end of last week when leadership plans to preview the new legislative session seemed to be proceeding well.
But the combined Thursday-Friday snowfall teamed up to make travel nearly impossible. The preview became a virtual event via electronic media.
Snow inundated the capital city to the point that the “preview” of the 2022 session was largely eliminated.
It was obvious from the activity that did continue Friday that educational matters are on the tips of legislative tongues.
It’s routine for legislators to promise innovative education programs and this time, they seem committed to progress on that front.
Legislative sessions in election years can be filled with potential danger. If the GOP supermajority was to go too far with a right wing agenda, private school agenda, it could be bad news for the overall cause of conservative charter schools.
On the other hand, if caution causes little to be accomplished, true believers might become disgusted and decide the work is not worth the effort in November.
I’m not really sure any of us could say what “normal” government functions are after five years of Governor Jim Justice’s tyrannical rule, anyway.
The most recent case in point came with Thursday and Friday’s deluge of eight inches of snow that sent Charleston reeling.
Up until it became apparent that, for once, the National Weather Service was going to get it right this time, there were at least a few smiles on legislative faces across the state.
Rather than a “virtual” preview of the 2022 session, as was done last year, as late as Thursday many optimists were still planning an in-person preview session.
Alas, it was not to be.
By late Thursday, it was clear the resultant chaos caused by virtual operations were returning because lawmakers were stranded or worse.
Now, the actual 2022 legislative session begins at noon Wednesday and the annual “Lookahead” became a virtual rather than in-person meeting Friday.
While I would be the last to blame Mother Nature for the preview breakdown, I think we all realize a Zoom meeting is just not the same as in-person sessions.
Illustrating the dilemma, only one member of the Republican supermajority leadership team (Delegate Joe Statler of Monongalia County) participated in the Zoom briefing of the press and lobbyists.
It’s pretty tough reading the intentions and body language of a supermajority when only one member checks in.
Education issues were clearly the theme of the virtual meeting, nevertheless. Statler is the new vice chairman of the House Education Committee, taking the place of former Putnam County Republican Delegate Joshua Higginbotham. Higginbotham resigned to run for state Senate in 2022.
Statler highlighted plans to hire and train assistants for first- and second-grade teachers. Following a model set by the state’s successful pre-kindergarten program, Statler said Republican lawmakers want to hire up to 1,800 teaching assistants at a cost of about $68 million.
Last month, Gov. Justice advocated a 5% pay raise for state employees, educators and school service personnel starting in July with the new fiscal year. Justice also proposed a 2.5% one-time bonus that would kick in this year.
It was clear education funding is contemplated with the state’s budget surplus.
In an election year, funding for the future of our youngsters can hardly be a mistake.
It will be difficult to foul up in that regard but I still believe it will be a lively session and there will be plenty of time for controversy.
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Here’s a bold prediction: if Cabell County Republican Delegate John Mandt Jr. chooses to run for county commission instead of re-election, the majority of Cabell commissioners have assured that he can. Their efforts to derail him should have just the opposite effect.
Both in Cabell and Kanawha, where officials apparently like repeatedly playing with fire, failure by the governing bodies to lay out clear precinct boundaries have made it virtually impossible to say who lives in what magisterial district.
I think that will lead some sane court to rule that the one commissioner per district rule is out for 2022 and ANYBODY can run. Let’s wait and see.
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It seems to me that county clerks, particularly in those two counties, dropped the ball more than once in the redistricting model.
We were all warned that the census numbers would be late. But rather than develop a rapid fire approach to the numbers once they became available, a wall of secrecy was erected by the clerks leading to a further delay — not a speed up.
It’s fairly obvious magisterial redistricting in the two counties is a disaster. Two weeks after the lines allegedly are drawn, nobody can definitely outline precinct boundaries.
The Cabell redistricting has been a Comedy of Errors that should, by rights, end up costing Clerk Phyllis Smith her job next year.
As I keep pointing out, perhaps most innocent in the Cabell debacle is second-Republican-out Commissioner Kelli Sabonya. It’s even clearer now than it was two months ago that Sabonya was effectively locked out of debate by Democrat President Jim Morgan and Republican Nancy Cartmill.
If the decision to shut out Sabonya wasn’t made to eliminate Mandt from running, the circumstantial evidence couldn’t be clearer.
If old time closed door politics didn’t rule the day in Cabell, I’m totally overwhelmed at the audacity of the Cabell mapper and his two co-conspirators.
I never want to see officials get in real trouble, but I suspect Cabell redistricting demands a thorough investigation — and punishment to fit the situation.
Surely Cabell voters will not condone what happened here.
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And the blatant contempt Cabell officials show for ignoring the law is ludicrous.
When asked the bottom line whereby the county must take bids for contractors, the county administrator rolled her eyes saying $15,000, seeming to indicate the mapper’s bid was so far from that, only a moron would question it.
Then, when FOIA’d to get the exact number, it was $14,788. As they say, close enough for government work.
What a coincidence.
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Meanwhile, in Kanawha, Republican Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick is stonewalling. She has never enjoyed controversy. Officially asked who recommended McKenzie for the Kanawha job, McCormick is apparently into her fourth day of trying to figure it out.
We know who it wasn’t. Unlike Cartmill and Morgan locking only Sabonya out, officials all seem to agree that McKenzie’s hiring in Kanawha was done solely by McCormick.
When it came to hiring a mapper, McCormick apparently exercised her own discretion — whether she had it or not.
And we haven’t even gone into the huge amount of legal and public controversies involving McKenzie and his companies over the years.
We’re confident, as noted, that the truth will prevail.
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It seems government did better research on prospective contractors in the 1950s. Lacking the instantaneous background searches that can now be done, my earlier experiences in government contracting were that allegations of wrongdoing were investigated. Apparently not these days.
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I’ve said before that I think McCormick is honest and fair. But refusing to cooperate with other officialxs in regard to redistricting is not at all reassuring.
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It’s time for everyone to come clean and do the best they can to clarify how we got where we are. Let’s hope there are logical answers to all the questions.
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As the 2022 Republican Congressional Primary between incumbent Representative David McKinley and Congressman Alex Mooney quickly approaches, my earlier predictions of a no-holds-barred campaign are proving accurate.
In fact, my prediction was that Mooney would get down-and-dirty right out of the gate with McKinley.
While that projection has proven correct, McKinley was showing he can be feisty in response.
West Virginia’s population loss cost us a congressional seat, setting up a May Primary showdown between the two GOP incumbents.
So, with four months to go until the primary, the pair have launched ad campaigns not at all complimentary of each other.
Mooney got off early with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Mooney claimed McKinley is a Republican In Name Only, although their votes supporting Trump are nearly identical.
McKinley has a new ad out blasting Mooney as “lacking integrity.”
It’s an unusual situation — especially for Republicans. Trump-led conversion of the Mountain State to a clearly red state has set up the scenario where one camp or the other will be devastated by losing.
Well, maybe. Mooney has shown quite some resiliency in moving from Maryland to West Virginia to win his current House seat.mm
Frankly, Mooney has run better than many expected as he shed the “carpetbagger” title. McKinley would likely inspire more GOP party loyalty, having served in the legislature and as state party Chair.
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McKinley mentioned Mooney’s penchant for negative campaigning last week, saying he’s prepared to respond in kind.
Mooney even demanded TV stations in the district “cease and desist” from running McKinley ads that say Mooney is under multiple ethics investigations.
The ads said Mooney was “caught concealing almost $50,000 for personal use now under federal investigation,” including “$1,900 at Chick-fil-A” and “$6,100 on luxury travel to a theme park in California.”
The ad continues, “Forbes called Mooney the ‘portrait of a political prostitute.’” It noted that Mooney was previously in the Maryland state Senate. It added that the lawmaker is “unethical, out for himself, not West Virginia.”
Who knows? After the two conservative Republicans run scorched earth campaigns against each other, it may set the stage to elect a Democrat in November and the voters can “retire” both of them.
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.