Truth and justice.
Ask any lawyer, judge, public official, citizen activist or other fighter for truth, justice and the American way, what’s good for those noble purposes.
Transparency and public awareness will inevitably be among the qualities mentioned in response.
They all believe in truth and justice. Great.
While the good ones actually mean it, there are others who mouth the words but are about as far from those qualities as it’s possible to get.
To the extent that Jan Hite King, Steve Davis and maybe Kimberly Maynard decided some time ago that I am an imposter in advocating for transparency in government, they and members of Real Huntington are clearly entitled to their opinions about my lack of devotion to “the cause.” I suppose I could be an imposter but I’m not sure what my motive would be. What would I gain by pretending to be an open government man?
It would actually seem, as critical as I have been of Cabell County government, that RH and I would be on the same page most of the time. Frankly, it makes no sense that we aren’t. I know I’ve felt that we have been in agreement many times in the recent past.
But sometimes it also seems to me that the RH crowd, like fundamental Christians, requires 100% devotion to every thought and idea THEY ever had. They often choke on the gnat while swallowing the camel.
For whatever reason, Hite King would rather question why I call a map by one name when she apparently prefers another than fight the bigger issue of possible corruption. At least that’s how it seems to me.
It likewise seems that RH and I nipping at each other does nothing for our mutual stated goals of fighting corruption.
Maybe I’m the one swallowing the camel while struggling with the gnat?
What’s the difference what the map is named? How the map got you where you are is not important to me; that it DID get you to your destination is what’s important. Maybe the map knew a “short cut.”
We have finally figured out that my “2018 map” at the SOS office is the same as RH’s “2011/12 map” at county voter registration. Until recently, I honestly thought it hardly mattered.
But in the big scheme of things, RH’s obsession with the name has convinced me that it must. I’m being sarcastic. I still don’t see how he matters what we call it.
From my side of the street, the “biggest” development I SHOULD have reported on when Cabell commissioners met initially to address magisterial re-mapping was apparently completely missed by me.
I did NOT hear Commission President Jim Morgan tell Sabonya that “two commissioners lived in the same district and one wasn’t me.” That, by the way, would be illegal. Calling the document the 2018 map is NOT against any law I know of. If it is, I plead guilty.
I can’t imagine how I missed the Morgan comment but I have now heard the meeting tape. HE SAID IT. I MISSED IT. King was right all along.
When I originally confessed that I did NOT hear the Morgan comment, Hite King and RH went beserk. I’d have been better off confessing to the most heinous felony you can think of. They had a point. What kind of reporter misses something like that?
In the conversation with King where I said I hadn’t heard Morgan say those infamous words, I added, “Now I’m going to have to FOIA the minutes to see what was actually said.”
Suffice it to say King was adamant that she was repeating the conversation accurately. SHE WAS RIGHT ON THAT COUNT. She implied that I intentionally missed Morgan’s words to protect Sabonya. SHE WAS WRONG THERE. She and others have hinted that I want to make the Republican Commissioner look good. I don’t HAVE to cover up for Sabonya. She inevitably does the right thing without my help.
So readers understand: some at RH suggest that I would have been covering for Sabonya AND Cartmill by not admitting that Morgan was apparently saying the pair broke the law by serving at the same time from the same district.
No more than one can be on the commission at the same time. Got it? If they did that, I can assure one and all that I never knew it.
Which reminds me that a prominent member of RH suggested a few times on social media that I had “worked as a consultant” for Sabonya. Not true either. As noted, I have constantly supported her based on her job performance.
Now one would think it would be apparent that I wasn’t accusing Hite King of making this all up. I needed a copy of the minutes to VERIFY that I had completely missed a very important comment by the President.
“Maybe I AM losing it,” I thought.
Nothing here should be taken to verify that I am NOT losing it, by the way.
During a subsequent phone call with the SOS Chief of Staff Chuck Flannery to ask if there was a 2018 map at the SOS office, it was made clear that a map did exist in that office that purported to reflect Cabell’s redistricting after the 2011/12 Census.
Flannery emphasized (which may not be a strong enough word) that the SOS has no jurisdiction on the issue of magisterial districts. They are, likewise, not the storage location for those maps so he didn’t want anyone to think they were.
As an aside, the first time we discussed it, I chuckled when noticing that Hite King consistently referred to “magisterial districts” as “administerial districts.” Actually her designation would make more sense than the one used.
But, in her defense, how often have you heard the term “magisterial districts” used in the past five years? Or ten? Or EVER?
That’s what I thought when she correctly referred to “magisterial districts” in her next presentation on the subject. Nobody can accuse her of being a slow learner.
And, as I said, “administerial districts” is more logical. What, for Pete’s sake, IS a magisterial district anyway? It has something to do with law enforcement titles before the 1950s I’m told.
Somewhere in the original chat with Flannery, he said he had been told the SOS office got the map in 2018. We began calling it that. There’s the origin of our diabolical plan.
* * * * * *
There turned out to be no need for a FOIA. When County Clerk Phyllis Smith learned it was needed, she provided the duplicate map from Voters Registration immediately. By now, it surely seems that the 2012 map IS no longer such a matter of controversy.
But her last response to me still finds Hite King wondering why I refer to it as the 2018 map.
Have we meandered ourselves far enough for the answer? I thought so.
Either I or Flannery began calling it the 2018 map on the initial phone call. That was because that’s when it was originally realized that it had been dropped off or delivered to the SOS about then. The name seemed logical. Silly me. Don’t forget: I went to school at Marshall.
So I called it the “2018 map.” If that ruined the whole “investigation,” I apologize. If it shows I’m in cahoots with those trying to smuggle the next special election, I must label RH as much smarter than me. I still don’t get it.
Now can we all just get along?
* * * * * *
I’m no psychologist and sure shouldn’t try judging others but I have watched Stephen Davis, Hite King and other RH’ers rise and fall on Huntington social media. I wonder if they allow their egoes to block any chance at real success? Occasionally, I think so.
Once. when Lloyd “Little Lloyd” Jackson II was running for Governor, my then-wife asked me how he could travel the state “acting like he’s a sure winner when every poll shows him down by at least 20 points, I had an answer.
“Because he thinks every voter will wake up before the election and realize he’s the smartest one on the ballot,” I responded. “He knows it; no reason voters shouldn’t figure it out.”‘
Unfortunately, that didn’t work out for Jackson.
* * * * * *
I mentioned earlier my support for Sabonya. I said RH had “accused” me of working as her consultant.
Now back to RH’s method of success.
The commissioner RH has been most critical of before and after the magisterial district vote is Sabonya. The ONE commissioner who voted WITH RH (and me) on their alleged redistricting plan was … drumroll, please … Sabonya.
Morgan and the late Commissioner Nancy Cartmill voted FOR the plan that effectively eliminated Delegate John Mandt Jr. from running for Commission in 2022. (That elimination was, itself, eliminated when Cartmill tragically passed after their plan was approved.
Let’s see ,,, TWO commissioners vote against your position; one voted with you. Who do you target for constant criticism? The one who voted with you. Sure makes sense to me.
* * * * * *
I used to get a chuckle while in Lincoln County by referring to myself as,”Unique. I’m a Stowers Republican.”
Anyone familiar with Southern West Virginia politics knows the Stowers family as an iconic DEMOCRAT voting faction often in competition with the Jacksons. Sometimes they weren’t the feuding Hatfield and McCoy equivalents but politics were serious business to all of them.
Known mostly for patriarch, the late Wylie Stowers, the family operated a number of businesses in Hamlin and vicinity, eventually being known as “Stowers and Sons (for sons Lyle and Greg). They are also widely known as community minded, helping develop their actual home base at West Hamlin. The Stowers family has been good for Lincoln.
The family is another about whom I have nothing negative to say. They surely did much more for their hometowns than it was possible for those towns to do for them.
Now, along comes a new generation of political Stowers family members.
Aaron Stowers is former Circuit Clerk Greg’s son and he’s running for the job himself.
His Democrat primary opponent will be incumbent Charles Brumfield. During a decade of service there’s been no scandals or major problems on his watch.
I truly believe Brumfield is an asset to the county. But I would vote for Stowers. His youth and enthusiasm truly impress me. His plans to modernize the office are positive indeed.
Brian Graley, the lone GOP candidate, has a real chance in the fall due to the Southern WV drift to conservatism.
As I mentioned earlier, county GOP Chair Lisa Ramey has done a great job organizing the county committee and recruiting candidates. Combined with the coalfield drift to Republicans, the party has a genuine shot at victories.
* * * * * *
Having waxed nostalgic, I want to say, too, that I’m delighted Cabell County’s legendary politician Democrat Bob Bailey is now suited up and ready for the next inning.
Very ill at the time, Bailey lost a re-election bid but bounced back to earn a seat on Huntington city council.
Now he’s running for Commissioner and I’ll be rooting for him. His depth of experience makes me a big Bailey man.
Ron Gregory is a regular political columnist and reporter. Contact him at 304-533-5185; ronjgregory@gmail.com or PO Box 20297, Charleston, WV 25362. Confidentiality guaranteed.