Chamber Calls On Senate President To Halt Misleading Ads

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce is calling on Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston, to halt fake and racist ads ahead of next week’s primary election.  

Chamber President Steve Roberts sent a letter to chamber members statewide, pointing out numerous inaccurate and offensive ads that target what he called pro-business legislative candidates across West Virginia.  

The letter said the ads have “crossed the line of what West Virginians should expect from campaigns and public officials.”  

“We are urging those responsible for these advertisements to do the right thing – come forward and issue a clear, public disavowal of their content,” it read. 

One ad features newcomer Dr. Steven Eshenaur, a Republican senatorial candidate for the state’s 8th district. The mailer shows him wearing an AI-generated black face mask that reads “Black Lives Matter,” and claims he supports Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies and needle exchange programs, which he denies. Eshenauer also has two adopted African-American children.  

Several ads claim doctor and incumbent Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, supports transgender surgeries for minors. Another one shows a bubble over an image of Takubo that reads, “Tom Takubo: ‘Hey kids, you want to change your gender?’” 

“The one I’m looking at right now is paid for by Mountaineer Conservative Coalition. ‘Trans For Takubo,’ it says. And then it goes on to say, ‘Call Tom Takubo. Tell him to stop endangering our kids,’” Roberts said.  

“People do look at these mailers and they do pay attention to them because I think there’s a general feeling that ‘Well, gee, you couldn’t put something in the mail like that if it wasn’t true,’ and you can,” he said. 

There are similar ads targeting other Republican candidates across the state. 

Some of the ads are paid for through Mountaineer Conservative Action, a Political Action Committee (PAC) the Chamber says is tied to Senate President Randy Smith. 

“Mountaineer Conservative Coalition was the initial entity that was set up. His son was involved in it,” said Brian Dayton, vice-president of the Chamber. 

It was domiciled out of Delaware, “to make it very difficult to try to figure out who was behind it,” Dayton said. When the election was 30 days away, he added, funds rolled over to the Mountaineer Conservative Coalition.  

“It’s basically his leadership PAC. That’s the entity they’re using to raise funds,” Dayton said. 

Roberts urged Smith in a separate letter to halt the racial overtones and AI generated images.  

Smith did not respond to a request for comment.