2016 Election - WVPB Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

On Parasites and Politicians: W.Va. Post-Primary Porch

On The Front Porch podcast, it’s our post-primary breakdown. Who won, who got beat…and who lost, because in West Virginia politics, you actually have to spell that out.

Also we discuss, am I a parasite? The attitude that holds West Virginia back.

Rick Wilson’s Bible verse this week is King Solomon splitting the baby – which political race do YOU think he’s talking about? Listen to find out.

And Laurie Lin explains why she is a proud cicada lover – and why cicadas come back in prime number years, like 13 or 17.

We discuss:

1. The Richard Ojeda incident, where Ojeda upset a powerful state senator after being severely beaten by a member of a rival political faction at a picnic.

Rick tells stories about the history of political shenanigans in the coalfields.

2. Am I a parasite? And, who gets to call themselves a true West Virginian? Scott responds to a critic on Twitter.

By the way, make sure to read Jedediah Purdy’s essay, “What West Virginians Are Saying at the Polls.”

3. Supreme Court election. Was it nonpartisan? What role did money play?

4. Was Cory Simpson “Akined”? Sen. Claire McCaskell famously attacked Todd Akin in the GOP primary, helping him win the primary…and her to win the general.

Rep. Alex Mooney may have done the same thing, sending out flyers attacking former state Del. Mark Hunt as “too liberal” – even though his views on flat tax and pro-coal made him the least liberal candidate.

Meanwhile, national Democrats are disappointed Hunt beat veteran Cory Simpson, who they believe had a better chance to win in November.

4.) Did Goodwin and Kessler divide the anti-Justice vote?

5.) Cicadas! What is this a metaphor for? Where were you 17 years ago?

Also, here is the poem about cicadas Rick and Laurie read in the podcast:

The Cricket to the Cicada

(From a poem by Meleager, Greece, circa 100 B.C.)

O resonant cicada, drunk on dewy droplets.

You sing your rustic song that sounds in lonely places.

Perched with your saw-like limbs, high up among the leaves

You shrill forth the lyre’s tune with your sun-darkened body.

But, dear friend, sound forth something new for the woodland nymphs,

A divertissement, chirping a tune for

Pan as the song which you sing in your turn,

So that I, escaping from Eros, can catch some noon-time sleep

While reclining there under the shady plane tree.

Subscribe to “The Front Porch” podcast on iTunes or however you listen to podcasts.

An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above.

Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org

The Front Porch is underwritten by The Charleston Gazette Mail, providing both sides of the story on its two editorial pages. Check it out: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/

Walker Wins First Nonpartisan Election to the W.Va. Supreme Court

After losing a close race in 2008, Morgantown attorney Beth Walker has come back to win the first nonpartisan election to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. She did it with substantial backing from outside groups.

Beth Walker and her immediate family watched the results from her lakeside home just outside Morgantown. She held a strong lead from the beginning but was hesitant to call the race until it was clear her lead wasn’t going to fade.

That’s when her phone began dinging steadily with texts and tweets of congratulations.

“I’m just so grateful to everyone who’s helped and all the voters of West Virginia who have obviously shown some trust and confidence in me being able to serve in the next twelve years on the Supreme Court,” Walker said.

This year is the first time judges were elected on a nonpartisan basis. It’s also the first time the Supreme Court candidates were decided in the Primary Election.

Walker says she supports the nonpartisan election of Supreme Court judges and plans to carry out her term in a similar way.

“The entire campaign we’ve talked about the importance of the rule of law,” she noted, “and that’s going to be my first priority is that and taking politics out of the court. You know, we’ve made an excellent step forward I think as West Virginia electing judges as a nonpartisan election, and I plan to take that onto the court with the commitment to the best I can, at least as one justice to take politics out of the court.”

It may have been a nonpartisan election, but partisan groups poured money into TV ads supporting Walker and attacking fellow candidates Darrell McGraw and Bill Wooton. The Republican State Leadership Committee – Judicial Fairness Initiative and other groups dropped about $2 million on the campaign.

Walker beat current justice Brent Benjamin who released a statement saying, “This race had unique difficulties for the candidates. To prevail was not an easy thing.”

Former Attorney General Darrell McGraw came in at a distant second. He declined to comment on the results.

Walker is now the third woman to ever serve on the state’s highest court. She joins Justices Margaret Workman and Robin Davis – meaning the state’s Supreme Court has a female majority for the first time.

10 Takeaways from the W.Va. Primary Election

Now the election is over, some races we thought would be close…weren’t. Others not on our radar screen at all became barn burners.

What were the 10 most important lessons from this primary election?

1. Money beats name recognition in the W.Va. Supreme Court race

Before the election, Republicans feared arch-enemy Darrell McGraw would slip into the Supreme Court among a divided field. McGraw is well known from his long tenure as state Attorney General.

Instead, the GOP establishment’s preferred candidate, Beth Walker, walked away with an easy win.

Several GOP groups spent big to either support her or oppose McGraw and fellow Democrat Bill Wooton. Her commercials spoke about fighting drug abuse, while the attack ads branded McGraw and Wooton as Obama supporters.

In the end, it wasn’t even close.

Jim Justice (center) put away his two opponents

2. Money beats name recognition, part two – the billionaire wins

West Virginia’s only billionaire is now the Democratic candidate for governor.

Businessman Jim Justice garnered more votes than his two opponents combined. This despite the fact that one is a former Senate President (Kessler) and the other a former U.S. Attorney (Goodwin.)

Justice faces Senate President Bill Cole in the general election. Expect Justice to take heat for unpaid business taxes, and Cole to have to defend his record in the Legislature.

3. Sanders was a lot more popular than Clinton

His 51-36 win was bigger than expected. It continued to show her weakness among working-class whites, at a time when she wants to pivot to the general election.

The Clintons (Bill and Hillary) were met with angry protests in southern West Virginia, while huge crowds showed up for Sanders events.

4. Trump is the most popular of all!

True, the other GOP candidates have suspended their campaigns, Still, he received about 3 out of 4 GOP primary votes. If there is a #NeverTrump vote in West Virginia, it is very tiny.

Meanwhile, exit polls show Trump winning one-third of all DEMOCRATIC voters against either Sanders or Clinton, with another 20 percent undecided.

5. There’s a fierce fight to unseat Rep. Alex Mooney

In 2014, Alex Mooney overcame the carpetbagger label to win the 2nd Congressional seat, but by only 3 points.

Five Democrats were vying to take Mooney on in the fall, and two of them were very close all evening – former state Delegate Mark Hunt and lawyer and veteran Cory Simpson. Hunt squeaked out a victory.

Carmichael gives an emotional speech on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act

6. Republican leaders beat back pro-union Republicans challengers

Both House Speaker Tim Armstead and Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael faced primary opponents backed by unions – and both won by substantial margin.

7. Maybe the Family Policy Council is not as powerful as it thought

Carmichael also was attacked by the Family Policy Council, which targeted him because he failed to support its preferred version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Carmichael’s emotional speech is credited with helping to kill the bill in the Senate.

8. After being beaten, Ojeda wins in upset

After being brutally attacked on Sunday night, military veteran and state Senate candidate Richard Ojeda became thrust into the national spotlight.

It’s unclear whether the attack was politically motivated. Incumbent Sen. Art Kirkendoll – Ojeda’s opponent – said he does not condone violence.

But Ojeda won the race.

9. Maybe West Virginians aren’t so apathetic after all

Voter turnout, or the lack thereof, has been the biggest election story in West Virginia in recent years. In the 2014 general election, the state had the lowest voter turnout in the nation at 37.3 percent.

Unofficial voter turnout was 40 percent in this primary, with 487,550 ballots cast. Voter turnout in the 2012 primary election was 27 percent, and was 36 percent in the 2008 primary election, according to W.Va. Secretary of State Natalie Tennant.

10. Republicans are finally catching up to Democrats in primary votes

Almost as many people cast GOP ballots as Democratic ones – which is an ongoing trend. This despite Donald Trump’s advice to supporters at a rally in Charleston: “Stay at home,” he told the crowd, “and get twice as many people to vote in November.”

Go Vote, West Virginia!

Hey West Virginians – go vote! Right now. No excuses!

You say that not voting is a form of protest? You’re wrong. It is nothing. It is an abdication of responsibility.

You don’t like any of the candidates? Write in your ideal public servant.

Forget about the presidential race. Today will decide future rulings of the state Supreme Court. It decides who teaches our children, and how.

And yes, every vote makes a difference. Sometimes literally – especially in smaller races. Your vote combines with others to send a powerful message to politicians…

I’m watching. I care. You better do right by us.

There are lots of things West Virginians are last in. Some of them are hard to fix. But we don’t have to be last in voter participation.

Go vote.

https://services.sos.wv.gov/Elections/Voter/FindMyPollingPlace

Will W.Va. GOP Nightmare Come True?

This is perhaps the West Virginia GOP’s worst nightmare – waking up May 11 to newly-elected Supreme Court Justice Darrell McGraw.

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When the GOP took over the state legislature last year, one of their biggest reforms was to make judicial elections non-partisan.

But since the election is decided in one vote, during the primary and without a runoff, the controversial former Attorney General could be elected with only a small plurality of votes.

“Whoever has the most on Tuesday will win, even if it is just 21 percent,” said Laurie Lin, conservative columnist, on The Front Porch podcast.

She said Republicans disarmed themselves at the very time when being a Republican was becoming a plus.

“I think there’s a lot of private griping in the Republican Party about why, why did we do this?” she said.

On this week’s podcast, liberal columnist Rick Wilson agrees with Lin that doing away with partisan elections for judge was a mistake. But they’re not sure the Legislature will revisit the law, since many incumbent judges support it.

Also on this show, we talk about the race for Governor, and what happens after the primary.

“Whoever the Democratic nominee is going to be dogged constantly by, ‘Do you support Hillary Clinton?’ Trump is going to be very popular in this state,” Lin said.

However, she said, “It will be harder for Jim Justice to be made out to be anti-coal. The guy owns a bunch of coal mines.”

“Another factor will be, how did you like what happened or didn’t happen in the legislature last session,” Wilson said. “Will you remember in November?”

Subscribe to “The Front Porch” podcast on iTunes or however you listen to podcasts.

An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above.

Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org

The Front Porch is underwritten by The Charleston Gazette Mail, providing both sides of the story on its two editorial pages. Check it out: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/

Early Voting Proving Successful Around Clarksburg

Thousands of voters across North Central West Virginia have already cast their ballots during the first five days of the state’s early voting period for next week’s primary.

Harrison County clerk Susan Thomas tells The Exponent-Telegram of Clarksburg that an average of more than 265 residents have cast their ballots each day in the county ahead of the May 10 primary.

Lewis County clerk Cynthia Rowan says more than 100 people are casting their votes in the county each day.

She says she expects that most people who have tried early voting in the past now are consistently taking advantage of the opportunity.

The first day of early voting was April 27. Residents can visit early voting locations within their counties until 5 p.m. Saturday.