Bill Cole Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Former 9th District Senator Sue Cline Has Died

Former State Senator Sue Cline, 75, of Brenton, West Virginia, has died.

Cline served in the state senate from 2016 to 2020 representing the 9th Senatorial District. She was defeated in the 2020 Primary Election by David “Bugs” Stover who currently holds the seat.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appointed Cline to fill the vacancy left in the West Virginia Senate after Daniel Hall’s resignation. She was a Realtor in the Beckley area and served as the vice president of the Pineville Area Chamber of Commerce. She was also a member of the Wyoming County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

During her time in the Senate, she served with three different Senate presidents. All three issued statements about her passing.

“I was shocked to learn this morning of the passing of former Senator Sue Cline,” Senate President Craig Blair said. “Sue was one of the most dedicated members I have ever served with in the West Virginia Legislature. She was a fighter and a tireless advocate for the families of her district. Her love of her state and her country were second to none. My thoughts and prayers are with her family as they remember and celebrate her life in the coming days.”

“Sue Cline embodied and personified the true essence of a dedicated public servant,” former Senate President Mitch Carmichael said. “She represented the citizens of Wyoming, Raleigh, and McDowell counties with fever, passion, and love. Her contributions to progress and opportunity in West Virginia were total and complete. Her most endearing trait was an enthusiastic, yet quiet faith in God. It is her faith that gives comfort to all who loved and respected Senator Cline that she is now with her heavenly Father.”

“From the moment she arrived to the West Virginia Senate, Sue Cline poured her heart and soul into her service,” former Senate President Bill Cole said. He was in charge of the Senate when she first arrived. “Her kind heart and her strong sense of community guided her in every way. She was a valuable part of a team that helped to change West Virginia. Sue will be sadly missed by all who were blessed to know her, and my prayers are with her family and friends during this time.”

Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin (D-Greenbrier) echoed the sentiments of his colleagues.

“I was heartbroken to learn of the death of our former colleague, Senator Sue Cline, this morning,” Baldwin said. “On behalf of our Democratic caucus, we express our sincere condolences to Sue’s family, friends, and colleagues. I served with Sue for three years and enjoyed getting to know her. She was straightforward, passionate about helping southern West Virginia, and immensely proud of her family. We worked together on a flood relief issue a few years ago, and I saw what a fierce advocate she was for her region. She will be missed, and we thank God for her service to the state of West Virginia.”

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

3 W.Va. Electors Steady in Support of Trump

Three West Virginia representatives to the electoral college are clear and unequivocal that they will be voting for Donald Trump to be the next U.S. president regardless of emails, letters and calls urging them not to.

The state’s five electoral college representatives were all chosen earlier this year by West Virginia’s Republican Party. They got the nod after their party’s candidate won a majority of the state’s popular vote.

Trump, the Republican, received 489,371 votes in November, 68.6 percent of the statewide total.

Democrat Hillary Clinton got 188,794 votes in West Virginia, or 26.5 percent. The remaining 5 percent were split among three minor-party candidates.

One of the state’s five electors is Senate President Bill Cole, who lost his bid for governor to Democrat Jim Justice. An owner of car dealerships, he feels a particular affinity for Trump, who won his vote in the primary and general election, and who has not wavered.

“I see him as a businessman. I’m a businessman. And it’s OK to do things differently. I know that’s going to rankle some in Washington but gee whiz, it’s time to do things differently,” Cole said. “And I’m excited. I think America’s getting ready for unprecedented growth and economic opportunity to bring a free-market capitalistic private-sector approach to Washington I think will be wonderful with the Republicans in control of both houses.”

The state’s other delegates to the Board of Elections are Mac Warner, an attorney and GOP candidate elected West Virginia secretary of state; Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, re-elected last month to a second four-year term; Ron Foster, president of a building-supply company in Scott Depot; and Ann Urling, a Charleston banker who lost the race for state treasurer. Neither Foster nor Urling replied to Associated Press requests to discuss their role as electors.

Morrisey and Warner said they voted for Trump in the primary and general elections and will do the same Monday.

“There’s been a tremendous outreach by people, perhaps on the other side, from across America … texts, phone calls, letters. There’s been a deluge of effort to try to get me to vote otherwise,” said Warner, a West Point graduate and former military JAG officer. “But they’ve been unpersuasive in their argument.”

He said some of Trump’s public statements gave him pause, but said he believes the New York developer loves America and has a vision for where he wants to take it. “The overreach of the government, federal regulations, there’s so much that needs to be turned back to the states,” he said.

Morrisey said he thinks it’s his job as an elector to support the will of West Virginia’s voters, who overwhelmingly chose Trump.

West Virginia law, unlike some states, doesn’t require its electors to follow the popular vote. Four years ago, the state’s five electors all voted for presidential loser Mitt Romney, who won the popular vote in West Virginia with 62 percent over President Obama’s 35 percent in his re-election nationally.

Warner said electors should represent both the will of voters and the candidate they believe is best, though the party made clear it wanted electors who would follow the voters. “Any time you reflect a democracy position you have to balance those two things, which are your personal feelings vs. representing the will of the people. I am doing that now, and now I have both of those come together in the same point in this case,” he said.

All three who were interviewed support keeping the current electoral college system, established 250 years ago, where less populous states like West Virginia have proportionately more influence than more densely populated states.

“This is the system that’s been set up by the Founders protecting the unique voices from across the country,” Morrisey said. “And it ensures all the campaigning won’t simply occur in populated areas.”

Justice Says 4 Mines Reopening; Cole Calls it Political Ploy

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice says four metallurgical coal mines in southern West Virginia are reopening and will put 375 people to work.

The Register-Herald reports Justice made the announcement Thursday, saying his company, Justice Corp., estimates it has already filled about a third of the jobs.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole called the announcement, which came a less than a week before the general election, a political ploy to gain votes. He predicted the announcement would amount to “unfulfilled promises.”

Jay Justice, who is executive vice president at Justice Corp. and the son of Jim Justice, says he understands the skepticism given the timing, but plans to reopen the mines have been in the works for months.

The mines are located in Raleigh, Wyoming and McDowell counties.

Cole Campaigns on Reducing Size of Government

In his gubernatorial campaign, Senate President Bill Cole has emphasized shrinking the size of state government and cutting down on regulation in West Virginia. Cole has drawn support from like-minded national Republican figures, such as Wisconsin’s controversial governor, Scott Walker.

It’s that kind of support that has generated some of Cole’s strongest opposition among voters in the Mountain State.

Boos greeted Cole and Walker as they arrived for a campaign rally in Charleston last week.

“We’re here to protest the fact that Bill Cole is bringing a guy named Scott Walker to town,” said Josh Sword, secretary-treasurer of the West Virginia AFL-CIO union. “And Scott Walker is the governor of Wisconsin whose claim to fame is lowering wages, taking away benefits and making work places less safe in Wisconsin. And I guess Bill Cole thinks that’s going to help his candidacy.”

Walker joined Cole on a tour of West Virginia – making stops in Bluefield, Charleston and Morgantown.

Cole voiced his admiration for what Walker has done in Wisconsin during their joint campaign stop in Morgantown. He said Walker came into office with more than 9 percent unemployment and a $3.6 billion deficit.

“And in the six years he’s been in office, unemployment is down to 4.1, I think he said, and they have a $300 million surplus — budget surplus — this year,” Cole said.

Walker ran into a lot of union opposition when he passed some of the same legislation in Wisconsin that Cole shepherded through West Virginia’s Legislature this past session.

Right to Work

One of those bills made West Virginia the 26^th right-to-work state.

The law makes it illegal to fire a worker for refusing to join a union or pay union dues or fees, but it’s being challenged in a state court, with union leaders leading the charge against it.

“Right- to-work is not an anti-union vote,” Cole said. “Now the union bosses are going to say that it is because the union bosses are all of a sudden going to have to get up and deliver for their membership.”

Cole said unions will now have to prove that those dues will help workers. Opponents of the law say those fees help unions negotiate fair wages for all workers.

The backlash against right-to-work and other GOP-backed legislation Cole advanced during this past session has spurred opposition candidates to run in West Virginia, even Republicans. West Virginia’s race for governor has also attracted money from national political action committees that want to make sure those laws stay in place.

Back at the protest in Charleston, Ginny Moles with the Alliance for Retired Americans, said she doesn’t agree with Cole’s leadership during his time in the Legislature.

“You don’t cut jobs. You don’t pass right-to-work when only 8 percent of the workforce is union and tell us that’s anything but union-busting,” she said. “If you want to build the state, you don’t do those two things. You create jobs.”

Campaign signs at Bill Cole’s stop at Jameson’s Bar & Grill in Morgantown.

Job creation is featured prominently in Cole’s campaign. He often cites wanting to change West Virginia’s low workforce participation rate as one of his primary goals. So has his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, billionaire Jim Justice.

U.S. Presidential Race

Another thing they both agree on is who they’d like to see as the next U.S. president.

“We in this room all better pray it’s a Donald Trump Whitehouse,” Cole said to a group of energy industry executives at a meeting in Wheeling last week.

He told the group Hillary Clinton is bent on regulating the coal and gas industries to death and that’s something West Virginia can’t afford. At that meeting, Cole also referenced leaked footage of Trump making vulgar remarks about sexually assaulting women, defending his party’s candidate.

“I’m sure we’ve all said and done things that we’d love to take back or take off the table or wouldn’t be so proud of in a different setting than when they were said,” he said.

Auto Dealerships

Justice campaign ads have taken shots at Cole over several lawsuits stemming from his auto dealership in Ashland, Kentucky. They include allegations of sexual harassment — not at the hands of Cole himself, but other employees.

Cole describes them as nuisance lawsuits that most businesses deal with on a regular basis.

“They’ve all been discharged. Not a one of them went anywhere,” he said.

Cole making a living as an auto dealer has generated criticism of another kind, though.

Under his watch as Senate president, West Virginia lawmakers passed S.B. 453, in 2015. The bill banned direct sales of Tesla electric vehicles, which critics say cuts competition for Cole’s dealerships.

The law also set a minimum reimbursement rate for warranty work done on cars. Democrats say this is especially hypocritical considering Cole pushed through the repeal of West Virginia’s prevailing wage this year. Prevailing wage laws set the minimum amount contractors can be paid on state construction jobs.

Cole said repealing the prevailing wage and other legislation he has championed as Senate president will move the state forward.

Back at the rally at a bar on High Street in Morgantown, Cole also referenced the fact Justice says he’ll continue to coach high school basketball if he’s governor, potentially splitting his attention during the Legislative session.

“So if we have full-time problems, they require full-time solutions and I’m going to tell you, we need a full-time governor,” he said. “That governor is Bill Cole.”

The latest MetroNews West Virginia poll shows Justice leading Cole by 11 points. That’s down slightly from the previous month’s 14 points. The margin of error still puts Justice’s lead in double digits.

National Groups, Rich Candidates Top West Virginia Spending

West Virginia’s wealthy candidates poured money into their races during the past month, while the national association of Republican attorneys general spent $2.83 million trying to keep Patrick Morrisey in office.

The group previously paid $3.4 million for ads backing Morrisey, West Virginia’s first-term attorney general, against Huntington businessman and state delegate Doug Reynolds.

Morrisey’s own campaign filing shows about $133,000 contributed last month and $710,000 spent.

Reynolds reports raising $172,000 and spending $1 million of his own money, leaving $34,000 in his campaign fund.

The national Republican governors’ association spent about $900,000 supporting state Senate President Bill Cole’s bid for governor.

Cole, an auto dealer, raised $163,000, spent $492,000 and lent his campaign $100,000.

Opposing Democrat and businessman Jim Justice raised $201,000, spent $835,000, and lent $1.12 million to his campaign.

Wisconsin Governor to Campaign With Cole

Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who briefly ran for president last year, is scheduled to make three campaign stops Friday across West Virginia with GOP gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. President Bill Cole.

Walker is vice chair of the Republican Governor’s Association.

They are scheduled to hold a rally in the morning in Bluefield, the hometown of Cole, an auto dealer who has led the state Senate’s recent Republican majority for two years.

Later rallies are scheduled at noon in Charleston and late Friday afternoon in Morgantown.

Cole faces Democrat Jim Justice in the Nov. 8 election.