Tag: Jay Rockefeller

Capito Will Rise To Senior Senator. What Does That Mean For W.Va.?

Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election. When he leaves the chamber next January, that elevates Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s seniority.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito will become West Virginia’s senior senator next year. What does that mean for the state’s clout in Washington?

Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election. When he leaves the chamber next January, that elevates Capito’s seniority.

Capito is a member of the Senate Republican leadership, and she is the senior Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Both serve on the Appropriations Committee, which gives West Virginia an unusual amount of say over federal spending. Manchin, though, is a committee chairman of Energy and Natural Resources. His departure could diminish the state’s influence.

Unless Republicans wrest control of the Senate after November, which would make Capito chair of the environment committee. That committee authorizes road and bridge projects, as well as water and wastewater infrastructure. Capito took a lead role in what became the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, which has brought billions of dollars in funding to the Mountain State. Manchin had a hand in it as well.

West Virginia has a long history of senators leveraging their seniority, up to and including Manchin and Capito. Capito says she’ll continue to leverage hers.

“Well, I will be the senior senator after this next election,” she said. “And that means that my clout is more powerful, and my voice will be more powerful.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Thursday he’d be stepping down as Republican leader in November. McConnell said he’d complete his term. Still, Political observers in Kentucky say that will diminish the influence the state has long enjoyed.

It’s similar to West Virginia’s longtime Sen. Robert C. Byrd. Byrd served in various leadership positions, including majority leader, and he spent more than 50 years in the chamber, using his influence on the state’s behalf. After Byrd’s death in 2010, Manchin took his place.

Capito took the place of Sen. Jay Rockefeller in 2015. By the time he retired, Rockefeller had been in the Senate for 30 years and was chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

December 27, 2006: Artist June Kilgore Dies

Artist June Kilgore died on December 27, 2006, at age 79. The Huntington native was an expressionist painter who spent 30 years as an art professor at Marshall University. Kilgore’s modern and abstract work evokes intense emotion and a sense of the spiritual.

An eloquent communicator, she had a significant influence on her students at Marshall and inspired many accomplished West Virginia artists, including Dolly Hartman and Sally Romayne.

Kilgore’s work can be found in a number of prestigious collections, including those of former Senator Jay Rockefeller and the Federal University of Brazil. She was the subject of the first artist retrospective at the Culture Center in Charleston and had one-person exhibits in Louisville and New York City.

In 1997, Kilgore won one of three Governor’s Awards in the West Virginia Juried Exhibition for her abstract painting “Black Garden Stone for Meditation (With Guardians),” which also received the show’s highest honor, the D. Gene Jordon Memorial Award. Two years later, she won another Governor’s Award.

June Kilgore is remembered today as one of West Virginia’s most influential artists of the 20th century.

June 18, 1937: John D. Rockefeller IV Born in New York City

John D. Rockefeller IV was born in New York City on June 18, 1937, just weeks after the death of his great-grandfather, business tycoon John D. Rockefeller. Jay—as the wealthy Rockefeller heir was known—first came to West Virginia as a poverty volunteer in the 1960s. He soon attracted national attention by switching his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. He was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1966 and as secretary of state two years later.

After losing to Arch Moore for governor in 1972, he served as president of West Virginia Wesleyan College. In 1976, he won the governor’s office after spending a record amount on the campaign. During his eight years as West Virginia’s 29th governor, Rockefeller reorganized state government, fought to expand coal exports, and eliminated the sales tax on food.

In 1984, he defeated Republican John Raese for the U.S. Senate. During Rockefeller’s 30 years in the Senate, he promoted worker rights and health care issues and pushed to diversify West Virginia’s economy. He stepped down from the senate in 2015, ending nearly 50 years in public service.

Rockefeller Photos Released by WVU, Available Online

Hundreds of digital photographs from former Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s archives have been released.

The 1,500 photos are available at the website of West Virginia University Libraries’ West Virginia & Regional History Center. The photos document moments from Rockefeller’s 30 years in the U.S. Senate, beginning with his first swearing-in ceremony in 1985.

WVU says the images were taken by the Senate Photographic Studio.

Lighthearted moments are featured as well, including Rockefeller and former Sen. Bob Graham of Florida trading West Virginia apples for Florida oranges after WVU’s football win over Miami in 1993.

To view the collection, visit https://rockefeller.lib.wvu.edu or West Virginia & Regional History Center on the sixth floor of the Wise Library.

Rockefeller Sets up WVU Public Service Scholarship

Former U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller has set up a public service scholarship in his name at West Virginia University.

A WVU news release says the Democrat gave $100,000 to the WVU Foundation to start the scholarship at the new John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics.

The first recipient of the scholarship is Michelle Sloane of Paramus, New Jersey, in the Master of Public Administration program.

She will work to help create the Fairmont Black History Museum.

The scholarship calls for undergraduate students participating in off-campus service opportunities related to policy, leadership or public services that address West Virginia’s challenges.

Graduate students doing public service will be second preference.

Rockefeller Legacy Exhibit Opens at WVU & Online

A new exhibit has opened at West Virginia University chronicling the legacy of former Senator Jay Rockefeller.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center opened the Rockefeller exhibit Tuesday. Titled, ‘Jay Rockefeller: A Legacy of Leadership,’ it’s located in Wise Library’s Rockefeller Gallery on the Morgantown campus of West Virginia University. Much of the content is also available online.

The exhibit includes memorabilia from Senator Rockefeller’s early years in West Virginia, his election to the United States Senate, and some of his many accomplishments during his long career as a U.S. senator.

Also available are the Rockefeller Legacy Memos, a collection of 12 memos detailing the senator’s work in health care reform; West Virginia’s jobs, economy and industry; children, families and education; and veterans’ affairs.

In 2014, the university announced its library would serve as Rockefeller’s official senatorial archive. That same day, WVU President Gordon Gee also announced the creation of a school in the Senator’s namesake called the John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics. It opened in the fall.

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