Over the past few years, some people have severed their digital lifeline with friends and family because of political differences. With the click of a single button the social media connection is gone. Click – buh-bye! The decision can mean you’re out of touch and cut off from that person’s life. But two childhood friends from Gallipolis, OH — who vote very differently — have committed to doing just the opposite.
Many Americans are getting good at ignoring friends and relatives who disagree with them. Roughly four in ten registered voters say they don’t have a close friend who supports the opposing party’s candidate, according to a Pew Research study.
Think how often you’re tempted to unfriend someone on social media. However, some lifelong friendships seem to beat those odds and the people in them say it enhances their understanding of the world.
On this Us & Them episode, host Trey Kay hears two childhood friends from Ohio explain how their connection reminds them how much they have in common. They do that, despite agreeing to disagree on some pretty important things along the way. They do it, in the name of their friendship.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.
Brian Griffin and Us & Them host Trey Kay have been friends since their days at Ohio University back in the early 1980s. These days Griffin is the Executive Secretary-Treasurer for the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingLynn Angell has lived in Gallipolis, OH all of her life. She is a CPA and the owner of Angell Accounting, where she works barefooted as she prepares more than 3,000 tax returns each year. When she’s not crunching numbers, she raises sheep at her farm just outside of town. She also serves on the Gallia County Board of Education and is an executive member of the Republican Central Committee. Angell has known Brian Griffin since their high school days. They don’t see eye-to-eye on politics or the direction of the nation, but they are committed to their friendship and respectfully hearing each other out.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Brian Griffin as senior in Gallia Academy High School’s Class of 1978.
Credit: Gallia Academy High School Yearbook
Lynn Smith Angell as senior in Gallia Academy High School’s Class of 1978.
The Republican U.S. Senate primary campaigns for Gov. Jim Justice and Rep. Alex Mooney released their candidates’ second quarter finance numbers this week.
The Republican U.S. Senate primary campaigns for Gov. Jim Justice and Rep. Alex Mooney released their candidates’ second quarter finance numbers this week.
The Federal Election Commission’s deadline for second quarter filing is July 15. Neither candidate had filed as of this story’s publishing.
The Justice campaign said it has raised more than $935,000 since he announced his candidacy in late April. The Mooney campaign says he raised $550,000 in the second quarter of 2023.
Mooney’s camp said it currently has $1.5 million cash on hand. Justice’s people report over $800,000 cash on hand entering the third fundraising quarter.
West Virginia University’s (WVU) Political Science Department Chair John Kilwein thinks the amounts were closer than expected.
“Given Justice’s popularity and support by Mitch McConnell and the polling data, I thought it was going to be a lot higher,” Kilwein said, referring to the Senate Republican leader from Kentucky, who recruited Justice to run.
The Justice campaign press release highlights “receiving support from 5,526 individual donors, with 93 percent of those donors giving less than $100.”
Mooney’s campaign release touts, “Club for Growth Action and Protect Freedom PAC (Political Action Committee) announced that it hauled in an impressive $13.55 million for Alex Mooney.”
Kilwein said both releases clearly come with a specific angle from the candidate’s perspective. He sees two possible scenarios for the dichotomy in highlighting small vs. big donations.
“One, you may be taking advantage of what is a reality that isn’t as helpful to you,” Kilwein said. “If that’s where you got the money from, then you simply have to brag about where you got it. Or, it just may be that both candidates are saying, here’s the narrative – Mooney may be explaining to more fiscally conservative voters, look who’s backing me. Justice is playing on his strength, a popular governor, well loved across the state.”
Mooney’s release notes, “Club for Growth PAC endorsed Alex Mooney in West Virginia’s U.S. Senate Race because Alex is a proven conservative.”
When asked about the PACs aligned with McConnell supporting Justice and how much money has been raised, Justice’s campaign manager Roman Stauffer suggested using this quote attributed to him, not answering the question:
“Governor Justice received tremendous support from West Virginians and others who have confidence in his leadership and conservative record and know he is the strongest candidate for the U.S. Senate,” Stauffer said. “Unlike our opponent, we are focused on talking to West Virginians and not coordinating with out-of-state groups desperate to influence this race.”
Justice and Mooney are the two leading Republican candidates on the May 2024 primary ballot. Incumbant Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has said he expects to announce his future political intentions in December.
Even with West Virginia being such a red state, Kilewein said Justice and Mooney “should not think this is going to be a cakewalk once it gets to the general election.”
“Why? Just because Manchin is Manchin,” Kilwein said. “It could be a complete wipeout. But I also think that it could be tough. I definitely could see Manchin run with this kind of folksy charm against Mooney, who certainly lacks that as someone who is not a native is needed. It will be a tougher battle between Justice and Manchin, but Justice comes to this with some problems with his companies and his age and his health, and his apparent lack of interest in not wanting to live in Charleston. How are you going to want to live in D.C.? I’m not saying that the Republicans are not going to win. I’m just saying that it may not be as easy as they think it is.”
Storch leaves 13 years of lawmaking behind to become an external affairs manager for Appalachian Power.
Del. Erikka Storch, R-Ohio, has sent a letter of resignation to House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, resigning from the House of Delegates effective Friday.
“After a great deal of thought, prayer and discussion with my family, I have decided to pursue and accept a private sector employment opportunity that will not allow me to continue service in the legislature,” Storch said in the letter.
Storch leaves 13 years of lawmaking behind to become an external affairs manager for Appalachian Power, working in the Northern Panhandle region. She said her job duties will include local community outreach and could extend back to the Capitol in Charleston.
“I will be helping with the development of company strategies, serving as their local legislative contact and liaison advocating on corporate positions, building and maintaining economic development and community contacts,” Storch said.
She said her duties will include lobbying for Appalachian Power, but she also said she will follow the revised code that requires former legislators to not participate in lobbying activities for the year following their leaving office.
“I can be present,” Storch said. “I guess I have lifetime floor privileges. But I will be diligent to make sure that there’s no impropriety on my part in the time between when I’m able to officially participate in lobbying activities.”
Storch was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2010. Her recent leadership roles included Chair of the House Pensions and Retirement Committee and Deputy Majority Whip. She said one key thing learned over her lawmaking tenure was issue presentation.
“If it’s local government officials or statewide,” Storch said. “You have limited time to present your position, and it’s also very important to always present the truth.”
She said she will miss the positive, meaningful, working relationships she has developed with legislative colleagues and governmental staff from both sides of the aisle. However, Storch said she hasn’t enjoyed the current state of politics.
“It’s the legislating where we’re playing political games that occur in Charleston,” she said. “I don’t mean to make it sound trivial, but at times, it does feel like a game.”
Storch said she wanted to thank the voters that have sent her to Charleston through the last seven election cycles.
“You can’t imagine how honored and humble I am every time that vote results come in and you see that so many people place their confidence in you,” she said.
Storch said even though her legislative resignation is effective Friday, she’s already started her new job.
The West Virginia Primary Election is May 14 of next year, but candidates are already declaring their intention to run for the governor’s office.
As News Director Eric Douglas learned when he spoke with Marshall Political Science Professor Marybeth Beller, it all comes down to money.
The West Virginia Primary Election is May 14 of next year, but candidates are already declaring their intention to run for the governor’s office.
As News Director Eric Douglas learned when he spoke with Marshall Political Science Professor Marybeth Beller, it all comes down to money.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Douglas: By our count, we now have seven candidates who’ve declared for the governor’s office: Chris Miller, Moore Capito, Mac Warner, J.B. McCuskey, Rashida Yost, Marshall Wilson, and most recently, Patrick Morrisey. Why are they declaring so early?
Beller: There are two big reasons. The first main reason is to intimidate the opposition. And that actually has two related parts to it. Donors want to influence the process, and it’s very important to donors that they get a candidate who’s going to favor their policy outcomes. The first or second candidates are heavily evaluated by donors and not knowing that others might sign on, donors often need to make quick decisions to say which of these candidates is going to best put forward their policy preferences.
You might recall there is interest group called Emily’s List. Emily’s List stands for “Early Money Is Like Yeast.” If you bake, you know how important a bit of yeast is. Early donations that come on board signal to other donors that they might also want to start chipping in. That has the reverberating effect for my second point of intimidating the opposition.
Voters look for these cues, and when they see a candidate that has a large war chest, or a war chest that is building, that gives voters confidence to say, “Oh look. Others see this candidate as having real merit, this might be somebody I should follow.” And so voters sign on also. Getting in there early makes a difference.
Douglas: If somebody gets in early, gets a donor to donate the maximum amount, or however much they donate, it’s less likely that donor will also donate to a direct competitor’s campaign.
Beller: Once a donor commits, then the donor stays just with that sole candidate. Now, especially with medium and large size businesses, those people are more likely to spread their donations out over many candidates and sometimes multiple parties in order to secure influence. But especially with single donors, once people commit, they tend to stick with the person to whom they’ve committed.
Douglas: How does this shake out? I’m not asking you to guess who’s going to win, but it’s got to put a lot of stress on the party.
Beller: My second point, answering your question as to why candidates jump on board early on in the process, is that, particularly if they are an incumbent, they owe it to their party to give the party time to recruit viable candidates to replace them in those seats.
When you see these people who are incumbents, who are well known, signaling early on that they want to move to a different office, it’s a gesture to their party, that allows their party to start recruiting candidates. They have an interest not only in seeking the offices they want, but also in preserving the power of their party, and to leave your party high and dry late in the season means you run the risk of allowing the other party to take the seat you’re vacating.
Douglas: Officially, candidates actually don’t really declare their candidacy until January of 2024.
Beller: That’s right, when the Secretary of State makes that open and available.
Douglas: These are pre-candidacy, but it does allow them to start raising funds.
Beller: Yes, it allows them to start raising funds to build that bandwagon of support. It also allows other candidates to say, “Hey, look, we’re gonna have an open seat in this office.”
Douglas: It’s gonna be an interesting election, isn’t it?
Beller: Fascinating. So many of the incumbents have really had time in office to build expertise to know how to form coalitions and could use that experience to be very effective in higher office.
A third thing to keep in mind is that many times candidates will run for an office, knowing that they don’t have a very viable chance of being elected. But they’re using that opportunity to gain greater name recognition, to build more contacts, so that in an election down the road, they become more viable. And I think what we’re gonna see this term is that a lot of candidates, knowing that it’s not likely they’re going to secure the position they’re running for, are actually going to use that to build momentum for the future.
Douglas: Any other thoughts about the legislature or any big surprises you see coming up in West Virginia?
Beller: Not necessarily for 2024, but the Democratic Party in this state has recently reorganized. It has new leadership, and a lot of Democrats are feeling hopeful. The party has a lot to do to rebuild, and might be able to take some legislative seats in 2024, but I think moving past that, the Democratic Party could become viable again in the state.
The legislative policies that were passed this year are going to have financial repercussions. If they’re successful, it’s going to be very, very good for the Republican Party. But in two to four years, we’re going to be able to see what the result of those fiscal policies are. And if they’re not successful for the state, the Democratic Party could really take back some seats and gain power.
Douglas: If the tax cuts don’t work out then it’s fodder for the Democrats.
Beller: Schools, social services, roads, all of those must be maintained. And this past session, there are some problems we haven’t yet solved. The Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) is going to become more solvent, but that’s going to be done on the backs of the employees. And it’s very tough, because the across the board raises are not going to meet the increasing charges for their health care. But also, the employment problem in our prisons has not been solved. I think that is an ongoing problem. It requires money. And what we’ve done is to just put forward some very heavy tax cuts. It might work to bring in more revenue, but it may not.
In its 83rd year, the American Legion’s Mountaineer Boys State has more than 200 West Virginia rising high school seniors who are learning political decision making this week.
In its 83rd year, the American Legion’s Mountaineer Boys State has more than 200 West Virginia rising high school seniors who are learning political decision making this week.
Boys State replicates the judicial, legislative and executive branches of state government. The young elected leaders traveled to the State Capitol in Charleston Thursday, to meet with their real counterparts.
Will Behrens thought he’d run for a Supreme Court seat, then decided to go big or go home. Elected governor, Behrens – from Notre Dame High School in Clarksburg – said back home he and his friends don’t really talk about issues. He said at Boys State, people were voicing new concerns and perspectives.
“Talking about things like infrastructure, and the expensive cost of medicines like insulin,” Behrens said. “Along with the stigmatization around getting rehab for drug problems. It’s things like that I may never have even thought of.”
Elected Secretary of State, Berkeley County and Spring Mills High rising senior Samuel Stotler was put into the Nationalist Party. He said one of its pillars was renewable energy. Stotler led the stand for nuclear energy, deciding that by far, it’s the cleanest source.
“I actually just came from the Naval Academy summer seminar session last week,” Stotler said. “We actually spoke to their nuclear professor and he explained to us how this was, hands down, the easiest and most efficient and renewable source that we could possibly have.”
Behrens said being 17 years old is tough when it comes to taking action on political issues.
“We’re in an awkward spot, because we can’t vote and we can’t run for elected positions,” Behrens said. “So that’s why Boys State is a really important opportunity. Because all of these thoughts and opinions that we’ve been keeping for all this time, we can finally kind of put those into action.”
Stotler said discussing different viewpoints at a young age is teaching him what all governments need right now: compromise.
“We’re so polarized and nobody’s willing to give in, to stretch their point of view,” Stotler said. “Compromise is direly important to move forward and progress in society.”
The 2022 Mountaineer Boys State continues through the week at Jackson’s Mill in Lewis County.
When you hear the word “gingerbread,” you might think Christmas. But in southeast Kentucky, when people of a certain age hear “gingerbread,” they think Election Day.
In a special report as part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Project, Nicole Musgrave, traces the surprising history of gingerbread in Knott County, Kentucky from everyday treat, to election time tradition, to fundraising champion.
Gingerbread Was A Household Staple
In her cozy kitchen in Hindman, Kentucky, LaRue Laferty watches over her teenage grandson, Jaxon Conley, as he makes a fresh batch of gingerbread. All of the ingredients are sitting on the green countertop of the kitchen island. So are the necessary tools, like metal baking sheets, measuring spoons, and a KitchenAid stand mixer.
Laferty, who is in her 80s, has a head full of short, white hair. She wears glasses and a green cotton face mask, and uses a walker to move around her kitchen. If you ask folks around Knott County who the best gingerbread bakers are, Laferty’s name usually comes up.
“I don’t really profess to be a gingerbread-making queen, but I do make a lot,” she says.
When she was growing up, gingerbread was a year-round household staple.
“Anytime we went to grandmother’s, she had it,” Laferty says. “And my mother made it all the time, she kept it made.”
Knott County gingerbread isn’t crisp, snappy cookies, and it’s not moist, fluffy cake. It’s somewhere in between. Bob Young is a local historian born and raised in Knott County. He is in his 70s and he remembers most of the women in his family made this style of gingerbread.
“Gingerbread as we knew it here was just a glorified biscuit,” Young says. “And full, absolutely full of molasses.”
Before white sugar became easily accessible in southeast Kentucky, molasses was the primary sweetener. Every fall, sugarcane farmers hosted stir-offs. Folks gathered to watch as the sugarcane juice was boiled down to a sticky syrup, and they left with full jars to stock their pantries.
Aside from powdered ginger, the other ingredients—flour, fresh eggs, buttermilk and lard—were things people already had on hand. That made gingerbread inexpensive.
“Gingerbread was something that anybody, anybody nearly could get,” Young says.
Just A Nice Little Way To Ask For A Vote
One place you were sure to find gingerbread in Knott County was at the polls on Election Day.
“The candidates, they would hire good gingerbread makers in the community to make gingerbread, and they would give it out at the polls,” Laferty says.
In the 40s and 50s, when Young and Laferty were growing up, it was a common practice.
“Republicans on this side, and the Democrats on that side,” Young says. “And they were all giving you gingerbread. So by the time you voted, you’d have a handful of gingerbread…It was just a nice little way to ask for a vote.”
Laferty says, “they didn’t call it ‘buying votes’ but it’s about what it amounted to.”
Corbett Mullins, another Knott County native, remembers his grandmother as a sought-after gingerbread-maker.
“She would go with her baskets of gingerbread to the polling grounds and hand out the gingerbread in that candidate’s name,” he says.
But during the 1960s, people began handing out something else.
“I hate to say it, but gingerbread was replaced by liquor,” Mullins says.
Then in 1974, Kentucky passed a law against campaigning within 100 feet of a polling place. This was the final blow for political gingerbread.
But surviving recipes may hold clues that link gingerbread and elections. Bob Young has noticed that a lot of recipes make huge batches, and he believes that’s because bakers were making gingerbread for the masses on Election Day.
“Why, some of those old recipes take a five-pound bag of flour,” he says.
How Much Ginger’s It Got In It?
These days, the annual Knott County Gingerbread Festival celebrates gingerbread’s ties to politics and features a gingerbread competition. There are lots of variations of this regional dessert, and everyone has their own preferences.
Mullins, who chaired the festival for decades, says texture is key.
“I have had gingerbread that’s been as dry as the Sahara Desert,” he says. “As soon as you get it chewed up you have to have a drink of water to refresh your mouth.”
Young is focused on ginger.
“Sometimes it would almost burn your tongue,” Young says. “Some people liked it really hot. And that was one of the things they’ll say, ‘How hot is this? How much ginger’s it got in it?’”
Over the years, LaRue Laferty has placed in the gingerbread competition a lot. One year, she entered three batches using different recipes.
“I come in first place and tied myself on second,” she says. “So I didn’t enter any more for a long, long time after that, because I thought, well, that’s good enough.”
The Knott County Gingerbread Festival was cancelled this year because of the pandemic, which was disappointing for Laferty.
“I threatened to go up there and set down on the street and put up a sign and have my own little festival,” she says.
During festival season, Knott County bakers typically sell gingerbread to fundraise for local causes and to earn extra cash. Even though this year’s festival was cancelled, Laferty’s daughter-in-law made close to 4,000 pieces of gingerbread, selling enough to raise nearly $2,000 for her church to pay its winter bills.
Nicole Musgrave
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
LaRue Laferty (left) with her grandson, Jaxon Conley. Conley has been making gingerbread with his grandmother since he was around two-years-old.
A Good Clean Way To Make a Little Extra Money
Back in the kitchen, the room is fragrant with the mingling of ginger, cinnamon, and clove. The oven timer goes off and Laferty takes out the pan. Once the gingerbread cools, her grandson, Jaxon Conley, takes a bite and assesses his work.
“I think it turned out pretty good,” he says. “It’s not too dry, but it’s still moist. And it’s still got the crispy edges on it, which I really like on gingerbread.”
Conley sold the batch he made to a relative. In the past, he has sold gingerbread at the local farmers market, to friends and neighbors, and to classmates at school. One year, he made enough to buy himself a bike.
Nicole Musgrave
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The finished gingerbread. LaRue Laferty and Jaxon Conley wrapped each piece in a plastic sandwich bag in order to ship it to a relative who purchased the batch from Conley.
Laferty is glad her grandchildren are continuing the Knott County gingerbread tradition, and it gives her comfort to know they have a skill they can rely on if they need to.
“Later on when they get a little older, and maybe they need some extra cash…maybe they can make some gingerbread,” she says. “It’d be a good clean way to make a little extra money.”
This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia and the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council. The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts, and culture.
