Governor Joe Manchin announced earlier this week that he has selected Bill Cole of Bluefield to be appointed to the 24th District West Virginia House of Delegates to fill the vacancy left by John Shott, who on May 18, was selected to fill the 10th District Senate seat due to the passing of Don Caruth.
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Mike Hall has been selected by the Senate Republican Caucus to serve as the Senate Minority Leader. Hall replaces the recently deceased Don Caruth in that capacity.
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The unemployment fund in the State of West Virginia is going broke as a result of the bad economy. Despite recent changes to increase funding sources, changes which many had hoped would help stabilize the fund, it’s not working.
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The State of West Virginia is preparing to spend $3.5 million to restore and renovate Holly Grove Mansion, the home which sits beside the Governor’s Mansion in the Capitol Complex in Charleston.
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According to the Dominion Post, Former Morgantown Mayor Ron Justice is suspending his campaign for the West Virginia State Senate in the 13th District because of heart problems. Justice was the toughest Democrat candidate to face former Republican Delegate Cindy Frich.
The race will now be between Frich and Bob Beach, one of the current Democrats who represents Monongalia County in the West Virginia House of Delegates.
The ink is hardly dry from Governor Manchin’s signature on a piece of legislation that would offer a pilot project on public financing of judicial campaigns in West Virginia in 2012 and a group is already preparing to challenge the new legislation in court according to the West Virginia Record.
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Two Republican delegates from the Eastern Panhandle are requesting Governor Manchin veto a bill which would provide for taxpayer financing of of judicial campaigns because of questions surrounding the constitutionality of the legislation. Press release below.
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A variety of political notes and thoughts for today…
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The West Virginia Legislature is once again trying to limit the free speech of corporations who seek to spend money on political advertising. This makes the third attempt by the West Virginia Legislature to bridle the First Amendment freedom of speech rights that groups of individuals are permitted.
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Very few Republicans in the West Virginia Legislature garner the level of labor support that Delegate Bill Hamilton does on a consistent basis. He is one of very few Republicans that have been endorsed regularly by the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, UMWA, and many other labor unions.
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As I said earlier this week, the politicians in Charleston continue to dawdle as the number of West Virginians who lost their job over the last year climbed to over 32,000 last month and continues to rise.
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This year’s legislative session is well past the halfway point and headed toward its sixty day adjournment having accomplished very little for the people of West Virginia. It’s clear by their inaction on several big issues that the only thing the politicians are concerned about are their re-election efforts.
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Republican Delegate Bill Hamilton introduced legislation today that would raise taxes on alcohol to fund substance abuse treatment and prevention.
“We will be looking at wine and liquor, but you can’t put them all in the same bill because they’re different parts of the state code,” Hamilton said.
The latest bill would increase taxes by four cents per bottle or can. The other beer tax bill, reintroduced Feb. 1 from last year’s session, would add a penny to the price of each bottle.
Is there the potential for a Republican wave in West Virginia? The candidate filing period recently passed the halfway mark and things don’t look good for Republicans who might be hoping for big gains in the West Virginia Legislature.
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The people of West Virginia are more in danger of harm during the sixty day period of the Regular Session of the West Virginia Legislature than probably any other time of the year.
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