 | ||||
-------
Search the Republican Gazette ---->
The Republican Gazette
Please make sure to hit your refresh button for the current edition
VISIT NO MO MOJO
In the text box below, nominate your West Virginia Republican of the Year, and describe in a few words why he or she should be selected.
REPUBLICAN OF THE YEAR
UPDATED DAILY!
Mojo9/24/08
9/24/08GET YOUR 'DEGREE!' (Click image for details!)
Congress' 'bail-out' mistake was in behaving like the WV Legislature
In describing her reasons for opposing the "bail-out" plan defeated in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito told reporters that "while the government's back is up against the wall in terms of time, they still need to move slowly and steadily to make sure they get the plan right," as reported by WOWK-TV.In fact, Capito must have felt like she was back in the West Virginia Legislature, where leadership routinely dumps bills on lawmakers' desks just minutes before they are asked to vote for them. It's a bad process in Charleston, and it's a bad process in Washington, the difference being that it almost never happens in Washington. Usually, Congress debates bills for hours on end before bringing them to a vote. This time, though, after a whirlwind weekend of negotiations between President Bush and congressional leaders, a bill was dumped on lawmakers' desks and a vote taken after only very limited debate.Capito and many others like her, especially Republicans, were simply not comfortable casting a yes vote on a bill that left so many questions unanswered. (West Virginia's other two congressmen, Alan Mollohan and Nick Rahall, felt no such compunction, since they are generally well trained to follow the dictates of party leaders on almost every issue.)In fact, the mislabeled "bail-out" package as presented in the House was not a bad bill. It is not a bail-out by traditional definition, but rather a "buy in," and true financial disaster would have to strike for taxpayers not to come out ahead in the long run. In fact, if the stock market fails to rally enough for taxpayers to make a profit, the nation is pretty much dead in the water anyway.No one likes it, especially conservatives, since such drastic government involvement goes against the grain of typical conservative economic philosophy. But some sort of "rescue plan" will have to be passed eventually to make up for several years of Democrat-led pressure -- with a big assist from Barack Obama's favorite "community organizing" group, ACORN -- on entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make home loans to people who were in no position to ever pay them back. (Shockingly, funding for ACORN, which is likely behind the voter registration fraud in Kanawha County as it has been elsewhere in the nation, was included in the original rescue plan supported by congressional Democrats, until it was finally removed prior to the vote.)But President Bush and congressional leaders did a terrible job of explaining the package to the public, let alone to lawmakers, so public opinion ran heavily against the measure -- a circumstance likely to change quickly as the economy continues to teeter and credit continues to get tighter. And true to form, Speaker Nancy Pelosi couldn't even keep her mouth shut long enough for a vote to take place before jumping in front of a microphone to try to blame Republicans for the whole mess, contributing mightily to the bill's eventual defeat.If there is a bright side for West Virginia, it is that Congress set an example on how to deal with legislation that lawmakers don't have time to read or debate -- vote it down until it is better understood. It would be nice to witness that occurrence here someday, but let us not hold our collective breath. Howell continues to
rack up endorsements
Gary Howell, candidate for state Senate in the 14th District, continues to rack up endorsements from leading organizations around West Virginia.The West Virginians for Life Political Action Committee (WVFL PAC) has announced its endorsement of Howell, as has the West Virginia Citizens Defense League (WVCDL).WVFL PAC is the internal PAC for West Virginians for Life, the state pro-life organization. WVFL is affiliated with the National Right to Life Committee and is working through education and legislation to build a society where innocent human life is respected, from conceptioon until natural death.Brian Louk, WVFL Executive Director, stated, “We commend Mr. Gary Howell for pledging to protect unborn children from abortion on demand.”The WVCDL is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, all-volunteer, grassroots organization of concerned West Virginians who support an individual’s right to keep and bear arms for defense of self, family, home and state, and for lawful hunting and recreational use.In its endorsement process, WVCDL-PAC evaluated the records of incumbent legislators and asked all legislative candidates to complete a questionnaire on their views concerning several legislative issues important to gun owners.“I’m thrilled that my commitment to issues important to the people of the 14th District is recognized by leading advocacy groups around West Virginia,” said Howell. “In the Senate, I’ll work hard to bring about the positive changes we need to improve our district and our state for all its residents.”The 14th Senate district covers all or parts of the counties of Barbour, Grant, Mineral, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor and Tucker.The seat is being vacated by Democrat state Sen. Jon Blair Hunter.(Press Release) Calling it the “clearest case of quid pro quo” to date, Attorney General Candidate Dan Greear demanded Darrell McGraw return tens of thousands of dollars in donations he received from lawyers awarded no-bid contingency fee contracts. “It’s a disgusting practice,” Greear said. “Darrell McGraw awards secret, no-bid contingency fee contracts to lawyers and receives campaign contributions in return. The clearest case of this quid pro quo is the Atlanta Law Firm of Cook, Hall, and Lampros. Why would an Atlanta law firm pony up $10,000 in contributions if it isn’t a giveback of the taxpayer money McGraw secretly awarded them?”Greear outraised McGraw during the current reporting period, $77,507 to $55,520. More than 95% of Greear for AG contributions came from in-state contributors. “Darrell should return this tainted money. He is naming his trial lawyer friends as special assistant Attorneys General, awarding them secret, no-bid multi-million dollar contracts, and clearly expecting them to contribute to his campaign. If Darrell isn’t demanding these contributions for the awarding of secret, no-bid multi-million dollar contracts, then he should remove the clear impropriety and return the contributions.”Greear pointed out more than $17,000 of the $55,520 McGraw raised during the period was directly from lawyers McGraw awarded taxpayer money through no-bid, secret contracts. Of the $55,520 raised during this period, $10,000 was from the Atlanta firm of Cook, Hall, and Lampros. More than $7,000 in this period alone came from other lawyers awarded no-bid contracts. For more, visit www.dangreear.com. Greear calls on McGraw to return tainted contributions
Breaking news: Manchin has more money than Weeks
The predictable news stories on campaign finance reports are breaking, and the least shocking item of all is that Gov. Joe Manchin has a katrillion times more dollars than GOP challenger Russ Weeks. In other news, Yao Ming is tall, and water is wet.That Manchin -- by consolidating so much government under his dictatorial control -- has put himself in the position of being able to shake down almost everyone with any connection to state government -- which is almost everyone -- is hardly a shock.. The only surprise is that anyone at all has the political courage to give to Weeks, as about 170 donors did in the period.As various reports have noted, about 20 percent of Mojo's expenditures for the four-month reporting period went to campaign consultants -- roughly $40,000. One news report noted that Weeks, by contrast, had expenditures totaling about $15,000, with "40 percent" going to yours truly, which equals exactly $6,000 for the four-month period.
Of course, in addition to his consultants, Manchin also pays a full time campaign staff, who appear to be collecting about $8,000 a month, bringing his grand total of consultants and staff to about $18,000 a month.Hmm. Manchin pays consultants and staff $18,000 a month, Weeks pays consultant -- who is also his staff -- $1500 a month (which is what I get whether that equates any given month to 50, 40, 30, 20 or 10 percent of Russ' expenditures); ah, to work for a Democrat campaign in West Virginia. (In fact, with a tight budget, I appreciate Russ' commitment to paying me anything every month, but that's Russ, a man of honor.)Russ has an exciting media campaign unveiling next week, and is busily preparing for his first debate with His Majesty set for Oct. 13. We promise it will be worth watching. 