 | ||||
| ||||
The decision by the House of Delegates on Wednesday -- by a voice vote -- to reinstate Del. Ron Thompson left Republicans shaking their heads in bemusement over the dilemma by Democrats on what to do about the absent Raleigh County lawmaker.House leaders received a letter from a psychiatrist explaining that Thompson was dealing with health issues, but was expected to make a recovery and resume his duties. As far as anyone knows, however, there was no indication of when Still, something about the whole mess -- probably the legal issues of taking a salary away from someone who claims illness -- apparently frightened Rick Thompson and other top Democrats into quickly reversing themselves and resinstating the long absent delegate.Of course, the whole thing is insulting to the public Thompson is supposed to serve, but then again, that same public voted him back in despite his longstanding absence from carrying out his duties. What's the old saying -- we get the government we deserve.What Thompson should have done long ago, of course, is to have withdrawn from the election and focused on his health. Clearly, for whatever reason, he is unable or unwilling to serve, so why does he want to cling to the office? Why not focus on returning to good health, then run again for the seat in 2008?Such courtesy to his colleagues and to his constituents is apparently out of the question. For their part, Republicans have no dog in this fight, despite arguments (good ones) by Patrick Lane and Patti Eagloski Schoen questioning Thompson's reinstatement. Most Republicans are content to sit back and watch Democrats try to deal with the dilemma. To many of them, Thompson's absence means just one less Democrat vote, and makes the GOP disadvantage just a little less than if Thompson was on hand. Labor Democrats were salivating at the possibility of Gov. Manchin appointing another pro-union delegate to fill Thompson's seat. The chasm that obviously still exists between the Scott Varner faction and the Thompson faction is only exacerbated by this issue. Varner was one of 16 members who originally refused to vote for Thompson's removal.Some Republicans -- and not just those emotionally invested in their opposition to gambling -- were still predicting a closer than expected vote when the issue is finally addressed on Friday.The House was scheduled to hear the second reading of the gambling bill on Thursday, clearing the way for a third and final reading and a final vote the following day.While most sources were still predicting passage, their level of certainty of that outcome was clealry not as high as it had been just a few days ago.Meanwhile, the new R-G poll on table games had captured more than 200 votes as of midnight Wednesday, with 66 percent choosing the "vote against them" option.