repubgazette3-7-07thompsoncharnockmanchingambling

Delegate Ron Thompson showed up at the Statehouse in Charleston on Monday long enough to be sworn into office, then apparently disappeared again. No matter. By taking the oath of office, Thompson gets to pocket his $15,000 base pay, making him the hands down winner of this year's Joe C. Ferrell Award.

I know we are supposed to be sympathetic to Delegate Thompson. He has a note from his doctor claiming some sort of vague psychiatric problem, and every decent human being -- Democrat, Republican, independent or indifferent -- does not take such a malady lightly. Everyone wants sick people to get well.

Perhaps Thompson's mental problems, if that's what he has, account for his uncaring attitude toward his constituents and his fellow lawmakers. So far, Thompson has not served one day of the 2007 regular session, and gave no meaningful indication he would manage to show up before the session ends at midnight Saturday. He said that he would, but he also said, inaccurately, that he was going to show up a few weeks ago.

Some have suggested that he might volunteer to pro-rate his pay, so he only gets a check commensurate with the time he actually puts in. Maybe he will -- there are no indications of that, but maybe he will -- but even then, his decision to cling to his office no matter what is a disservice to his district.

If Ron Thompson was so ill that he could not carry out his duties, he should have resigned his office and devoted all his energies into recovering until he was well enough to run for office again, or he should have let stand the vote by his fellow Delegates to oust him (and they should have stood by that vote).

Instead, he decided to do part of that: he devoted all his energies to recovering, while leaving an empty chair in the House of Delegates that could have been filled by someone healthy enough and interested enough to carry out the duties of the office.

It will be interesting to see if he claims a mileage expense for his Charleston trip.

Meanwhile, in other southern West Virginia news, former strip club owner Tim Cline pleaded guilty Tuesday to evading income taxes and defrauding the Social Security Administration. Just thought that was interesting.

It is amusing to witness some handwringing by various Democrats over the manner in which former Prosecutor Bill Charnock resigned his office.

Various Dems have complained about Charnock resigning effective immediately on Friday from his office, after a year-long witchhunt finally forced him out.

Are they serious? Charnock, who had been in the crosshairs of the Dems since the day he took office, owed them some kind of courteous resignation, like two weeks notice? Please.

Meanwhile, Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper is very excited about several things in regard to the Charnock investigation. In particular, he wants everyone to see the report that the special prosecutor prepared, despite the fact that the special prosecutor says he has no report.

The prosecutor made a deal with Charnock -- you resign, this thing goes away. Charnock resigned, the prosecutor is doing his part, but for some reason Carper is not a happy man.

In fact, in choosing the person to succeed Charnock, Carper wants some answers as to whether they will pursue the case further.

Special Prosecutor Dwane Tinsley told the Daily Mail he was sending Kanawha Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib an agreement to review, but beyond that, Tinsley said, there is no specific report or document to make public.

"I had not prepared anything in particular to present to a grand jury," he said. "If we had presented the case to a grand jury, we would have had a list of witnesses we would have called before the grand jury and a list of things they were going to testify about." But as things turned out, it should be all over, said Tinsley.

Carper said he would ask candidates for the prosecutor appointment about releasing the results of the Charnock investigation. He wants to know if the candidates would petition the court to release documents relating to the investigation. He said he would ask the candidates, "Would they engage in sealing a matter the taxpayers have a right to know about? Would they consider pursuing those other individuals or consider unsealing it?"

Carper's fixation on this one issue demonstrates a lack of understanding about the role of a prosecutor. Much like a judge, a prosecutor should not have to cater to the person or people making his appointment. Carper's questions are designed to illicit responses he wants to hear, an inappropriate litmus test.

Instead, there should be one question for a prospective candidate -- will you fairly and impartially execute the duties of your office, without favoritism or prejudice?

In the end, we should all hope that's the question Kent Carper, Dave Hardy and Hoppy Shores decide is the only one that's relevant.

The table games bill will wind once or twice more through the state legislature, but it will indeed eventually wind up on Gov. Joe Manchin's desk.

Manchin then will be faced with three choices: sign the bill, veto the bill, or let it become law without his signature.

There is little difference between the first and third choices. Either one is a capitulation -- or really, an embrace -- of a gambling industry that finally decided to end years of stalemate and just finance the legislative candidates it needed to make gambling expansion a reality.

History, though, will not remember which legislator did what, or what the final vote was, or anything else. Politics are defined and remembered by the person at the top of the hill. Everything that happens during these years --good, bad or ugly -- will be remembered as happening during the Manchin administration.

Years from now, if table games become a reality, reporters and historians will write that "table games were added to the state during the Manchin administration."

And if history is truly accurate, it will also note that Mojo himself (and I do hope they call him Mojo) worked hard to elect the legislators who were the gamblers' choices.

And so, Mojo must decide if he wants to be remembered as the governor who brought about the gift of table games to the people of West Virginia.

On a related note, it was interesting to again see the Senate has learned well the trick of adjusting the gambling legislation to make it more attractive to an area of the state where it needs support.

Senators sweetened the pot for the Eastern Panhandle, again hoping money is all that matters.