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Abernathy Strategies
RepublicanGazette
Thursday, April 10, 2008 "When news breaks, we fix it" Published daily except some days
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High court reasserts control of process
Benjamin presides over settling of Starcher one-man recusal hearing
BRENT BENJAMIN
Led by acting Chief Justice Brent Benjamin, the West Virginia Supreme Court on Wednesday restored some of the luster and integrity that has been tarnished in recent days and weeks when it skillfully derailed a plan by Justice Larry Starcher to hold an unprecedented one-man recusal hearing scheduled for today.Obviously, there were behind-the-scenes discussions at work before the full court announced unanimously that Starcher was withdrawing from his recusal hearing, which led to the court ruling against Massey Energy's petition to stop it.The masterful maneuver allowed everyone to save face. Starcher issued a statement saying, "Because the Court will be addressing the matters raised in the petition as an administrative matter as I urged the Court to do, I agreed to withdraw my notice for a hearing at this time. I now plan to seek the information I need from the litigantsby use of written interrogatories." In other words, just like judges are supposed to do.
The Court issued a short statement as well, saying, ""The order speaks for itself and upholds the inherent power of the court in how it conducts its affairs."
It was almost as if the adults finally put a stop -- for now -- to the nonsense that has been raging out of control in recent days, with network news stories, threats of lawsuits and judicial grandstanding. Unfortunately, there is still an election pending, which means the forces who want to keep the controversy in the spotlight will continue to seek new ways to do so, at the expense of the decorum and reputation of the court.Adams, Snyder, Moltere file reports; Morgan late
Three of four candidates in the 16th State Senate district race filed their campaign finance reports on time -- even one who dropped out of the campaign. But a report from Jefferson Commissioner Rusty Morgan has yet to show up. The deadline to have such reports postmarked was Friday, April 4. That's when Adams sent his, and it was posted online on Tuesday. By the end of the day Wednesday, Morgan's had embarrassingly still not shown up.Even Ron Moltere -- who dropped out of the GOP primary after discovering he was not a Republican -- filed his report on time. Democrat Herb Snyder also filed his. Weeks will file his notice of suit today
GOP gubernatorial candidate Russ Weeks today will file his Notice of Intent to file suit against Gov. Joe Manchin and the State Legislature in regard to the retroactive per diem payments approved by lawmakers and signed by Manchin earlier this year. The law requires that state agencies be notified 30 days ahead of the filing of a a suit against them.Manchin cancels face-off with Weeks at last minute
Gov. Joe Manchin on Wednesday canceled his appearance at what was scheduled to be a face-to-face meeting with Republican challenger Russ Weeks at a Charleston Daily Mail editorial board meeting.Upon arriving for the 10 a.m. meeting, Weeks was informed that Manchin had called and said he would not be able to attend. Democrat challenger Mel Kessler was also invited, but did not attend and did not contact the paper with an explanation.(Press Release) Candidates who file campaign finance reports with the Secretary of State’s Office have a new tool to make filing campaign finance reports easier and more efficient. With last week’s first round of campaign finance reporting, West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland rolled out a new feature to allow candidates to upload all campaign finance data in one easy step. “I call this the premium package in campaign finance reporting,” Secretary Ireland said. “It will be a great help in offering to the public transparency in all matters relating to campaign finance.” In 2007, at Secretary Ireland’s suggestion, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 713 requiring candidates for statewide office to file their campaign finance reports electronically. Without the bulk upload feature, candidates would be required to enter data for each individual expenditure and contribution, a potentially time consuming and tedious undertaking. With the bulk upload, the information will be available to the Secretary of State’s Office instantaneously, which can in turn, make it available to the public in a matter of hours. The upload feature was not required by SB 713, but was an optional improvement made to the 2008 Campaign Finance Reporting System (“CFRS”), a web-based system housed and maintained by the Secretary of State’s Office. The CFRS allows candidates and political action committees to enter their campaign finances into a user friendly format that simplifies the campaign finance reporting process. It produces an electronic form to be submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office instantly once completed and verified by the committee. The Office can instantly confirm receipt of the report with the committees, eliminating the guesswork of when a report is received. While the public can easily access all campaign reports on the Secretary of State’s website, access to file using the CFRS is granted to candidates by request and is not accessible unless a username and password is provided. This year, while only 22 candidates were required to file electronically, more than 118 took advantage of the option with this first round of filing, doubling the percentage of candidates filing electronically in 2006. The next filing period begins April 28 and ends May 2. With the second round of filings, Ireland’s office intends to offer a feature that will allow the public to not simply view the completed campaign finance report, but to electronically search the data and easily extract desired information. Secretary Ireland would like the Legislature to consider mandating electronic filing for all legislative candidates for the 2010 election cycle. But for now, she believes it is wise to limit the requirement to statewide candidates, so that the system could be implemented and all the bugs worked out. “This system is new and we welcome any suggestions that candidates, members of the media or the public may have about how to make the system better or more user-friendly.” Secretary Ireland said. “But overall, the system is up and running, working well, and a tremendous step in the effort to increase public awareness of campaign financing.” Those candidates not required to file electronically can still file reports on paper; these reports are then scanned into the CFRS and are viewable to the public in that manner.For more information on the Secretary of State’s CFRS or to view campaign finance reports, visit www.wvsos.com. Candidates like new e-file option
Lynn Staton seeking GOP party position
Lynn Staton, wife of former Congressman Mick Staton, is seeking the Republican National Committeewoman spot from West Virginia currently held by Donna Gosney.Members of the GOP state executive committee began receiving a letter from Staton this week making the case for her election. Both the national committeeman and committeewoman positions will be voted on at the state GOP convention this summer.Jim Reed is the national committeeman from West Virginia, and there are no known challengers to him.Lynn Staton served as convention manager at the state GOP presidential convention in February.