Hey kids! Governor Manchin here! Believe it or not, I have to run for reelection next year. It's really just a formality, but the law makes me do it! Now, remember, I'm a Democrat, just like most of you will be when you grow up! So it's up to the Republicans to find someone to run against me! So far, nobody seems anxious to do it! I really can't blame them, because I'm so popular! But if no one runs against me, all the attention will go to Senator Rockefeller, if someone runs against him, or maybe even the Attorney General's race, or maybe even the Supreme Court races! Plus, there's a presidential race, too! So if I don't have an opponent, the media might ignore me completely! What a waste of charisma! Plus, it's hard to brag about how much you win by if you don't have an opponent! It would make me no better than Walt Helmick or Mike Oliverio! How embarrassing is that?
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Tuesday, May 22, 2007
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Justice Brent Benjamin appearing Wednesday at National Press Club
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent D. Benjamin is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion at the National Press Club about the impact of the media and advertising in recent judicial elections in the United States, and trends that may impact judicial elections in 2008.
The panel discussion is being organized by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and FactCheck.org. It will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 23, in the Holeman Lounge on the 13th Floor of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. N.W., in Washington, D.C.
Other panelists include Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb; Justice at Stake Executive Director Bert Brandenburg; David Browne, media consultant to Justice Cobb's 2006 race and treasurer of the Democratic Judicial Campaign Committee; Allan Crow, advertising consultant in the 2006 Georgia Supreme Court race; Spencer Noe, president of the Kentucky Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee; and Jeff Roe, a media consultant for a third-party group in a 2006 Missouri court race. FactCheck.org Deputy Director Viveca Novak will moderate.
Justice Benjamin was elected to a full 12-year term on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in 2004. Prior to his election, Justice Benjamin was an attorney in private practice in Charleston.
His practice focused on civil litigation in state and federal courts, including toxic torts and complex litigation. His civil rights practice focused on protecting children from physical and sexual abuse.
Justice Benjamin is also a current member of the Hocking College Archaeological Mission and has participated in archaeological excavations in the United States and Egypt.
WVDOT still defending manpower decisions
Email to legislators insists Highway Dept. not trying to cut, outsource
Gov. Joe Manchin and his state highway department have come under fire from suspicious legislators and transportation department employees who wonder if the department is outsourcing too much work to contractors who are political cronies.
Last night, the governor's legislative director, Jim Pitrolo, sent an email to legislators with an attached document from the commissioner of highways -- presumably Paul Mattox -- defending the highway department's "Core Maintenance Program" and its decision-making.
The document, apparently written by Mattox (it contains a line saying, "As Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Highways, it is my pleasure and privilege..." but it includes no name) explicitly says at one point, "The Core Maintenance Plan is not an excuse for outsourcing routine maintenance work or a means by which management is looking to downsize the division's payroll."
The document says implementation of the Core Maintenance Program has helped the department become more efficient and focus on local needs like snow and ice removal and
mowing. In fact, highway employees have been complaining about just that -- they are being used for nothing but mowing and trash pickup while equipment gets auctioned and road repairs are outsourced with big contracts attached.
Whether the emailing of the document by Pitrolo was initiated by the Manchin administration, or was provided in response to a request from one or more legislators is unknown. One member of the legislature on Monday called it "a piece of fluff."
Fluff it is, but if you're going to write fluff, you might as well write it with some flair.
The document contains passages written in a flowery style reminiscent of Division of Natural Resources Director Frank Jezioro's prose in describing Manchin's turkey hunting adventure.
One passage of the WVDOT document reads, "There is no song about the continued maintenance of West Virginia's vast roadway system, nor are such acts celebrated on the face of a coin."
Huh?
The governor's various departments may be lacking in substance, but they sure know how to tell a pretty story.
