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Tuesday, May 6, 2008 "When news breaks, we fix it" Serving West Virginia since 2005
WVU 77, Garrison 19
The integrity of West Virginia University as an institution trounced the personal political agenda of Mike Garrison by a score of 77-19 Monday in a matchup played before a crowd of more than 1.8 million in West Virginia.The blowout came as the result of a WVU Senate Faculty vote of no confidence as educators placed a premium on team play, which overcame the individual efforts of the president.Garrison went into the game using the same defense he has utilized since the beginning of the season, a suffocating man-to-man deny defense that has served him well while overwhelming smaller opponents such as the governor and his team, the WVU Board of Governors.But against the much bigger Senate Faculty, Final from Morgantown
Garrison's game plan collapsed early. The Senate Faculty coach said the key to WVU's victory was to attack the heart of the defense, which consisted mainly of repeated denials of involvement in the Heather Bresch case, coupled with a promise to fix the problems next time, along with a last-minute buzzer-beater featuring the signing of basketball coach Bob Huggins to a long-term contract.
The Garrison-Senate Faculty matchup was a non-conference event, so it has no official bearing on the standings. But it will be difficult for tournament officials to decide to allow Garrison to move on, based on such a lopsided defeat to an unrated foe, especially since Garrison faces the Senate Faculty more often than any team on his schedule.Ketchum fundraising keeps sinking as candidate falters
State Supreme Court candidate Menis Ketchum's faltering campaign continues to struggle in the fundraising department, and he now trails Justice Spike Maynard considerably in money raised from individuals other than himself, according to new finance reports.Ketchum has now put as much as $490,000 of his own money into his campaign, while raising just $398,000 from other donors. Maynard, by contrast, has raised more than $580,000 from donors.Ketchum has now resorted to taking money from gambling interests, including the Jacobs family of Buffalo, N.Y.On Friday, Secretary of State Betty Ireland unveiled a major upgrade to the Secretary of State’s Campaign Finance Reporting System available at www.wvsos.com and www.WVvotes.com. Anyone interested in following contributions to statewide campaigns will now be able to search electronically for contributors by name or employer, among other search criteria. Adding this search feature will help voters easily determine who, in particular, is funding campaigns for any statewide office.“I am pleased to offer this new feature to the ever improving and expanding Campaign Finance Reporting System,” Secretary Ireland said. “This upgrade will go a long way to ensuring transparency and accountability in elections, which have been top priorities for my office.”Before the upgrade, an individual had to manually scan each and every report to find relevant information. Now the information can be readily accessed by simply plugging in the name of the contributor or any other desired search criteria, including contributor’s occupation, employer, city, state or zip code. Users can also search for campaign expenditures (for example, to television stations or campaign consultants) in the same manner. In 2007, the Legislature passed a measure proposed by Secretary Ireland requiring all statewide candidates to file campaign finance reports online. To prepare for the new online filings, Secretary Ireland also implemented a means to allow candidates to bulk upload data, rather entering the information line by line, saving candidates time and resources. Collectively, the upgrades to the Campaign Finance Reporting System translate to getting relevant financial information to the public much faster than in days past. “It is vital that voters have convenient and timely access to information about those who financially support candidates for elective office,” Secretary Ireland stated. “As West Virginians decide how we will cast our ballots in the May 13th primary, we now have one more tool to help us make informed decisions on those seeking our trust and our vote.” 
Ireland announces system upgrade to reporting system
IRELAND
By JEREMIAH DYS
Elane Huguenin is the part owner of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, NM. Recently, a lesbian couple asked Elane to photograph their “commitment ceremony.” Recognizing that her Christian beliefs would be in conflict with the message communicated by the ceremony, Elane declined their business. At the beginning of April, a Commissioner with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission ordered Elane to pay $6,637.94 in attorney fees and costs to the lesbian couple who sued Elane Photography for sexual orientation discrimination under the New Mexico Human Rights Act. Elane has been penalized for simply abiding by her religious beliefs and is now forced – under color of law – to choose between her religious beliefs and her business practice.During the 2008 session of the West Virginia legislature, our leaders nearly added to West Virginia’s already expansive corporate liability. S.B. 600 would have made the West Virginia Human Rights and Fair Housing Acts read nearly verbatim to the laws that convicted Elane in New Mexico. Businesses and families throughout West Virginia should reject bills like S.B. 600. Though billed as egalitarianism, such “nondiscrimination ordinances” (NO’s) are anything but. Frankly, Elane’s $6K judgment is paltry by comparison to some. Consider:In 1998, employees of a Minnesota business who dared to read their Bibles at work were forced to attend “diversity training,” which was little more than indoctrination by gay rights activists. It took four (4) years of litigation to vindicate the supposedly inalienable First Amendment freedoms of these employees.A California company was forced to settle a lawsuit for $1 million and lay off several employees after it was sued under California’s N.O. for failing to promote a man who came dressed to work as a woman. Only after the lawsuit was filed did the company learn that the man was not a woman.NO’s not only increase the corporate liability for West Virginia companies, they also lead to absurd results. Under NO’s, companies may be precluded from enforcing dress codes at work, thus allowing men to come to work dressed as women. Conceivably, employers could not preclude gender-confused employees from using shower and restroom facilities of the opposite gender. In short, NO’s – whether adopted in the board room, at city hall, or in the capitol – are bad for business and bad for the families of West Virginia. Such measures will almost certainly result in significant lawsuits against large and small companies throughout the mountain state. Unless and until it is shown that “sexual orientation” has been the subject of political powerlessness, economic disenfranchisement, and is of an immutable nature, it should not receive the benefit of human and civil rights protection afforded to historically protected classes such as race, gender, age, disability, and religion. To do otherwise would upend half a century of jurisprudence and penalize our families for abiding by their religious beliefs.Jeremiah G. Dys, Esq., is the president and general counsel of The Family Policy Council of West Virginia. 
'Sexual orientation' tact should not force us to ignore religious beliefs
DYS
Weeks in Mineral, Jefferson this week
GOP gubernatorial candidate Russ Weeks continues his busy schedule criss-crossing the state this week, with events in Mineral County tonight and Jefferson County on Wednesday, where he will be at Mt. Community Center at 7 p.m. for a Q&A session.