Edward Marshall of the Martinsburg Journal covers the recent Jefferson County Organization of Democratic Women sponsored forum for the four Democratic Party candidates for the two seats available on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
The four candidates were Margaret L. Workman of Kanawha County, Elliott E. "Spike" Maynard of Kanawha County, Bob Bastress of Monongalia County and Menis E. Ketchum of Cabell County.
Workman was born in Charleston, graduated from West Virginia University, previously served as circuit judge and was the first woman elected to the Supreme Court in 1988.
"I would like to bring the Supreme Court back down to these simple concepts -fairness, integrity and hard work," Workman said. "One of the good things about me is that I have 18 years of judicial experience and hundreds and hundreds of written opinions ...You don't have to guess what kind of judge I am. There is a long written record. What that records will reflect is that I believe in giving everybody their fair day in court."
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Bastress, since 1978, has been a member of the faculty at West Virginia University College of Law where he presently serves as a professor. His teaching is focused on constitutional law.
"Teaching gives me an opportunity to engage in extensive public service, public service that I would not have been able to do in private practice," Bastress said. "I think West Virginians deserve Supreme Court justices who have integrity, judgment, a sense of fairness and a legal ability to deliver on those other qualities, and to handle the difficult legal questions that come before the court."
Ketchum attended Ohio University and later received a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1967. After graduating, he joined his father in the practice of law. He first called for the creation of an appellate court in the Eastern Panhandle, citing the Judicial Reorganization Act, an amendment to the Constitution that grants the authority to create more appellate courts.
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He also said he was more qualified than the other candidates.
"Why am I qualified? I've been a lawyer for 40 years. I have a lot more experience. I have tried more cases with jury verdicts than all the other candidates combined," he said.
The pictures accompanying the article notes that "Several anti-Elliott E. Maynard protesters [held] up signs as the state chief justice speaks at a forum sponsored by the Jefferson County Organization of Democratic Women Sunday."
Journal photo by Ron Agnir
