| Here is WV we have a Northern and a Southern District. Sharon L. Potter is the US attorney for the Northern District, having been sworn in by President Bushon October 6, 2006. She was the assistant US attorney in this district since 1992, giving her 14 years on the job experience. She has been a lawyer since 1985, always serving in some prosecutorial role. She has won awards for her fraud busting of white collar crime.
Sharon replaced Thomas E. Johnston, who resigned to take the position of United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. He was a US attorney beginning in the Bush Administration. Both of our Senators supported his nomination in the hearings.
Curiously, he had less experience than the assistant US attorney Sharon Potter. He was preceded by Judge U.S. Northern District Bankruptcy Court, who served briefly in this position before becoming a bankruptcy court judge.
This site has the press releases from the Northern District US Attorney. Sharon Potter seems quite busy with drug cases, and the occasional gun violation or child pornography charge. Here is the link to the press releases.
http://www.usdoj.gov...
The Southern District West Virginia US Attorney is Charles T. Miller. He has served as First Assistant United States Attorney since 1987, and has served as both Acting and Interim United States Attorney. He took office sometime after 2005 when Kasey Warner resigned his post. Kasey Warner is brother to Monty Warner, who ran for governor in 2004 and lost. A third brother, Kris Warner, was the West Virginia Republican Committee Chairman and was asked to resign from this position after the campaign, which left the party in debt and out of office, even in a year the state went solidly for Bush in the Presidential race. No explanation for Kasey Warner's resignation was given, but there was the whiff of scandal about the whole clan.
There was an interesting article published in the State Journal after this resignation. http://www.statejour... The following quote comes from that story:
Craigo told The State Journal that just before the 2002 general election, the state Republican Party began circulating press releases indicating that Craigo was under federal investigation. The press quickly picked up the story, and Craigo lost.
Now, two and a half years later, both Warners are out of their positions, and Craigo spoke about what he has learned since 2002.
Apparently, Lisa Smith's brother, who does not live in West Virginia, contacted Craigo and, "he said there was a connection" between Kris' goal of ousting Craigo and Kasey's position as U.S. attorney. When Kris Warner couldn't raise enough money for Smith's campaign, Craigo said the federal investigation rumors began.
"Kris supposedly spoke to a Wood County Republican rally and told them what was going to happen -- the federal investigation -- that it was going to occur before it even happened," Craigo said. "How else would he know that?"
This sort of federal investigation into a candidate is rumored to have brought down Kasey Warner.
Interestingly, there is a quote in the same article from Craig Miller, who had been an interim bridesmaid three times before (1991-1992, 1993 and 2001), with others appointed over him each time.
Miller would not comment on Warner's departure. But he did stress that the U.S. Attorney's Office would continue its mission unfazed by the change in leadership. Investigations into high-profile crimes such as voter fraud and the proliferation of methamphetamine will continue, Miller said.
And Miller did prosecute one of the only cases of voter fraud in West Virginia in the past few years. This link has a detailed story on the fraud, which was for the Democratic sheriff in Logan Country in 2004 and received a lot of national and local publicity http://www.statejour.... Thomas E. Esposito, 53, former mayor of Logan, West Virginia assisted in the investigation and was given a reduced sentence of probation as a result.
The men -- Clifford Odell "Groundhog" Vance, 49, of Branchland; Toney "Zeke" Dingess, 35, of Harts; Ralph Dale Adkins, 58, of Branchland; Wandell Lee "Rocky" Adkins (no relation to Ralph Adkins), 50, of Ferrellsburg; County Assessor Jerry Weaver, 56, of Hamlin and County Circuit Clerk Greg Stowers, 48, of Hamlin -- each told Federal Judge John Copenhaver Jr. how elections have been bought and sold for nearly two decades.
As an aside for those not from WV, Adkins is a very common name in Southern WV.
Miller announced a plan to rigorously investigate voter fraud in the 2006 election as well.
Hopefully he will vet the choice of fraud investigator better than Republican Secretary of State Betty Ireland did last year. http://www.highbeam....
The former chief election fraud investigator that Secretary of State Betty Ireland hired and then abruptly fired a year ago is now charged with stealing money from a Christian television station.
John Canterberry of Nutter Fort was charged late last month with embezzling $10,650 from Mountain Angel Christian Television. Canterberry is listed as the nonprofit's president on its incorporation papers.
oops.
Miller got to work on a great conviction of a local terrorist. http://wvgazette.com...
Jeremy Kiser of Charleston, WV, was sentenced by United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin to 36 months probation for using a telephone to make a bomb threat. Kiser pled quilty to telephoning the Women's Health Center of West Virginia and threatening to damage or destroy the building. He was ordered to serve the first two months of his sentence on home confinement. Kiser is 19 years old.
Yup, two months house arrest and 36 months probation for threatening to bomb an abortion clinic. If you tried to bomb the sheriff, that would be 132 months hard time http://www.usdoj.gov.... To his credit, that fellow had made the bomb and wasn't just threatening.
My conclusion- drug taskforces are busy in WV and folks are being arrested and sent to prison for these crimes. In Southern WV, there are definitely political reasons for putting people into the US Attorney's office and taking them out. In the Northern District, a well qualified, experienced US Attorney has taken over after several Republican stars were promoted to judgeships. Apparently this was one reason the White House wanted to clear out US Attorneys- since that post can be a real resume builder for a party loyalist.
We seem to have some footsoldiers in place right now, with lots of experience on the job. Any more information on these folks would be of interest, as I only know what they release on their web pages. |
