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West Virginia Democrats owe West Virginia GOP Chairman Mike Stuart a big thank you because he did something we wouldn't have been able to do. Stuart assured former West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland will never be governor.
Ireland, (R-But not right-wing crazy enough)was the one Democrats feared running against this year. Check out this PPP poll that showed her support in West Virginia in April nearly double Maloney's. But Stuart kicked Ireland to the curb after she announced, saying he was even considering a run himself.
The key is bold leadership. We need a GOP candidate that is not afraid to lead to build a better future for West Virginia," he said.
Stuart is in the middle of a reorganization of the state party and said he would want to meet with key business leaders before settling on a decision. But he could use the overhaul of the state party as a launching pad for a campaign.
"We will be releasing my vision plan for the state in February which will go a long way toward defining key goals we want to achieve for West Virginia through new leadership," he said. "The race must be about the future as well as a referendum by the people on whether they are satisfied with placeholders as opposed to transformative leadership."
Stuart got heat for that. Party chairman are supposed to build the party and not use the party to build themselves. At this point after yet another Stuart-picked candidate has lost a race going against the national tide, however, Maloney and other West Virginia Republicans might want to check to see whether Stuart really was doing everything he could to help Maloney win or whether Stuart was thinking about his own political future -- again.
In any event, Stuart's backstabbing of Ireland should send the message to any West Virginia Republicans with any kind of moderate views that the West Virginia GOP is no place for you. We have a big tent in the West Virginia Democratic Party and you're welcome inside.
After treating her with terrible disrespect, WV GOP chairman Mike Stuart expects former party stalwart Betty Ireland to do his bidding now that his candidate won the Republican primary.
The national press follows up on a Ry Rivard story in the Daily Mail about Ireland skipping a GOP "unity" breakfast.
Now, it's closed to the press, being called a "working session" and Stuart couldn't say in an interview who besides Maloney was coming. Maloney had a decisive win in his party's primary earlier this month.
"I really don't want to sort of say who is going to be there," he said in a Friday telephone interview. "I can tell you confidently that there will be multiple candidates at this meeting."
It's clear that former Secretary of State Betty Ireland will not be there. A spokeswoman said she is out of town. Ireland finished second following negative ads from the Maloney campaign.
"We've encouraged Betty's supporters to move on and support any candidate they like," said Ireland spokeswoman Suzette Raines. "I can tell you we've had a flood of calls and emails about the things that were done against Betty in the primary. People are very upset, which has not been perpetuated by Betty or the campaign staff - at all."
Hotline gets one point wrong - understandably.
In West Virginia, Maloney, running as an outsider, defeated Ireland, the GOP establishment candidate, in a race that turned nasty toward the end.
Ireland should have been the GOP establishment candidate, but Stuart threw her under the bus, saying after she declared he'd enter the race himself if a candidate to his liking did not enter.
Ireland paid her dues in GOP party building, is one of the very few Republicans to successfully run for state office, and has remained a loyal GOP member. Her thanks was to be smeared by the very party that she worked to build. Ireland was the candidate that had the best chance among Republicans of winning.
As a way to duck the GOP infighting started by WV GOP chairman Mike Stuart, the WV Chamber of Commerce has endorsed both Maloney and Ireland. On the Democratic side, the group in a move that surprises no one endorsed Senate President acting as Governor Earl Ray Tomblin.
There's some interesting figures and names in the recent fund raising reporting, but here's one that I think needs highlighted:
Six candidates from the Democratic Party have raised nearly $2.6 million compared to eight Republicans raising $260,000.
Secretary of State Natalie Tennant is fourth on the fund raising list among the Democrats and has raised nearly as much as all eight Republicans combined.
Perhaps if WV GOP Chairman Mike Stuart had not spent so much time tearing down the state's most popular Republican, Betty Ireland, she might have done better with her fund raising against Bill Maloney.
As Ireland and Tennant have shown before money isn't everything and their personal charisma and appeal have overcome being outraised in campaigns before.
But it is telling that quite a few Republican women are contributing to Tennant's campaign and after the way Stuart and others in the Republican Party in the state have ganged up and beaten up on Ireland, it would not surprise me to see even more Republican women cross party lines for the general election if Maloney is the party's nominee. Maybe Stuart thinks the Republican Party can win without women. That is an interesting strategy.
There has been a weird hypocrisy around Ireland from Republican men. The same Republican men who say Ireland is not anti-choice enough are the same ones who ignore that the pro-choice Rep. Shelley Moore Capito is endorsed and receives funds from the Republican version of pro-choice Emily's List.
Among the other candidates, Senate President Acting As Governor Earl Ray Tomblin topped the list, funded in large part by coal barons.
House Speaker Rick Thompson raised $666,643, making him second, but he also outraised Tomblin in the most recent quarter showing he has momentum. More importantly he keeps gaining union endorsements that will put volunteers on the streets and behind phones to GOTV for him.
Treasurer John Perdue was third with a respectable $595,000.
Tennant also made a strong showing with $216,500. As I mentioned before, those who count her out because she has not raised as much as the others should talk to Joe DeLong.
Acting Sen. President Jeff Kessler has raised $94,903, which does not seem a lot until you put it in context of what the two leading Republicans have raised.
Thank you to an anonymous tipster for passing along this email.
----- Original Message -----
From: Kasey Warner
To: Post 44 Philippi ; Post 1 Wheeling ; Post 103 Chapmanville ; Post 104 Parkersburg ; Post 118 Ravenswood ; Post 128 Paw Paw ; Post 136 Ridgeley ; Post 137 Capon Bridge ; Post 139 Milton ; Post 14 Martinsburg Turner ; Post 145 Peterstown
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 5:12 PM
Subject: Possible Speaker at Future Meeting
Folks:
I had the occasion recently to talk to Betty Ireland, candidate for Governor. I was extremely impressed with her businesslike approach, her knowledge of pension matters (that is one of her areas of expertise), and her sincere concern for veteran/military issues in West Virginia. Based on our talks, she is looking to see how she could gain full exemption of military pensions from State income taxation, and perhaps the same for Guard and Reserve pay. She is very interested in veteran issues.
In that light, I thought it may be good to include Betty Ireland in a future meeting/program of your Post. I imagine you have a non-partisan policy ... and she IS a candidate for Governor ... but a number of Service organizations do invite candidates for educational purposes of their members, and to allow organization members to express to a candidate issues of the veteran community. Ms. Ireland is attuned to the need for an appropriate posture during a campaign when dealing with service organizations; her husband is retired from the Air Guard, and she understands the non-partisan stance of veterans groups.
Please let me know. If you would find it beneficial to have Betty Ireland attend a meeting to speak (and listen to concerns of the membership), please let me know and I will try to get it on her schedule. I think she has a decent chance of being our next Governor, and it would be nice to have her as a friend of veterans organizations.
West Virginia GOP Chairman Mike Stuart apparently needed some healing balm for all the self-inflicted burn he's been getting. Link:
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus has announced the appointment of West Virginia GOP Chairman Mike Stuart as Chairman of the RNC Standing Committee on Resolutions.
"I am delighted to have Mike Stuart serve as the next Chairman of the RNC Standing Committee on Resolutions," Priebus said. "His experience leading the West Virginia Republican Party and his longstanding dedication to our Party's conservative principles make him the best choice to serve in this key leadership post heading into such a critical election season for our country. (Emphasis mine)
Stuart has been leading the WV GOP since all the way back to 2010.
Some experience.
And let's look at that experience leading the West Virginia Republican Party
Stuart told Politico he was going to enter the gubernatorial race if a strong candidate did not appear AFTER Betty Ireland, the best polling Republican in the state, had announced and before other Republican candidates entered.
He issued a press release condemning legislation passed to give long needed pay raises to state employees AFTER 15 of his own party's House delegates had voted FOR that legislation.
He condemned Attorney General Darrell McGraw for not joining a federal lawsuit AFTER McGraw had all ready joined it.
Instead of building the party's credibility and standing in West Virginia, Stuart has been seen as working more to burnish his own resume and credentials for his own future run, not the sort of thing one expects to see in a party chairman.
So as a West Virginia Democrat, it's good to see Stuart taking on a new task for the RNC that will take away his time from party building and fund raising in West Virginia during not just one, but two election cycles with the special gubernatorial election this year and the races in 2012. But hey, it is yet one more thing to help Stuart make important connections that will benefit himself as a candidate some day. He's definitely following a "conservative principle" in that he's looking out just for himself.
I say with all sincerity, I hope Stuart does as good a job for the RNC as he has for the West Virginia GOP.
Despite the efforts of wingnuts in the state to draft him to run in place of Betty Ireland (who they feel isn't conservative enough), it appears the Florida Republican is staying out of West Virginia's special election.
Raese, who was the Republican nominee in the special U.S. Senate race last year, but lost to Joe Manchin in the General Election, said he was flattered by the amount of encouragement he has received to run, but he is not going to get in the race.
And in other perennial candidate news, the Mountain Party's Jesse Johnson has filed precandidacy papers to make his seventh bid for office.
While Betty Ireland is the only announced Republican gubernatorial candidate, effectively avoiding the annual "What Will Shelley Moore Capito Run For?" charade, I keep seeing Facebook comments and emails saying the real GOP figure we should worry about running for office is WV GOP chairman Mike Stuart.
Stuart's got impressive credentials and the WV GOP biography makes him sound more like a candidate himself than a party chairman.
Mike, Katrina, Isabella and Audrey returned to West Virginia to begin the effort to fight for working folks, to rebuild West Virginia's economy, and to create an economic environment where future generations of West Virginians can reside and thrive.
Is Stuart using his position as WV GOP chairman to build his own political future and protect Capito's or that of other Republican candidates? It'll be interesting to watch, but it wouldn't be the first time that Shelley Moore Capito's supporters have maneuvered to block Ireland from becoming a potential Capito rival.
Here he is in Politico mulling a run for governor:
"The key is bold leadership. We need a GOP candidate that is not afraid to lead to build a better future for West Virginia," he said.
Stuart is in the middle of a reorganization of the state party and said he would want to meet with key business leaders before settling on a decision. But he could use the overhaul of the state party as a launching pad for a campaign.
"We will be releasing my vision plan for the state in February which will go a long way toward defining key goals we want to achieve for West Virginia through new leadership," he said. "The race must be about the future as well as a referendum by the people on whether they are satisfied with placeholders as opposed to transformative leadership."
Doesn't that mean that as WV GOP chairman, Stuart is already dismissing Ireland as a candidate who could offer that kind of leadership?
Yesterday, former Secretary of State Betty Ireland announced that she is going to run for Governor. From the State Journal:
Ireland announced Thursday she will file pre-candidacy papers to run for governor of West Virginia. The two forms, one for a 2011 special election year and another for the 2012 regularly scheduled governor's race, will allow her to begin raising and spending money on a campaign -- whenever a race is scheduled.
...
"West Virginia needs new leadership to get us out of last place," Ireland said in a news release. "The private sector experience I bring to the table, coupled with my state government experience, should give our citizens great confidence that I have the skills to move our state forward in all aspects."
With Ireland's intentions announced, it is now all but certain that Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (WV-02) will not run for Governor. The only remaining question is if Capito will step up for a challenging U.S. Senate run or stick to a comparatively safe re-election campaign.
I suspect we won't know that answer until late in the year, well after her new district is drawn and Capito has used the lure of a potential Senate run to fatten her campaign coffers.
As to the Governor's race, Ireland is now well positioned as the Republican favorite. It will be interesting to see if she is challenged by a more conservative primary opponent.
Outgoing Sec'y of State Betty Ireland will most likely beback:
In a state where Democrats dominate most levels of government, Ireland is the only Republican since 1996 to win one of the six statewide elected executive branch offices that form the Board of Public Works.
"I have no concrete political plans,'' she said, adding that "if something opens up politically, and I choose to walk through a door, I may do that.''
West Virginia's New River Gorge Bridge was the world's longest steel-arch bridge (Shanghai's Lupu Bridge took the title in 2003). It opens to pedestrians once each year on "Bridge Day."
~~> Praise where praise is due... it may be a political gimmick, but how can I complain when Republican Sec. of State Betty Ireland touts small "d" democracy. Do you know anyone in the West Virginia Voter Hall of Fame?
--According to the U.S. Census Bureau, McDowell County is one of the fastest-shrinking counties in the country this decade. A new report says McDowell County, which has been ravaged by economic problems, has lost nearly 16 percent of its population since 2000. Three of the four counties that lost a greater percentage of population than McDowell were in the New Orleans area which was hit hard by flooding. Meanwhile, Berkeley County, West Virginia is among the fastest growing counties in the country. Its population has increase by more than 25 percent since 2000.
[snip]
--Speaking of the Lottery, I suspect Lottery officials were relieved-even if they won't say it-with the Powerball winners. The eight women from the Monongalia County Tax Office seemed like decent, hardworking West Virginia folks. Unfortunately, jackpot winner Jack Whittaker remains the poster boy for what can go wrong when you become a multimillionaire. Perhaps he should write a book: "What NOT to do when you win the lottery."
~~> Residents in 19 counties served by West Virginia-American Water Co. will see 14.9 percent rate increases as Public Service Commission OKs W. Va. Water Rate Hike. If there was a truth in labeling law for state agencies, the PSC would be called the Corporate Profits Commission.
~~> The legislature wins some minor turf back in its ongoing tug of war with the attorney general: "AG will alert W. Va. lawmakers of potential windfalls". I'm not sure if Attorney General Darrell McGraw winning lawsuits that punish companies wrong-doing are really 'windfalls' but, whatever...
There's been a lot of stories in the news lately about (the lack of) integrity of electronic voting machines. Many of these same machines are in widespread use across West Virginia. Here are just a few of the most recent stories:
* Will any of the Democratic candidates for Secretary of State turn this into a winning campaign issue?
* Will election integrity and the need for auditable paper ballots get any attention in the upcoming legislative session?
* Will pressure be brought to bear on our current Republican Secretary of State to deal with the now widely known problems with voting machines in place in West Virginia?
The West Virginia Secretary of State's office is standing firm in its support of electronic voting machines, despite security and accuracy concerns raised by other states.
"We are comfortable moving forward with the voting systems we have in place," Deputy Secretary of State and agency spokeswoman Sarah Bailey said Wednesday, just weeks after top officials in Ohio and Colorado declared such machines unfit for elections.
Thirty-four West Virginia counties use Election Systems and Software's iVotronic touch-screen machines. They became widely used across the state before the 2006 primary and were purchased as part of a $3 billion nationwide conversion laid out in the federal Help America Vote Act.
Thank you to everyone who has extended their blogday wishes! The outpouring of support is quite heartening. A special thanks to Kos for his front-page shout-out.
I would be remiss today if I didn't thank BlogPAC for their support in helping us move earlier this year from our original Blogger platform to Soapblox. Thank you BlogPAC for your continued support!
Now, let's check on the status of our Blogday Birthday Wishlist:
* Resignation of a high level Bush cabinet member -- Status: achieved.
* Set new ActBlue weekly fund-raising record for a West Virginia candidate -- Status: ask again later (on the first day of the week it's too early to tell).
* Convince Rep. Shelley Moore Capito to follow in Secretary of State Betty Ireland's footsteps and sit out 2008 election to spend time with her eldery parents -- Status: not yet.
Meanwhile, the West Virginia Republicans are going to have to make a decision. Either offer up Capito as a sacrificial challenger to Senator Jay Rockefeller so that it appears they have a legitimate candidate (unlike what's his name? against Senator Byrd in '06) or else they're going to have to run yet another no-name against him, which will free up Democratic campaign contributions for other races. Hoppy Kercheval is reporting that Secretary of State Betty Ireland, the only Republican holding a statewide office that has any name recognition, apparently is going to not seek reelection for her post to run for state senator. So Capito either has to challenge Rockefeller for the Senate like her Republican handlers want her to do or she'll have to run an increasingly uphill re-election bid against Unger or Barth.
Of course, Capito saw she had no chance to defeat Rockefeller. She's vulnerable in her own re-election bid.
State Republicans don’t plan to give away the Secretary of State’s Office in 2008, despite incumbent Betty Ireland’s announcement Wednesday that she would not be a candidate.
“When you lose somebody known statewide like Betty, it hurts,” Dr. Doug McKinney, state GOP chairman, conceded Thursday.
snip
Facing a Democratic ticket led by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Gov. Joe Manchin will be a challenge for the GOP, McKinney admits. Candidates for those two posts haven’t been knocking down his door, he aid.
John Raese, the Morgantown multimillionaire businessman who lost in 2006 to Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, has done extensive polling throughout the state, a statewide radio show operated by his business said earlier this week. The show released only portions of the poll dealing with presidential preferences and showed Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., leading in the state.
Raese has been mentioned as an opponent to Rockefeller, who defeated him in a close 1984 race. The MetroNews statewide radio show did not release any information about another potential Raese-Rockefeller race, though McKinney said he’s been told the results were not good.
“I haven’t seen the poll,” he said. “I understand it was not very favorable [between Rockefeller and Raese].”
I've got an idea I've been working on for some time to help out the West Virginia GOP.
The rightwingers in the state have been doing such a great job at making Capito look bad -- not that she needs their help in doing that -- that I feel I owe them one. So I have the perfect candidate for them to run against Gov. Joe Manchin. I'll announce it soon.
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