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This news story originally provided by The State Journal
2/5/04
The Cost of Campaigning
Candidates Contend With Increasing Expense of Running for Office in W.Va.
It is getting more expensive each year to seek public office in West Virginia, and political watchdog groups fear the rising costs will lead to a narrower list of candidates.
"We feel like it's already gotten to the point where people have to be either independently wealthy or have access to special interest group money to get elected in West Virginia," said Julie Archer, research analyst at the West Virginia Citizen Action Group and the Mountain State Education and Research Foundation.
With record numbers of candidates for such statewide offices as governor and secretary of state, some office-seekers may not realize how much it costs not only to run for office but, in some cases, to win.
Spending lots of cash does not guarantee victory. Charleston lawyer Jim Humphreys spent more than $10 million and lost twice to U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. But Gov. Bob Wise outspent former Gov. Cecil Underwood by about $250,000 in 2000 and beat the incumbent.
2002 Saw Costliest Elections
Wise spent more than $2.8 million to win the governor's race in 2000. In the most recent legislative elections, candidates raised more than $6 million altogether, according to campaign finance information compiled and calculated by the West Virginia People's Election Reform Coalition, which catalogs campaign finance information compiled by the Secretary of State's office.
PERC examined more than 1,000 reports filed with the Secretary of State's Office to develop a database detailing more than 27,000 campaign contributions in West Virginia.
In its 2002 election cycle report, PERC reported the year was the most expensive in West Virginia history. More than $4 million in contributions went to winning legislative candidates; 59 percent went to incumbents, 34 percent to challengers and 6 percent to those who ran for open seats in the Legislature.
For the fourth election cycle in a row, House Speaker Robert S. Kiss, D-Raleigh, had the highest contributions of all House candidates. He raised more than $72,000 and rolled over an additional $110,000 from previous campaigns.
Former Sen. Oshel Craigo, D-Putnam, lost his re-election bid in 2002, but he raised $408,587, more than any candidate since PERC began tracking campaign contributions in 1996.
Campaigns Aren't Cheap
Raising campaign funds can be critical for success, and the process gets more expensive each year.
Marc Harman has been involved in West Virginia politics for 30 years. He had directed congressional and statewide campaigns and been elected to public office on his own, spending five terms in the House of Delegates.
"Most of your money goes to media costs. Print, TV, radio, brochures, signage it's the most expensive part of a campaign," Harman said.
"For a statewide office like governor, you need a minimum level of campaign staffing. You can do a lot with volunteers, but you're going to need some paid staff. There are also travel expenses gas, food and lodging," he said.
Harman led Underwood's 2000 campaign and said the incumbent started raising money at least six to eight months before the 2000 election season began. Non-incumbents usually start raising funds once they commit to running for office, he said.
"There are different schools of thought about how you raise your money. Some are more heavily weighted to a grassroots campaign, which you'll see in the secretary of state race, where it's hard to raise money from special interests. Other races go right to the big money governor, U.S. Congress and the Supreme Court. Any of those high-profile races will have a blend of grassroots and heavy fund-raising," Harman said.
Well-heeled candidates are able to conduct polls throughout a campaign, the results of which can held them tailor their platform to what voters say they want in a candidate. Candidates with bare-bones budgets, on the other hand, often "fly by the seat of (their) pants," Harman said.
But money alone isn't enough, as the Humphreys-Capito races in 2000 and 2002 prove. A candidate's message must resonate with voters regardless of how much money a candidate spends on commercials and brochures, he said.
Following the Money
Archer said the Citizen Action Group, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and People's Election Reform Coalition started tracking campaign contributions in 1996, and the groups may follow expenditures in future elections.
"We wanted to see how campaign contributions are influencing public policy," Archer said. "In 2002, for example, we broke out contributions from coal and tobacco contributions because those issues were getting a lot of attention, and we were able to show how people receiving those contributions voted on the issues."
Individuals and families contribute the most to campaigns for governor and the legislative offices, Archer said.
"After that, the big ones are health care, labor, coal and consumer attorneys," she said.
PERC and the other citizen groups are pushing for cleaner elections that would use public money to finance campaigns, ridding the political process from much of the special interest groups' influence, Archer said.
"There is a bill in the Legislature right now for clean elections. If someone wanted to run for office, he would have to collect a certain number of individual $5 contributions, for example, in order to get the public campaign money," she said.
If the clean elections legislation ever becomes law, candidates would need to collect some money from individual donors up front to prove they have enough public support to legitimize the candidacy. The public campaign fund would be financed from individual donations and tax checks, which Archer explained are donations that taxpayers can add through their income tax filings.
This news story originally provided by The Daily
Mail
2/6/04
Groups want stricter water rules
Suit seeks restored standards for mine waste assessments
Brian Bowling
Daily Mail staff
Three environmental groups are asking a federal judge to order Interior Secretary Gale Norton to restore water quality standards that were stripped from the state's mine program in December.
The lawsuit filed by the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Hominy Creek Preservation Association and Citizens Coal Council seeks restoration of language that requires the state to assess the "cumulative impact" mining operations have on surface waters. The groups also want the court to restore a definition of "material damage" that sets the limit for that impact.
A spokesman for the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, which handles mining regulation for the Interior Department, couldn't be reached for comment.
Green Valley native Tony Sears said the changes Norton approved to the state mine program in December undermines the intent of federal mining and water quality laws to protect and improve streams.
"It kind of shoots everything down as far as water quality is concerned," he said.
The Nicholas County resident said his main concern is defending Hominy Creek, a naturally reproducing trout stream. A proposed mining operation would cover part of the creek's watershed with a valley fill and put a coal waste impoundment next to the stream, he said.
"They're wanting to cover up 6,000 feet of the main tributary of Hominy Creek," he said.
While the state mining program would still have to conduct an analysis of how the mine would affect the creek, without the previous language there's nothing to protect the creek from elevated iron levels, he said.
The coal mine refuse has an iron content that would be about 40 percent to 80 percent higher than the concentration allowed in a natural trout stream.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure that the runoff (from the waste) will be higher than the limit," Sears said.
An additional concern is that the valley fill and impoundment would disrupt the bottom of the creek's food chain.
"I don't think they should be able to cover up a feeder stream because it is a reproducing trout stream and it must have fresh feeder streams to survive," Sears said.
While water would still flow from the site, it would be stripped of bugs and other aquatic life.
"That's what the trout feed on are bugs and things such as that," he said.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers. Chambers is also the judge in a related case in which the state Department of Environmental Protection, OSM and the three environmental groups have agreed to set up a review team to spot check how the state analyzes the effect proposed mining operations could have on water quality.
Writer Brian Bowling can be reached at 348-4842.
This news story originally provided by The
Charleston Gazette
2/10/04
Woman says law not solving problems
Panel member says coal trucks sparking many calls
Brian Bowling
Daily Mail staff
In a two-hour advisory committee meeting that mostly consisted of state officials complimenting each other on how well they're enacting a new coal truck weight law, the lone citizen member suggested they talk to someone other than each other.
Judy Bonds of Coal River Mountain Watch bridled at a suggestion by Delegate Steve Kominar, D-Mingo, that speeding coal trucks were the main safety problem left in the southern coalfields.
In the first three months of operation, a hotline for citizens to report on coal trucks breaking the law has logged 159 complaints. Bonds pointed out that those complaints ranged from overloaded trucks to people being threatened for calling the hotlines.
"I'm telling you there are problems out there that still need looking at," she said.
In the Peytona area of Boone County, trucks have been overloaded to the point of losing some of their coal on curves, Bonds said. In one case, the coal struck a girl in the head.
"If we can listen to some citizens who actually live out there, we can maybe change things," Bonds said.
Charles Boggs, the state Public Service Commission's liaison to the advisory committee, said the committee didn't have time to listen to citizens in today's meeting but could add them to the next meeting's agenda.
Earlier in the meeting, Boggs thanked coal and trucking industry officials for helping the PSC write the regulations for how it will enforce truck weights under the new law.
"I want to commend them for their help. They've been really great," he said.
So far, the PSC has issued 744 permits allowing trucks to weigh up to 126,000 pounds on designated coal hauling routes. The limit includes the weight of the truck and the coal it is hauling.
The agency has issued another 277 permits allowing coal-hauling trucks to exceed the weight limits placed on other trucks but less than the 126,000-pound maximum.
A key part of the new weight enforcement system is that coal loads are measured at both the shipping and delivery points to verify the weights fall below the limits. Mike Browning, executive director of the PSC, said only 55 percent of the 240 shippers and receivers that have registered with the agency are making reports. Of those, only 17 percent of the reports have contained all the data required by law.
As its first official action, the committee picked Paul Hardesty, director of the state Development Office's Coalfield Community Development Office, as its chairman.
The next meeting of the advisory committee is scheduled for 8 a.m. April 13 at the PSC offices on Brooks Street.
Writer Brian Bowling can be reached at 348-4842.
This news story originally provided by WV Metro News
2/11/04
Rockefeller Says He Was Wrong To Vote For War
Staff
MetroNews Talkline
HEAR "TALKLINE" COMMENTS FROM U.S. SENATOR JAY ROCKEFELLER BY CLICKING "LIVE AUDIO" ICON ABOVE.
U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) says he was "wrong" to support the resolution to go to war against Iraq. Rockefeller made the comment during an appearance Tuesday on MetroNews Talkline.
Rockefeller says he based his vote on the intelligence presented, and that intelligence, about Weapons of Mass Destruction, turned out to be wrong.
Rockefeller says if Congress, the President and the intelligence community would all admit they were wrong, the finger pointing may stop and officials could decide how to fix the problems with intelligence.
Senator Rockefeller is the vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and he says he's not pleased with the independent panel, appointed by the President, to study the intelligence controversy.
Rockefeller says, "The commission will only report to the President. It doesn't have to issue a report to Congress."
Rockefeller says the panel has all of the earmarkings of allowing the President to establish an executive privilege objection.
Rockefeller predicts the independent panel will avoid important areas of study. He says only two or three people on the commission truly understand intelligence. Rockefeller says it's also important to note that the President will appoint the staff himself.
The longtime Senator predicts the commission will "give the usual reasons for failed intelligence."
Rockefeller believes the Bush Administration was connecting the dots for war long before the conflict began. He says there was tremendous pressure placed on intelligence sources.
Rockefeller says the Senate Intelligence Committee has been working for months on the issue and will "have the deepest description of what went wrong with intelligence."
Senator Rockefeller says he is very glad Sadaam Hussein is out of power and believes Iraq is a safer place, but "the world is a another matter."
This news story originally provided by WV Metro News
2/11/04
Coal Truck Advisory Committee Meets
Staff
Charleston
Lawmakers, coalfield residents and representatives from the state Public Service Commission sat down Tuesday morning for their first Coal Truck Weight Limit Advisory Committee meeting.
The group was formed last year when the legislature passed Senate bill 583, which increased the weight limit coal trucks could carry on designated routes in 15 West Virginia counties.
The new system officially went into effect Jan. 1. But this was the first time the appointed committee had a chance to sit down as a body and discuss how the new laws were working.
Crabtree says as far as the administrative side, things are moving right along. They have 100 enforcement officers out on the roads making sure those trucks are following the speed and weight limits. And for those who don't, they'll have to face some steep fines.
But first the Advisory Committee has to put together an administrative sanctions process to penalize those trucking companies who don't follow the new laws.
Several members of the group are coal field residents who fought hard to keep the legal weight limit at 80,000 pounds. They lost that fight. But they say by having a voice on the committee, they can make sure the laws are being followed.
This news story originally provided by WV Metro News
2/11/04
From Explosion To Flood
Staff
Pineville
Mine investigators have hit a roadblock in their exploration of a Wyoming County mine. The Pinn Oak operation was shut down in September after two underground explosions.
On Sunday, state and federal investigators went underground for the first time to assess the situation. But they didn't get very far. They ran into deep water, which has accumulated in the five months since the mine was in operation.
All they can do now is pump that liquid out, and no one's sure how long that will take. Doug Conway with the West Virginia Mine Safety, Health and Training office, says they can't move forward until all that water is removed. And he says once that's done, they're not sure what else they'll encounter on their way to the explosion site.
The explosions not only idled 400-plus miners who work at the operation, but also 800 Weirton Steel workers. US Steel gets its coal from Pinn Oak, and in turn, Weirton Steeel gets its coke from US Steel. No coal means, no coke and no work for all those employees. They've been temporarily laid off. The length of the work stoppage all depends on what happens at the Pinn Oak mine.
Conway says he knows a lot is riding on the mine reopening, but he says safety comes first. They have to be sure it's safe to send crews underground before they let anyone else enter the mine. How long that will take, no one knows.
This news story originally provided by AP and The Daily Mail
2/12/04
Cubin rolls out mine-cleanup proposal
By The Associated Press
Rep. Barbara Cubin is proposing an alternative to a Bush administration plan to divert all federal mine cleanup funds from Wyoming to Appalachia.
Both Cubin's bill and the administration's plan would require the federal government to pay the more than $400 million in abandoned mine land funds it owes Wyoming.
Both would also reduce the amount coal companies pay into the fund and would reauthorize a provision requiring interest on the fund to be used to pay health care costs of miners whose companies have gone out of business.
But the similarities between Cubin's plan and the administration's proposal, which was unveiled last week as part of the Department of the Interior's 2005 budget, end there.
Cubin's bill would keep the abandoned mine land funding flowing to Wyoming for 15 years. The fund is currently scheduled to expire at the end of September.
Cubin, R-Wyo., said her proposal is similar to one she crafted last year with Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va. Efforts to attach that plan to a plan to overhaul energy policy have so far failed.
Cubin is optimistic the House Resources Committee will approve the measure but is unsure whether it will pass the full House or Senate.
"We haven't even discussed it with the senators,'' Cubin said. "It is too early for that.''
Most coal mines requiring cleanup are in the East. West Virginia has a backlog of at least $733 million worth of reclamation work to do on sites listed as top priorities, according to officials with the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection.
This news story originally provided by AP and The Daily Mail
2/17/04
Green groups try to track water bills
By GAVIN McCORMICK
Associated Press Writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Environmental lobbyists were poised Tuesday to push proposals still being debated in this year's Legislature, including bills regulating state water use and water quality.
On its 15th annual "E-Day'' at the Capitol, the West Virginia Environmental Council also threw its support behind legislation (SB293, HB4147) that would see consumers pay a dime deposit to encourage bottle recycling.
Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha and a bottle bill sponsor, said he would be "amazed'' if the proposal passed this year.
But he said retail and wholesale groups who have objected to collecting and storing bottles for recycling have been brought to the negotiating table, making future passage possible.
A House Judiciary subcommittee is set Tuesday to tackle a proposal that would lay legal claim to West Virginia's waters and measure how much is withdrawn in a year. The Senate unanimously passed the bill (SB163) earlier this month.
Job one for environmentalists might be to determine what happened Monday in a Senate committee to a proposal (SB353) that would weaken state water standards.
Reconsidering an action it took last week, the Senate Natural Resources Committee apparently endorsed rules governing water quality that include industry-backed amendments to weaken the standards.
The committee had passed the bill last week without the amendments, which are favored by the West Virginia Coal Association, the state Chamber of Commerce, the Independent Oil and Gas Association and the West Virginia Manufacturers Association.
The business groups insisted they had pushed the desired changes through a rule-making committee last month during an interim legislative session.
Senate Natural Resources Chairman Pat Fanning, D-McDowell, said last week that was not the case, then declined to add the amendments. But he reconsidered that action on Monday.
The amendments include ordering state regulators to stop protecting all streams as if they are potential drinking water supplies, as well as eliminating an expanded list of protected trout streams.
The changes are opposed by the state Environmental Quality Board, which governs West Virginia's water quality.
Conni Gratop Lewis of the Environmental Council said opponents of the amended bill would take up the battle in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which also must pass it.
This news story originally provided by The Daily Mail
2/17/04
Environmental groups push legislative agendas
By The Associated Press
Tuesday February 17, 2004
Environmental lobbyists were poised to push proposals still being debated in this year's Legislature, including bills regulating state water use and water quality.
On its 15th annual "E-Day" today at the Capitol, the West Virginia Environmental Council also threw its support behind legislation that would see consumers pay a dime deposit to encourage bottle recycling.
Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha and a bottle bill sponsor, said he would be "amazed" if the proposal passed this year.
But he said retail and wholesale groups who have objected to collecting and storing bottles for recycling have been brought to the negotiating table, making future passage possible.
A House Judiciary subcommittee was set today to tackle a proposal that would lay legal claim to West Virginia's waters and measure how much is withdrawn in a year. The Senate unanimously passed the bill earlier this month.
Job one for environmentalists might be to determine what happened Monday in a Senate committee to a proposal that would weaken state water standards.
Reconsidering an action it took last week, the Senate Natural Resources Committee apparently endorsed rules governing water quality that include industry-backed amendments to weaken the standards.
The committee had passed the bill last week without the amendments, which are favored by the West Virginia Coal Association, the state Chamber of Commerce, the Independent Oil and Gas Association and the West Virginia Manufacturers Association.
The business groups insisted they had pushed the desired changes through a rule-making committee last month during an interim legislative session.
Senate Natural Resources Chairman Pat Fanning, D-McDowell, said last week that was not the case, then declined to add the amendments. But he reconsidered that action on Monday.
The amendments include ordering state regulators to stop protecting all streams as if they are potential drinking water supplies, as well as eliminating an expanded list of protected trout streams.
The changes are opposed by the state Environmental Quality Board, which governs West Virginia's water quality.
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