I attended the recent Lincoln Day Dinner held for the benefit of the Berkeley County Republican Party. It was well attended. There were numerous speakers, including State Senators Craig Blair and Charles Trump, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Congressman Alex Mooney.

Senator Blair offered some interesting statistics. He maintained that the new Republican majorities in both houses were more concerned with issues than partisan politics. He cited past statistics to bolster his claim. Prior to 2015, Democrats held substantial majorities in both houses. According to Blair, in 2012 there were two Republican sponsored bills that passed the Senate and none in the House, for an overall passage rate for Republican bills of 2%. In 2013 for Republican sponsored bills it was 3% in the Senate and 0% in the House for an overall percentage of 1%. In 2014 the percentages were similar with 1% in Senate, 3% in House for 2% overall.

For the years 2012 through 2014 the Democrats held a majority in both houses so those percentages should come as no surprise. However, Senator Blair asserts that during the most recent legislative session (2015) where the Republicans held a majority in both houses, there were 28 bills sponsored by Democrats that passed the Senate and 11 that passed the house for a combined percentage of 15%. According to Blair, this proves that the Republicans are more bi-partisan than Democrats. I’m not so sure that I would be so proud of this circumstance, although I am certainly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

In his remarks Congressman Mooney noted that partisanship on the part of Democrats in the House of Representatives remains a problem. He noted that Democrat leaders such as Nancy Pelosi continue to lobby Democrats in House to vote against any bill sponsored by a Republican, no matter what the issue. He cited a bill that he described as non-controversial aimed at human sex trafficking called “Justice for Victims in Trafficking Act” that was filibustered by Democrats and observed that this received almost no coverage in the press. Said Mooney, “if Republicans had filibustered this bill the press would have been all over it”.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey also addressed the attendees. In his successful bid to unseat incumbent Darrell McGraw, one of the issues that Morrisey ran on was regarding the “trinkets” paid for by the West Virginia taxpayer that his predecessor had handed out. In his remarks Morrisey noted that not only were the trinkets gone, in addition his office handed over to our state’s general fund money that his office collected in fines and penalties. This amounted to around $18 Million in revenues that the previous Attorney General’s office actually kept for itself. He added that new policies that use competitive bidding for outside contractors providing legal services have saved the state an additional $4 million. Further, he suggested that an audit of the state’s highway fund would save additional money and that there should also be audits done on other major state agencies. Imagine that.

No matter what one might think of Morrisey from an ideological standpoint, these are clear measurable and “non-partisan” improvements over his predecessor. As quoted in the West Virginia Record Morrisey said, “We have a terrific team that is gaining the confidence of other states. We’ve modernized the office. We’ve added new talent. We’ve modified how settlement money is processed. We’ve implemented our outside counsel plan. West Virginia is now a leader in the fight against the EPA. We’re doing good things.”

And yet, the not so bi-partisan press continues to hammer away at Morrisey. The hit pieces in the Charleston Gazette have become almost laughable. In fact, that newspaper has had to post “corrections” that have left its credibility in tatters. In one “correction” posted two months after the fact on May 7th, the paper begrudgingly admitted, “A March 9 story about West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey hiring a private lawyer to counsel him on whether he could take part in his office’s lawsuit against Cardinal Health should have stated that Morrisey was advised that no ethical rule required him to step aside from the case.” 

This, after posting the headline, “Morrisey broke lawyer ethics rules…” last September in a piece written by staff writer Eric Eyre. This is not the only correction that the Gazette has had to issue with regard to Morrisey. So when you read anything attributed to the Gazette you really need to take it with the proverbial grain of salt.

But this is how the liberal media rolls. The Gazette just recently posted an upbeat article about Jim Justice and his announcement to run for governor. According to staff writer Eric Eyre, “Pitching himself as a candidate who won’t be influenced by special-interest groups, West Virginia billionaire businessman Jim Justice announced Monday he’s running for governor as a Democrat.” Sounds like they love him already.

The article goes on to say that “Justice grew up in Raleigh County and now lives in Lewisburg. He made his fortune from coal mining, farming and timbering”. It quotes Justice as saying “Our state and our people are hurting”, adding “Somehow, some way, we have to get our coal miners back to work.” At least it also says, “Numerous fines and violations have dogged Justice’s coal companies”. Although it quotes Belinda Biafore, chairwoman the West Virginia Democratic Party as saying “Jim Justice is a job creator, and that is something that Republican leadership lacks here in West Virginia”.

Gotta love those West Virginia billionaire Democrats. I’ll be watching the Gazette’s coverage of the upcoming elections. It might make for some interesting journalistic gymnastics.