They’re ba-ack!

With apologies to Poltergeist II (did that movie really come out 30 years ago?) it looks to me like a zombie reincarnation from the last election cycle has emerged from the swamp of campaign finance. It’s called “West Virginia Family Values”. It is a brand new “liberal SuperPAC”. Or is it? During the last election cycle, in October of 2014, I wrote about what the watchdog organization Opensecrets had labeled a “Liberal SuperPAC” called “Honest West Virginians.” Here’s what I had to say then: “Here in West Virginia, during this current election cycle there has emerged what is described by Opensecrets as a Liberal SuperPac. It’s called ‘Honest West Virginians.’ I’ll bet you’ve never heard of it, but according to the Charleston Gazette, ‘Honest West Virginians: The pro-Democrat committee run by labor interests raised about $645,600 last quarter and $896,100 altogether.’ It goes on to say, ‘Honest West Virginians has spent tens of thousands of dollars on TV ads against state Republican candidates, according to TV station political disclosures.’”

As it turned out, “Honest West Virginians” spent hundreds of thousands, not “tens of thousands” on ads attacking Republicans. The final tally of what they raised was in excess of $1.4 Million. And as I reported in 2014, one of the races that “Honest West Virginians” had targeted was in the 63rd Delegate District in Berkeley County. Their classless attack ad displayed incumbent Republican Delegate Mike Folk against a backdrop of the old “Looney Tunes” cartoons, saying “Our Delegate Mike Folk is Looney”. However, voters realized who the truly looney were. Folk won by a wide margin garnering more than 60% of the vote.

So unsuccessful were the efforts of the “Honest West Virginians” SuperPAC in getting Democrats elected in 2014 that it appears to me that they have decided to rebrand it. Enter the “new” progressive SuperPAC “West Virginia Family Values.” According to campaign finance filings, this new SuperPAC lists approximately $292,000 in contributions from none other than “Honest West Virginians” (oddly, Opensecrets lists it as a “vendor payment”) which appears to be just about all of what it had in the bank left over from the previous cycle. So it would seem that they rolled the money from the old into the “new.”

To my mind a “progressive” big dollar SuperPAC called “West Virginia Family Values” is a bit Orwellian. Almost an oxymoron. It’s a blatant attempt to co-opt a conservative talking point by a group with no track record on any issues. It is something that hopefully an honest West Virginian wouldn’t do. There are conservative organizations in West Virginia that do have a track record regarding family values like the Family Policy Council of West Virginia founded in 2006. Another is the West Virginia Family Foundation, founded in 1992, whose candidate survey in 2012 was entitled - interestingly enough - “2012 West Virginia Family Values Questionnaire.” What a coincidence.

According to its September 30th filing, the “West Virginia Family Values” SuperPAC has raised over $1.1 Million and has spent approximately half of that. The vast majority of the contributions to its predecessor, “Honest West Virginians” were from unions. Unions are major contributors to the new SuperPAC as well. In perusing the list of contributions a significant chunk comes from out of state and Washington DC. Only one small contribution from the Eastern Panhandle…for $500. Go to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office website and take a look.

One of the contributions that breaks my heart comes from the United Mine Workers Union. My grandfather was a coal miner. I would be interested in any plausible explanation as to why members of the United Mine Workers Union would believe that contributing to a SuperPAC that supports Democrats running for office in West Virginia is in their best interests. Why coal miners would contribute to the political party, the Democrats, that has done so much to put so many of their ranks out of work is beyond me. Unless they simply had no choice - that they had no say as to how their union dues were spent. So this might be the poster child as to why Right to Work laws are essential.

While the old “Honest West Virginians” was funded almost exclusively by unions, the new West Virginia Family Values SuperPAC contains a new wrinkle. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from law firms and their special interest groups. Of interest is the $40,000 contribution from the Consumer Protection Alliance. Sounds like a great thing. Who could possibly be against consumer protection? I’m certainly for consumer protection. However, as their website shows, the main goal of the organization is to stop tort reform.

It’s abundantly clear that the left has caught on that West Virginians are very concerned about family values, otherwise they would have named this SuperPAC something else. However, “SuperPAC representing the special interests of trial lawyers and union bosses” while more accurate, probably wouldn’t have much appeal to voters. Don’t fall for the marketing gimmick.

When the organizers of “West Virginia Family Values” named it, they were trying to appeal to West Virginia voters. Any lawyer will tell you that the name of the product doesn’t have to accurately describe it. It’s just a marketing device. You can take snake oil and call it “Miracle Potion.” It’s just a brand name. Kind of cynical really.

However, in this particular case, if you know what’s in it, you don’t have to vote for it. Now that you know “the rest of the story”, its Caveat Emptor, or better yet Caveat Suffragator. Instead of “buyer beware” its “voter beware.”

Incidentally, the full title of the 1986 film is “Poltergeist II: The Other Side.” How fitting.

They’re ba-ack!