The Potomac Highlands Conservative Endorsements For Primary Elections

The most difficult choice of the various elections came in choosing our endorsement for Republican nominee in the First Congressional District.

We sent out a three page list of questions to gauge the candidates' conservative principles. Some questions had a very conservative aspect whereas a few could have been answered either way by a good and principled conservative candidate. Every candidate for the Republican nomination scored very high on conservative principles, although some scored slightly higher than others.

Next we had to look at electability. Three candidates have emerged from the pack. David McKinley and Sarah Minear are well funded. Mac Warner may have less money, but he seems to have as committed of a set of volunteers as the other two. All three would provide a powerful opponent for the eventual Democratic nominee. Even some of the less well-funded candidates, such as Tom Stark, may have a good shot with the current mood and national money behind them.

Experience matters. Again, all three of these individuals have tremendous experience. Sarah Minear represented her senatorial district very well for many years. Many of those most closely involved in GOP politics in her district are powerfully loyal to her and respect her political service. David McKinley served as Republican Party chair and also worked hard as a state legislator. Mac Warner spent many years in the United States Army traveling the world, then returned to West Virginia to establish businesses in the Morgantown area.

Of the three candidates, two have committed themselves to visiting this area in person. Sarah Minear and Mac Warner both have visited the Potomac Highlands multiple times. We saw both speak in person at a Meet the Candidates forum in Fort Ashby. Both candidates conveyed a sense of strength, ability and leadership. Mac Warner and Sarah Minear have also both demonstrated a strong concern for the portion of the Potomac Highlands that lies within the First District.

So we whittled it down to two and must choose between them. Republicans in the First District have put forth a powerful field, one of the strongest for an office that I remember. All of the GOP contenders are good conservatives. Four of them are running strong campaigns, three of them seem to have very good organizations, especially in the Potomac Highlands. Of those candidates who have come in person to this region repeatedly, Minear and Warner present the stronger image and have tremendous experience, albeit in different fields.

So it comes down to Minear and Warner. I want to stress that either one of these two, and also McKinley, would be great candidates. I would have no problem doing what I could for any of them. However the slight edge goes to Mac Warner due to his strong military background. With the nation still at war (whether the media remembers it or not) having congressional representatives in place that understand the military from the inside helps tremendously for many reasons.

I have met Sarah Minear and, if elected, believe she would make a great congressional representative. I have heard positive things about McKinley. If you could endorse more than one, I'd not hesitate to do so. Minear, McKinley, and Warner all bring experience and skill to campaigning and Congress. However, you can only endorse a single candidate and that will go to Mac Warner.

Now for the Democratic nominee in the First Congressional District. We will endorse no one at this time. Mike Oliverio is a good conservative Democrat, but must pledge publicly to not vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker should he win election. She has harmed West Virginia and its people considerably and needs to go.

Second Congressional District: This one's easy. We support Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito for re-election. No one has fought harder for West Virginia since the Obama Administratiuon started its relentless attacks on mining and manufacturing.


14th Senatorial: Also easy. Senator Dave Sypolt has represented his district admirably since winning election. He returns to Mineral County on a regular basis and is responsive to voter concerns. Sypolt has leadership qualities that could serve him well in higher office, should he ever decide to seek it. He is a strong Republican legislator and we enthusiastically endorse him


On the Democratic side we endorse the personable Glynis Board.

Finally we get to the races for House of Delegates.

In the 48th Delegate District we only received one response and that was from incumbent Allen Evans. Evans has a good legislative record and has worked hard to benefit the entire region. A local mayor outside the 48th noted that Evans was very helpful in securing help for his town. When looking at the Republican legislative "team," Evans helps considerably with his knowledge and experience in agriculture. Our enthusiastic endorsement goes to Allen Evans.

In the 49th Delegate District we endorse Gary Howell. Howell has been involved in regional transportation development issues for several years. He has worked on the U. S. 50 committee and has researched alternative and cost reducing ways to finance Corridor H. Howell spends a great deal of time researching public policy. Since Republican legislators do not have their own researcher in Charleston, Howell can add that talent to the team in Charleston.

We received no responses from the Democratic candidates in the 49th.

In the 50th Delegate District we are happy to endorse Ruth Rowan. Rowan's years of teaching experience make her a leader among Republicans in crafting education policies. Her husband also brings his decades of teaching experience to Charleston to help support Delegate Rowan. They make an outstanding team and represent their district well.

On the Democratic side of this race we will endorse Joseph Moreland over Alan "Mitch" Davis. Moreland responded to the survey and has a fairly conservative lean.

In the 51st Delegate District, incumbent Daryl Cowles receives the endorsement on the Republican side. He has amassed a strongly conservative voting record that represents his district well.

There of course are endorsements for the primary election cycle. We will run endorsements again for the general election at the start of early voting.

Early voting has started across the state. Now go out and vote!!!!!!!

Stephen P. Goodwin, Former Board of Governor's Chief, Dies

I am truly saddened to learn of the death of Stephen P. Goodwin, former head of the Board of Governors.

Mr. Goodwin, a partner in Goodwin and Goodwin, was one of the most prominent Democrats in the state. However, I knew him more as the father of my friends, a sponsor of youth sports, and an all around great guy. His optimism and spirit are reflected in the success of his children, Aly, Carte, and Ryan, whom I am proud to call good friends.

Please say a prayer for this good man and his family.

I Love Money

I'm admitting it. I am saying it. I refuse to add a caveat or a qualifier. I refuse to refer to St. Augustine or any country song written by a comfortable artist and sung by a rich person.

I like money. Actually I love having money when I have a little of it. I wish I had it. I know it would make my life and the lives of those closest to me a lot better.

One of the best events in life is getting your first paycheck. For most of us, it was probably something like a hundred bucks or so. It represented a sacrifice of time and energy spent earning money. As you work hard and move ahead in life you see that pay day get better andbetter, hopefully. You see it grow even larger as you achieve in your job or graduate from college. Making money off of investments makes a person feel good too. You risked money in a viable enterprise, helping it and yourself if the investment succeeded.

Money is great. It feels great to have a nice thick stack of bills in your wallet. You can take your kids on trips that broaden their mind, you can fix up your house or, hey, buy a new one. Money and property liberate the mind, body, and soul. Obviously that liberation can go in positive or negative directions. But it's your money, you can do what you want, enjoy the benefits, or reap the consequences. I want to have as much of it as I can possibly earn. I refuse to allow myself to be socially badgered into thinking that is a bad thing. If I had a lot of money, I'd put more money into the collection plate at church, into the Salvation Army buckets, and leave giant tips. Best of all I would invest it into the private sector, helping to create jobs and economic expansion. I'd also spend a good bit too.

Investing and spending generate more wealth. It's the capitalist system and it has done a very good job of creating massive amounts of wealth in the United States. It's that wealth that Obama and the Left want to seize so they can run their unnecessary programs. Wealth liberates and taxes control. They want your money and your liberty.

The fact is that such statements sound shocking. We have been conditioned to think of money as a necessary evil, a corrupting influence, and a signpost on the road to perdition. We've been trained to always add some moral caveat every time we say we want money or like it. I'm tired of that. Money is a good thing. For every lottery winner or sports star that ends up worse off, there are many whose lives improve because of it. Country music usually hits the nail on the head, but I cringe every time I hear a millionaire singing that he or she just wants to live in a little house in the sticks and drive a car that breaks down all the time.

Left wingers love to bash money and bash businessmen that earn it, even when they are rich themselves. They want to raise taxes that siphon away that money because they think they can spend it better than you can. Part of their strategy is to demonize money itself and make people feel shame for having it even when they work hard for it. Don't give in to that kind of mindset because it is the road to serfdom, if not downright slavery.

And it is not greed to want to keep your money. If the money was earned by someone, somewhere properly, it is not greed to want to keep it. Greed is when you believe that you are entitled to resources that you did not earn or own. It is not the rich man who holds onto his cash that is greedy, it is the government that comes to take it so it can fund pointless programs. The government is greedy, not the owner of wealth or property.

Be proud of the money you earned and fight for your right to keep it. Because money, after all, is potentially a very good thing.

Obama Insults Poland

Ronald Reagan in 1981 said of Poland and its people:

"The Polish nation, speaking through Solidarity, has provided one of the brightest, bravest moments of modern history. The people of Poland are giving us an imperishable example of courage and devotion to the values of freedom in the face of relentless opposition. Left to themselves, the Polish people would enjoy a new birth of freedom. But there are those who oppose the idea of freedom, who are intolerant of national independence, and hostile to the European values of democracy and the rule of law.
"Two Decembers ago, freedom was lost in Afghanistan; this Christmas, it’s at stake in Poland. But the torch of liberty is hot. It warms those who hold it high. It burns those who try to extinguish it."

Poland has becoem one of our strongest friends and supporters since the fall of Communism in part to to words and deeds of Ronald Reagan, a true president.

This week Barack Obama, currently occupying a house where heroes once lived, could not tear himself away from a a game of golf to ride over to the Polish Embassy to pay respects for their fallen president. Obama's non attendance at the actual funeral in Poland was understandable given that an engine destroying cloud of volcanic ash hovered over Europe. What prevented him from stepping into a car and riding to pay his respects to Poland's representatives in the United States?

Again, this is what you get from a minor league man in a major league role. In other news, Libyan dictator Moammar Qadaffi praised Obama's leadership . . .

Beautiful Day

My apologies to regular readers. I was at a conference in Virginia Beach from Thursday until Saturday. Friday afternoon featured a beautiful 88 degree day without a cloud in the sky. My hotel sat right on the water so I enjoyed an afternoon with the surf and sand.

At some point during that afternoon I turned away from the Dean Koontz novel I was reading to survey my surroundings. I walked down to the ocean and waded in to my knees (water was too cold to go any further!) To one side I saw two somewhat plump children about ten years old defiantly running into the surf. Our nanny staters would bemoan the fact that the children had grown slightly overweight. I saw it as beauty. How wonderful to live in a nation where so much is so abundantly available. How rare that is in history!

I turned to look at the line of hotels extending about a quarter mile to the south and miles to the north. All moderately sized, they came in different forms, but not much variety of color. From behind them, you could see the multicolored (mostly pastel and white) shops across Atlantic Avenue. Our environmentalist friends would bemoan the presence of endless citadels of humanity and pine for the days when Virginia Beach was a pristine and savage place, scrub trees on the sand, swamps a few hundreds of yards inland. They see humanity as intruders upon the world and seek to limit man's reach as much as possible, no matter what that might mean to real, everyday people. The proliferation of hotels in Virginia and elsewhere creates a competitive environment where establishments must offer good service at reasonable prices. Reasonable prices mean that people on average or even poor incomes can scrape together money to take their children or just themselves to a decent vacation. Environmentalists not only want to limit the number of hotels and cottages, they also want to drive up the price of gas and shrink the size of vehicles. How can an inland family squeeze into a compact and pay outlandish prices for gas to go to the beach. Travel educates and broadens the mind, even if it just goes to the beach. Environmentalist policies would drive travel beyond the affordability of many people who can scrape together money to do it now. In an environmentalist world, travel is only for an elite few, namely themselves. They want it this way because they see common men, women, and children as invaders upon their secular creation, destroyers of a static sense of nature that they invented and has no basis in true reality.

Progress is cheap vacations, cheap power, cheap food, and drained swamps. Regress is rising prices, rising scarceness, and fewer opportunities for travel. The self-styled "progressives" believe in rolling back the progress of the industrial world, limiting its benefits to a few, and creating artificial scarcity. Virginia Beach is currently a symbol of the triumph of American civilization. Even lower middle class and poor have leisure time and money to enjoy a few days at the beach. A few more years in the hands of the so-called "progressives" and those opportunities will disappear.