Analyzing the Goodwin Selection

Last week, confirming the weeks long speculation of some in the state Republican Party, Governor Joe Manchin selected Carte Goodwin to fill Senator Byrd's former seat.

To many this came as a shock, but it represented a fairly logical selection on the part of the Governor, despite some protests.

First of all, the situation is as such: the Governor wants to run for this Senate seat and has to appoint someone on an interim basis. Some suggestions for nomination included Gaston Caperton and Bob Wise because of their past political position. Others included Nick Casey, former Democratic Party chair. Why would Goodwin represent a more logical selection than the aforementioned?

Frankly the Governor needed someone who would not "welsh" on a promise to step back for the special election. Goodwin has worked closely with Manchin for years and has his political career for the most part in front of him rather than behind. He has decades of life to run for the Senate again if he so chooses. Also, Goodwin is an up and coming guy in the party. He has intelligence, experience crafting legislation, and charisma not unlike the Governor's. Much like a baseball team will bring up its prospects in September and October to get them major league experience before they emerge as stars, the Democratic Party benefits from getting one of its own future leaders in the limelight and the public eye.

Like I have said before, I am a Jackson County guy originally and know the Goodwin family pretty well. This was a good selection ideologically, from a conservative point of view, when you look at the alternatives and Goodwin himself. Some people will express outrage unless a person along the same ideological lines of John Raese was selected. We were not going to get a conservative or a libertarian. What you do get with Goodwin is the same sense of pragmatism that you often get with the Governor. You will get an outlook that will be more fair to business and more reflective of West Virginians than most other selection possibilities. Another benefit, compared to Wise or Caperton, is that Goodwin actually lives in the state.

The downside for Goodwin personally is that he has been sent to join one the of the least popular Congresses in recent years. If he can separate himself somewhat from the Democratic Party leadership, he may not end up friends with the (likely) outgoing Harry Reid, but he will score points with potential future voters. Goodwin has been placed into a very difficult position at a tough time in history for the Democrats. It will be interesting to see how he negotiates the storm that currently grips the nation's politics. Personally I think he will do a good job considering the circumstances.

The Good and the Strange

West Virginia University president Michael Garrison found his way into the newspaper twice last month for remarkably different issues.

The first earned him real kudos. Standing up to a popular coach with the best winning percentage in university history showed that he had backbone. Garrison's priorities lay in the university above that of the football team. After all, he is not the GM of a pro sports outfit, but the leader of an academic institution.

The second incident is a little stranger. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette while researching the promotion of Heather Bresch by Mylan uncovered something strange. She claimed to hold an MBA from WVU, but the records indicated otherwise. University officials claim that old records did not make it onto the new digitized system, so recently they gave her credit for six courses and awarded her the degree. Newspaper investigations have not yet turned up evidence that she attended the classes she claimed to pass. Why all this attention? Ms. Bresch is the daughter of Governor Manchin and her employer is one of WVU's top financial supporters, in case you have not noticed the new name of the football stadium.

Likely this is all an honest mixup. However, the Charleston Gazette today called for a thorough investigation. Hopefully all parties concerned will submit to a fair examination of what precisely occured. If nothing else, there may be other former students out there with the same predicament and the problem needs recitfied. Again, it is probably an honest bookkeeping error. However the worst case scenario of corruption in the state's flagship university could play a major role in the 2008 election.

Even more interesting is the Gazette's reluctance to accept the official explanation despite the fact that such things happen frequently. A multitude of small things, almost insignificant in themselves, are adding up to indicate a brewing conflict within the West Virginia Democratic Party between Manchinites and the ultra left. This represents the latest in a series of developments that include the possibility of top Manchin aide Carte Goodwin running to unseat Attorney General Darryl McGraw for the Democratic nomination.