After the Election

I wanted to write something after the election, but what I'm going to write about is after the election of 2006. I really enjoyed meeting the people during the 2006 and 2008 election, so even after I lost the bid for county commissioner in 2006 I continued to go to the dinners to see the friends I had made. I will do the same this time around as well. Just probably not eating 5 dinners in one day.

It has been 2 years and one week since the election of 2006 and I have some observations that I would like to share. You can really tell the people that learn to care about the people they have met and those that only went to the dinners for political reasons. Those politicians that only did it for political reasons; I have news for you the people notice.

In 2006 in Mineral County there were several of us on the ballot, School Board, County Clerk and Commissioner. On a higher level the State Senate and House and US Congress. Now the House both State and US run every 2 years, so those guys are in constant campaign mode, so I'm going to talk about the longer terms.

On School Board, I occasionally see Terry LaRue who won the race and I also see Butch Wahl that lost. That tells me that they still are trying to stay in touch with the public and that is a good thing. Bob Shook I have never seen since the election of 2006 and Kevin Watson I have seen once or twice. Now many of these people may have lives that do not allow them to make the dinner rounds and events or they may be seeing the people at other places. It is just my observation.

On the County Government level, I see both Clerk candidates on a semi-regular basis. Lauren Ellifritz is usually traveling with her Mom, but she is out there in the community. Marc Rice is also seen. He is usually helping the community in some way, many times with a fire department function, but the point is they didn't give up on the county after the election.

Now for the tricky part talking about my own race in 2006. I still travel the county and meet the people. The fact of the matter is I enjoyed making new friends and just because I didn't win doesn't mean that I give up on my new found friends. Besides there is some really great food to be had in the county and you get the opportunity to help out the local fire departments, rescue squads, churches and sometimes people that just need help. Just because you didn't win doesn't mean you don't stop caring. Now my opponent in the 2006 election. Well lets be frank she dropped off the face of the Earth. I have not seen her at a single fundraising dinner or talked to anybody that has, I'm sorry but that is wrong. The people voted to put her back in power and she has a right to show respect to the people that elected her. How can you govern effectively without being in touch with the people?

Now during that time I also ran into other officials that were not up for relections. Rose Anne Maine, Gary White and Mary Margaret Rinehart were out there in the community meeting and greeting the people that put them into office. I shows that the care and want to keep in contact with the public, because it is important to the people to have access to the elected officials.

This past Saturday I ate my dinner at the Fountain Ruritan and many people talked about the election and my performance in the election of 2008. I knew I was among friends and I only saw one other candidate from the previous election and people will remember those that give true support to the community and those that only show up when they want your vote.

Expenditures Public and Private

At a recent meet the candidates meeting, a question was raised about the use of a county vehicle. The questioner asked why a county employee was permitted to drive it at taxpayer's expense to and from his home in Hardy County. County Commissioner Cindy Pyles responded that it was a "smart" question. Hopefully she meant well-informed since some interpreted it negatively. Commissioner and candidate for re-election Janice LaRue promised to address the issue and get it resolved.

We are entering an age when every household is looking to find ways to cut expenses. Rising costs at the gas pump and the grocery store have hit many people hard. Of course our tax bill is not getting any easier either. The county must do as the rest of us have done and look for any way to maximize the revenue they bring in. Little bills add up to big costs and if we can slice away some of the waste, we should definitely start passing those savings on to the taxpayers. Commissioner LaRue is in a difficult position as the only Republican member of a three person county commission. She holds Republican beliefs no doubt, but must also at times compromise with the majority. County Republicans need to work after this election to groom a strong candidate to give Mineral County what it deserves, a Republican county commission dedicated to providing jobs and saving the people's money.

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While the Democrats are arguing over Hillary's new found identity as the driver of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, John McCain is trying to come up with solutions to help Americans even before he is elected. McCain proposed a gas tax holiday starting on Memorial Day and ending on Labor Day. He proposes this with an eye towards the states that will suffer from the drop in tourism dollars this summer.

McCain will not handle this hot potato yet but public pressure is mounting towards responsible drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. George W. Bush proposed this years ago and warned of shortages if we failed to start drilling. The shortages have arrived. John Raese campaigned on this issue when running for the US Senate in 2006. It's amazing how we fail to listen to the warnings until the crisis is upon us.

Shush!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week the Mineral County Republican Executive Committee voted on a resolution. Very rarely does this body make a specific statement on county policy. However it did encourage the Mineral County Commission "to oppose any additional requirements placed on building construction in Mineral County." This included additional fees and regulations above and beyond the state code.

They did not sacrifice a cat on the courthouse lawn, or anything similarly outrageous but you would not have believed it by the response of the county commissioners. Janice LaRue responded responsibly by saying she would look out for the good of the county rather than simply one political party. Fair enough.

However Cindy Pyles registered her extreme disappointment over the resolution and aimed her comments at two Republicans in particular. "I am really very disappointed in Bob Harman's signature, as a former commissioner," she said. Pyles then named who she thought was the true malefactor of this horrific deed when she stated, "This has the hand writing of Gary Howell all over it."

Horror of horrors and right before Halloween at that! Imagine the gall of Gary Howell, Bob Harman, or the Republican Executive Committee expressing an opinion! It must have been so disappointing for Cindy Pyles to hear a Republican organization expressing its own party's principles of less government and less financial burdens on citizens.

The problem with liberals is that they often see their views as the truth. They feel that if a person just uses their faculties of reason, that they will also arrive at the same conclusions. No room exists for rational disagreement in this world view. If a conservative disagrees they are either uninterested in progressive government, or selfish, or stupid. There is no thought that a conservative could have a valid and reasonable objection.

Conservatives have principles based on reason, logic, and American tradition. They should not let the disappointment of liberal county commissioners dissuade them from speaking their minds on what is right.

Commissioner's Report

One of our County Commissioners, Cindy Pyles, spoke to the Lion's Club about the various goings on in the County on Thursday, October 18, 2007. A lot seems to be happening, but two specific items troubled me and I am hoping to get some clarification.

Keyser Fire Department - When I moved to Keyser in April 2006, I knew precious little about the new bridge, except that it would take out the fire department and the building that housed the business I had just purchased. I assumed, wrongly, that the new fire hall near Airport Addition was to be the "new" home of the Keyser VFD. Apparently that is not the case as the Keyser VFD will be relocated to a new facility somewhere. I came from a town about 5x the size of Keyser that had 1 fire hall and a superb paid fire department. I was confused as to why Keyser needs two separate stations 1 mile apart? Several county fire departments are rated better than Keyser for insurance purposes (New Creek and Fountain as two examples). That means that your insurance in Keyser is rated higher than if you had the same house in the New Creek District or Fountain District. Confused as to why the fire department would use their resources to fund two separate houses I asked a fellow Lion why this was. The explanation was that the City owned the building downtown, but the fire department owns the one up by airport...? I don't get it, so I probed, if my house in Airport Addition (Keyser City Limits) catches fire...who comes to put it out? Well, apparently both fire houses would respond??? They are approximately 1 mile apart. The volunteers at one likely pass the other fire hall to get suited up and on the truck then backtrack to my house. Why don't we go to one fire hall, use the excess funds to pay a full time staff member or two, boost the fire department rating, and save everyone some insurance money? Keep in mind I am paid as an insurance agent a percentage of the cost of your policy, so this plan would result in a pay cut for me. But I feel that it makes sense. Can anyone better explain the need for two fire halls.

Second, talk turned to the 911 response center. I was still trying to get answers on the fire department, so I may have missed something, but it seems that the 911 center is being built up by Keyser High School. Commissioner Pyles was asked if this is being built on a cemetery. It was the one time I saw her transform into a politician and "To the best of her knowledge the only cemetery was down the road and not the site for the 911 center". I smiled. Then the question became, who owns that land. Obviously, the county, right...wrong! The response indicated that the county is building a county services building on land that they do not own and are not intending to acquire. huh? I am sure that with a 99 year lease and some other legal provisions this could make perfect sense. A lease would not require a capital investment for the purchase of land, it could save up front costs, it could be the difference in the need for a levy (tax) or a bond issue, if the county has enough to build a building but not to acquire land and build a building. It could be a lease with a purchase option to delay the need for purchase capital. A whole slew of possibilities, but no one pursued this, no answer came, and I did not feel the need to pursue the question. It could be the only way to locate near the school which likely already has the infrastructure needs to support a call center. Here's to hoping that the commission has done their due diligence before selecting this spot.

Overall, I will say that I was impressed by my first meeting with Cindy Pyles. She was knowledgeable about all of the projects going on, she held the attention of the room, was political when needed, and (despite a lack of sleep and teaching young minds during the day) seemed to be genuinely interested in the projects that were going on.

God Bless.