Allen Evans, Ruth Rowan, and Robert Schadler Secure Funds For Camp Minco

Mineral County's three elected members of the House of Delegates presented a check to the county commission for $10,000 to help construct a new bath house for the facility. The camp is used by many groups, including the 6th grade camp program run by the Board of Education. Long time supporter and advocate for the facility Bob Harman joined the delegates and county commissioners for the official delivery of the funds.

Candidates and Community

It takes a lot of time, commitment, money, and effort to run for office and I respect anyone who takes the plunge and follows through with fundraising, door to door walking, attendance at fairs and festivals, and anything else necessary.

That being said, some candidates tend to earn more respect than others from their communities. Those are the ones that didn't just start caring about community because they ran, but ran for office because they cared about their communities.

One great example is Harley Staggers Sr. Almost everyone has a story about his commitment to this region before and after his election as congressman. He taught kids to play ball, helped the sick find doctors in the middle of the night, and commuted to and from work in Washington most days. Remember, that was prior to four lane highways, too. His son keeps that family tradition alive by coaching middle school basketball in Keyser.

You see other candidates around the state with that same mentality. Charles Minimah and his wife are both running for the Legislature from districts in Charleston on the Republican ticket. They run a small business and have been active for many years in promoting black heritage in the Kanawha Valley. Locally you see Gary Howell active in Rotary, Rose Ann Maine in Kiwanis, and all our legislators, Dave Sypolt, Ruth Rowan, and Allen Evans, contributing by sponsoring livestock at the fair. You see them at the community dinners and gun bashes in and out of the political season. School Board candidate and recent addition to the county Republican executive committee, Butch Wahl has helped raise thousands of dollars for the Keyser High School athletic complex. They show their support for local fundraising by purchasing tickets and attending events whenever possible.

Ed Koch Continues to Support George W. Bush

Former Mayor Ed Koch represents a dying breed. He is one of the last of the nationalist Democrats that once dominated American politics. Starting with Woodrow Wilson and continuing through Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, these Democrats supported a strong American foreign policy. They learned the lessons of Munich and Pearl Harbor while fashioning the policies that Reagan eventually used to win the Cold War.

Koch compares President Bush to Harry Truman. Both men had a number of difficult decisions forced upon them by an unfriendly and changing world. Both men acted from the principle that American power wielded justly would deter the forces of tyrannical aggression. Certainly this required sacrifices that were not easy on the American people. History looks kindly on Truman today for his strength; Koch believes that George W. Bush will be remembered similarly. Bush's stand for a democratic Israel combined with his recognition of the threat posed by Islamofascism won him Koch's praise.

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One of the last active nationalist Democrats is Joe Lieberman. Since his defeat as part of the Al Gore ticket in 2000, the Democratic Party has sought to purge him from his US Senate seat because he dares to support President Bush. Lieberman strongly supports John McCain in this election and a large silent percentage, if not a silent majority, of conservative and moderate Democrats will likely follow him. Interestingly, Hillary Clinton has turned full circle from her Vietnam War protest days and looks increasingly like a Democrat of old. However the radical MoveOn.org organization's money will defeat her in the end.

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Looks like it might be a little while longer before we find out who Ruth Rowan will face this fall in the 50th delegate district. Alan "Mitch" Davis came within twenty votes of Royce Saville. Although declining to request a recount initially, Davis eventually decided to ask for one.

Rowan is a two term Republican incumbent.

Potomac Highland Conservative Candidates at a Glance

The following Conservative Candidates have Pre-filed to run for office in 2008

• 14th Senatorial District
  
• Republican
  
• Gary G. Howell
• Hometown: Keyser, WV
  
• Filed 4/26/2007
  
• Home County: Mineral
• District: Barbour, Grant (part), Mineral, Monongalia (part), Preston, Taylor, Tucker
  

• 15th Senatorial District
• Republican
• Clark S. Barnes
  
• Hometown: Elkins, WV
  
• Filed 12/11/2006
• Home County: Randolph
• District: Berkley (part), Grant (part), Hampshire, Hardy, Morgan, Pendelton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Upshur (part)
  

• 50th Delegate District
• Republican
• Ruth Rowan
  
• Hometown: Points, WV
  
• Filed 12/11/2006
  
• Home County: Hampshire
• District: Hampshire (part) and Mineral (part) Counties

• 51st Delegate District
• Republican
• Daryl E. Cowles
  
• Hometown: Berkeley Springs, WV
• Filed 2/9/2007
• Home County: Morgan
• District: Hampshire (part) and Morgan (part) Counties.
  

Ruth Rowan Defends Potomac Highlands Values

Ruth Rowan Defends Potomac Highlands Values

When the 50th Delegate District sent Ruth Rowan to Charleston in 2004, she had to know that she went under a shadow. Long time delegate Jerry Mezzatesta’s behavior in office was described by Hardy County Democrat and Delegate Harold Michael as affecting “how the public perceives the entire House of Delegates.” That being said, “Mezz” had a knack for bringing home the bacon from Charleston. Delegate Rowan served as a schoolteacher before going to the Legislature just as Mezzatesta did. Although she definitely could not start with the same kind of influence as her predecessor, Delegate Rowan serves the 50th with honesty, efficiency, and dignity.

According to Project Vote Smart, Delegate Rowan’s voting record, especially in 2006, has reflected the kinds of values that West Virginians tend to support. She voted 70% of the time to limit government waste, 80% of the time in favor of pro-family issues, and 86% of the time in support of small businessmen and women. The National Rifle Association honored Delegate Rowan with an “A” rating and she also was endorsed by the West Virginia AFL-CIO. Certainly the last mention does not necessarily reflect purely conservative values, but it is in step with many West Virginia voters.

Beyond Delegate Rowan’s honesty, her reflection of her voters’ values, and her increasing effectiveness (due to ever increasing seniority) is her personality. If you were to try and create a perfect citizen-legislator, you would combine intelligence, experience with everyday concerns, and approachability. If West Virginia voters collectively made an effort to rid the state legislature of corrupt members and replace them with real citizen-legislators such as Delegate Rowan, we might finally see a political system that truly works for the state.

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It may be shocking to the Christian Science Monitor, (“Firing of US Attorneys Puts New Focus on Voter Fraud”, April 5, 2007) but most certainly not those of us in West Virginia that vote buying continues to plague our democracy. The St. Clair County Illinois Democratic Executive Committee paid East St. Louis residents $5 or $10 to secure a vote for John Kerry and other Democrats in 2004. Although this incident was investigated and resulted in a conviction, other United States attorneys refused to seek out and prosecute similar instances of voter fraud. Therefore the Bush administration wisely sent several of them packing.

Liberal Democratic organizations such as the People for the American Way insist that voter fraud is not substantial enough to warrant the time of federal investigators. However former US Attorney Kasey Warner noted that votes in West Virginia sold in large numbers for between $15 and $25 (obviously St. Clair County residents were getting gypped.) This was in the same year, 2004, that state Republican party chair Kris Warner and his brother Monty had received death threats for their pledge to root out vote buying and other forms of corruption. Although the People for the American Way do not seem to believe vote buying is an important issue, the vote buyers seem to take it extremely seriously.

How on earth can we take democracy seriously if it is for sale?