Opinions
Why it's important to listen to Bo Copley
MORGANTOWN – Presidential campaign stops and stump speeches become a blur after awhile, but occasionally there is a moment of intense clarity, a comment or circumstance where sharp focus is brought to bear on what the election is really about.
Dog bites man
“Read the comments.” That's good advice when directing friends to a dubious article or hollow commentary on some newspaper websites. The paid staff will often play it safe with a viewpoint that’s strictly vanilla at best. You might direct your friends to read some real information and analysis provided by citizen journalists and unpaid polemicists in the comments below the story.
Big money still a problem in judicial races
CHARLESTON – This year West Virginia’s judicial elections are nonpartisan. Candidates for the West Virginia Supreme Court as well as our circuit courts, family courts and magistrates will no longer be listed on your ballot as Democrats, Republicans or members of other political parties.
Engines of discontent
“Drivers, start your certified-configuration engines!” It just doesn't have the same ring to it.
Capito working to improve energy for West Virginians
WASHINGTON – I recently took several steps to promote more affordable, reliable and efficient energy.
Public financing helps restore integrity to judicial elections
CHARLESTON – There are two places where every West Virginian is supposed to be equal—in the ballot box and in our courtrooms. While it’s still one person, one vote, the millions now spent to influence elections takes that away.
Manchin and Goodwin are the ones who should be worried
Story CopyPicture Joe Manchin and Booth Goodwin on the day that Don Blankenship was sentenced to a year in prison and assessed a $250,000 fine: what a flurry of back-slapping, fist-bumping, and high-fiving there must have been!
Everyone involved should be punished
Ten years ago, two case technicians for the Social Security Administration in Huntington noticed something they apparently weren't supposed to notice: that an SSA appeals judge, also in Huntington, habitually was approving the disability claims made by clients of a particular attorney.
EPA 'leadership' hurting families throughout America
WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency has finally admitted that their relentless war on coal is not about fighting climate change but rather to show "leadership." EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said so in recent testimony before the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives.
New EPA rule seeks end to auto racing
Nags and scolds. They think they know everything, that they're smarter than everyone else, that they have the right to tell their inferiors – us – what we should and shouldn't do. They worm their way into positions of authority and start issuing prescriptions and prohibitions for our “betterment.”
Governor's Internship Program prepares students for success
CHARLESTON – Over the past several years, we in West Virginia have worked hard to create a strong education system and new opportunities for our students while developing workforce training programs to give our people the skills they need to find good-paying jobs.
The end is near for Obama's bullies
One of the great joys in life is getting the chance to tell a bully off, but the timing and the circumstances have to be just right or you're liable to suffer the consequences.
Praising Benjamin: When saying the least says the most
BECKLEY – I had not been practicing law very long when I first met Justice Brent Benjamin, but longtime observers of the state Supreme Court have told me him taking a seat on the bench in 2005 brought a refreshing perspective to the Court.
Blankenship vs. the Manchin-Goodwin connection
It doesn't seem fair that Booth Goodwin must run for governor. The position should be his by right. He thinks he’s earned it. He and his family have been staunch Democrats for decades, loyal supporters of Gov./Sen. Joe Manchin and of Gov./Sen. Jay Rockefeller before him.
Legislature helped its corporate backers, failed to tackle real issues
CHARLESTON – The 2016 West Virginia Legislative session has been called one of the worst ever by media outlets and organizations statewide. West Virginia is facing real challenges right now. Our roads are bad. We have a huge budget deficit. Millions of dollars have been cut from our schools. Coal is in decline and West Virginia workers need to be retrained for 21st century jobs. A financial crisis is looming.
Outside counsel policy ends cronyism, saves millions
CHARLESTON – West Virginia taxpayers deserve transparency, competitive bidding and millions of dollars in cost savings, all of which my administration delivered with its implementation of an outside counsel policy.
What do the Foxes say?
“I thought the rabbit droppings in your backyard were Cocoa Puffs and I experienced intestinal distress after eating them.
Legislature continues focus on needed lawsuit reforms
CHARLESTON – As the curtain falls on this year’s legislative session, we all should applaud the members of the West Virginia Legislature for their abilities to tackle big issues, particularly lawsuit reforms, which will move our state forward and into the national mainstream.
Another problem with public financing
“[T]he public financing of elections – for judgeships or any other positions – is a boondoggle we all should deplore.” That's what we wrote six years ago in an editorial opposing Gov. Joe Manchin's proposal of a public financing pilot project for the two state Supreme Court seats to be contested in the 2012 election.
West Virginia's comeback begins now
CHARLESTON – Historic and unprecedented. Those words illustrate West Virginia’s seismic victory recently at the U.S. Supreme Court – a victory that reverberated across the nation instilling hope in the state’s coal industry and forcing bureaucrats to think twice before using executive regulation to bring about radical change. The ruling, issued Feb. 9, immediately stopped President Obama from implementing the centerpiece of his coal-killing agenda. It limits further economic damage by freezing t