…What do you want to know about the candidates in the races to be decided in the November 8th election? With all the County races decided, only District 1, State Senate, and District 1 and 2 House of Delegates are contested locally. The Congressional race is as well, but honestly it promises to be not much of a race. A sacrificial candidate is running against incumbent Alex Mooney (R) who was successful in booting Cong. David McKinley out of his seat in the Primary.
……State Senate Candidates are Democrat Randy Swartzmiller of Chester and Republican Laura Wakim Chapman of Wheeling. In looking over the latest campaign finance reports (filed in July) they both are pretty equally funded – Swartzmiller predominantly by unions and Chapman by business PACS. – Chapman, an attorney, is endorsed WV Law Pac. I found no mention of Chapman being an attorney on her web page. She most recently practiced with Paul Harris Law Firm. Harris made headlines in local newspapers after an Ethics Complaint was filed against him with the WV Bar Assoc. .
……Swartzmiller, is a former member of the House of Delegates. This is second run for Senate having been defeated by Ryan Weld two years ago. Swartzmiller is endorsed by the West Virginia Education Association (Hancock County Education Association endorsement has yet to be announced) Currently, Chapman has received contributions from Senate President Craig Blair who has a vested interest in keeping a Republican majority in the Senate. Swartzmiller has received the very significant endorsement of the NRA.
……Do endorsements matter? I think they do. I was never a candidate who thought an ad listing all your endorsements was effective. After all, for every endorsement you get you lose a vote on the other side of the platform, I’m kind of appalled, however, when I hear of candidates for legislative positions like the House of Delegates who don’t even bother to return questionnaires. Endorsements range from the West Virginia Education Association to the AFL-CIO and the WV Chamber of Commerce. Doctors, lawyers and yes, auto dealers, insurance….they all endorse. Right to life, pro-choice. All those endorsements come with donations to your campaign. What’s even more important, I think, is the opportunity to know that a candidate feels the same way about an issue that is important to you as a voter; has voted that way and there is a great probability he/she will vote that way in the future.
……So my questions to both candidates: How would you vote on abortion? Exemptions for rape and incest? (I know the Legislature passed a bill; but that bill can be amended or repealed) What is your stand on charter schools? Are you in favor of Amendment 2 (which gives the Legislature the power to repeal or reduce personal property tax.._and if so how would make up lost revenue to the schools and counties?) What is your stand on Amendment 4 which gives legislative oversight to the Board of Education. What legislation would you sponsor? And, is there any specific action you would take to spur economic development in District 1?
……..Finally (and most important to me) will you return constituents calls? One of the horror stories I hear from not only constituents but elected officials is that current members of the House do not respond to calls? That makes my blood run cold. That behavior actually has a name. It’s called “Kanawha River fever” and it means once you get to Charleston, you forget the people who sent you there. The late Del. Sam Love gave me a piece of advice when I arrived in Charleston, “The voters may forgive you if you don’t vote their way. They’ll never forgive you if you don’t return their calls.”
…..……Can we talk? With anyone? Anymore? I think not! My inability to talk with a human when trying to get customer service appears to pretty universal. When I’ve been in search of a human to handle my problem over the phone I seem to be relegated to the automated alternative to a real person. And, can that quasi-human talk to me? Apparently not, because every time we start on the prompts of press one for…..two for…..Max barks and I’ve just agreed to pay a gazillion dollars on my American Express.
……..For years, handling business by phone was consider state-of-the-art. Somewhere along the line, however, computers replaced the trusty phone….I mean a real phone with an end for your mouth and another for your ear. No confusion there. But, somewhere someone learned it was more efficient for them to get you to handle your problem on line, on their website. Only, I’m not good at that. I prefer to do phone and therein lies my problem.
……..My laptop either had a meltdown from so many popups that no matter what I did it a horrid sound came up telling me to press something or call a number to make it stop. Nooooo! I’m much too smart for that. Or, at least I am now. I did that one night some ten years ago and they held my computer hostage wanting ransom money. My attempts to retrieve my compute went into the weee hours of the night and I will forever give Shannon credit that when I woke her at 7 a.m. the next morning with news of the computer status, she simply said “ooooh,” and only muttered “how stupid are you” in her mind.
……So now, I have the Geek Squad from Best Buy and I talk to them on the phone. That used to be good experience because they would take over my computer and I would sit there and watch them work their magic. They are so smart. This time, it worked well and within 20 minutes the Geek had worked his magic and I thanked him profusely for doing such a good job. But, when I got off the phone and went back to my laptop, I couldn’t access my yahoo e-mail, or g-mail, or Facebook, or amazon prime or Netflix. So I called the Geek Squad again. “It’s asking for all your passwords,” said the Geek. “I’m sure it is, and I remember most of them. What I don’t know is which one matches which. Once you put your password in it’s supposed to last, right?” I guess nothing is forever anymore.
