21 May 2007

Blair's Logan County Connection


Today's Charleston Daily Mail touches on a (perhaps) little-known West Virginia political factoid: Tony Blair's 1986 visit to the Mountain State and resulting friendship with Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan.

The article quotes Tomblin's executive assistant, Raamie Barker, and Charleston lawyer Brad Crouser, seen in the above photo with Blair, then a Member of Parliament and a "shaggy-haired, 33-year-old." The pair served as Blair's chaperones during his tour of the southern coalfields.

"We were apologetic about how rough some of the places were," Crouser recalled. "But he represented a coal mining constituency and was familiar with the country and its folks."

1 comment:

Christopher Scott Jones said...

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I really don't read the Charleston papers as much as I should these days.