Douglass Taken to Hospital

The Associated Press reports that longtime state Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass was taken to a Charleston hospital Monday with low blood pressure.

An operator at Charleston Area Medical Center's Memorial Division said "Douglass remained under evaluation Monday evening," the article said.

Douglass, who turned 82 on Sunday, is serving his 11th term at the ag post.

MetroNews also has an item, as does WSAZ-TV.

Quote of the Day

"(I) listened as much as a wife is going to listen to her husband... Policy-wise, the buck stops with me."

-- U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, when quizzed by USA Today as "one of two dozen members of Congress with substantial financial ties to the banks and other companies getting a piece of the $700 billion financial rescue package."

Married to a Citigroup executive, Capito "voted against the rescue package and to block release of its second half," the article notes.

Legislature 2009: Day 13

• Public Broadcasting examines Gov. Joe Manchin's "25% by 2025" proposal for alternative and renewable energy, and fields reactions. With audio.

• MetroNews, meanwhile, focuses on how the governor's bill could attract wood-fired power plants.

• The deaths of two volunteer firefighters last week in Nicholas County has raised the profile of a pending measure to fund a pension-type benefit for such personnel, Public Broadcasting reports (audio here).

• MetroNews also delves into Manchin's proposal targeting under-performing third and eighth graders. With audio.

• The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington highlights several measures introduced so far this session.

• Retired public employees plan to rally Thursday at the Capitol, to call for "increased PEIA premiums, the need for a cost of living allowance" and a $20,000 state tax exemption for their pensions, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

• The Register-Herald of Beckley reports on the renewed debate over Sunday hunting.

Sizing Up the Stimulus, II (Updated)

West Virginia could see nearly $1.8 billion from the federal stimulus bill over the next several years, The Associated Press reports, citing the latest batch of estimates.

"The spending covers an array of areas among several broad categories," the article said. "$671 million for health care and safety net type services; $643 for education and work force training; $323 million for roads and other infrastructure; $71 million for energy-related efforts; and $31 million for public safety."

AP also offers a more detailed breakdown of the funding, and notes that "the amount reflects direct funding as well as grants and money that hinges on state matching dollars or policy changes in such areas as unemployment compensation."

Update: MetroNews talks to Manchin Commerce Secretary Kelly Goes and House Finance Chairman Harry Keith White, D-Mingo, about the stimulus estimates.

Update II: the Charleston Daily Mail scrutinizes the stimulus job estimates, while Stateline.org has a photo of Gov. Joe Manchin leaving Monday's White House meeting on the legislation.

Bonus Quote of the Weekend

"I think people will read though that and understand that it's political posturing and you're playing with people's lives, and that's a very, very dangerous game."

-- Gov. Joe Manchin, again commenting on the stimulus bill during the National Governors Association meeting, this time to The Washington Post. Manchin was responding after several of his GOP counterparts said they may reject some of the incoming federal funds.

Quote of the Day

“This is a bipartisan effort. And if you don’t jump on, you’ll fall off pretty quick... Some people are not too enthusiastic, but the bottom line is something had to be done.”

-- Gov. Joe Manchin, commenting on the federal stimulus bill during a press conference at the National Governors Association weekend meeting in Washington, D.C., as quoted by Politico.

Legislation 2009: Day 10

*** With the session one-sixth of the way through, legislators have introduced nearly 1,000 bills. Two have passed the House so far.

*** Lawmakers weighing Gov. Joe Manchin's school calendar bill have learned that only three of 55 counties still have a shot at the current level of 180 instructional days this year, The Charleston Gazette reports.

"And just one more snow day in those three counties - Kanawha, Berkeley and Hardy - would eliminate any chance they have," the article said.

MetroNews also has an item on the school calendar situation, with audio.

*** Legislative leaders tell The Associated Press that their members aren't talking much about the constitutional amendment on marriage sought by an evangelical Christian group. The leader of The Family Policy Council of West Virginia, meanwhile, says he believes it has been following the law in soliciting donations from state residents for the campaign.

AP and The Register-Herald also heard from Gov. Joe Manchin on the topic (he called the proposal "overkill"), while the House's GOP leader disagrees and told the Beckley newspaper that "it’s something we can do fairly quickly and put it on the ballot."

*** The Register-Herald also reports on the latest bid for a bottle deposit law in West Virginia, as does The Gazette and MetroNews.

*** MetroNews reports on the state mine safety chief's budget request, which reflects that it is "expanding its jurisdiction to include river coal loading facilities that are connected to active mining sites." The report includes audio of Director Ron Wooten.

Legislature 2009: Energy

The Register-Herald of Beckley marks the introduction of Gov. Joe Manchin's "25% by 2025" alternative and renewable energy proposal.

"Manchin told lawmakers he was setting two benchmarks for renewable and alternative sources of fuel — 10 percent of all power sold to West Virginians by 2015 and one-fourth by 2025," the article explains.

The bill rolled out with a backdrop of West Virginia Coal Association's annual mining symposium. The Associated Press reports that Manchin told the forum that "coal producers need to help West Virginia increase renewable energy production to show its commitment to new energy policies."

The Charleston Daily Mail covered the symposium as well, checking in with National Mining Association President Hal Quinn among others.

MetroNews has an item focused on comments from the executive director of the Southern States Energy Board.

Legislature 2009: Day 9

• The Senate appears likely to assign a study committee to legislation that seeks to repeal West Virginia's partial ban on nuclear power plants, the Charleston Daily Mail reports. Public Broadcasting also has an item, with audio.

• The Charleston Gazette finds state Auditor Glen Gainer suggesting legislation to allow temporary public employee furloughs to address the sort of financial crisis roiling states across the country.

• Public Broadcasting (with audio and video) and The Register-Herald of Beckley each report on a pending proposal from a House Republican "requiring low-income recipients of certain programs to be drug-tested."

• The Associated Press and The Gazette relay several budget requests from state Attorney General Darrell McGraw that are in addition to the spending recommended by Gov. Joe Manchin in his budget bill.

• MetroNews highlights this year's version of a long-sought proposal "to promote a container deposit law for West Virginia." With audio of John Ferrari, president of California recycler NexCycle.

• The Gazette and AP report on a visiting law professor's study of West Virginia's civil justice system, and the reaction of some lawmakers.

Legislature 2009: Gay Snipers

Since The Associated Press reported earlier this week on an emerging legislative lobbying campaign seeking a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage, attention has turned to an online infomercial from the group behind the push.

The nearly six-minute video posted by The Family Policy Council of West Virginia has gone viral, drawing tens of thousands of hits along with coverage from the likes of The Huffington Post and Politico.

As AP explains:

“Marriage began in the heart of God,” the narrator says as the ad starts. About a minute into the video, the crosshairs of a rifle scope appear over the image of a family blowing bubbles. The narrator warns that “same-sex marriage is a closer reality in West Virginia than you may think,” and that activists are “working tirelessly to define marriage away from God’s design.”

West Virginia Blue was the first to blog about the video.

AP reported earlier that The Family Policy Council did not initially admit ownership of the site hosting the online ad. AP's follow-up also includes questions about the council's reliance on GOP-allied groups to conduct its campaign, and notes that it "has yet to register as a charity with state officials, though it’s reported raising enough to trigger that requirement."

The council "announced Wednesday that hundreds of churches across West Virginia would take part in 'Stand4Marriage Sunday' March 1 as part of its campaign," AP reports. "The council wants the Legislature to allow a statewide vote on the amendment, similar to those passed in at least 30 states."

Mollohan Among Top Beneficiaries of Raided Lobby Firm (Updated)

U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-1st, is among the top 10 recipients of money linked to PMA Group, a Beltway mega-lobbying firm whose offices were raided by the FBI late last year, research by the Center for Responsive Politics shows.

Mollohan received $69,620 of the $3.4 million that PMA's PAC and employees have contributed to 284 current members of Congress since 1989, the nonpartisan group reports.

Once among Washington's 10-largest lobbying firms, PMA is "under investigation for funneling campaign contributions through sham donors," The Associated Press reports.

CRP's online databases of campaign contributions suggest that Mollohan received his share from PMA's PAC, and all but $12,000 of the amount before 1998. The online records show no donations from PMA-related individuals during the time period scrutinized in the report.

AP reports that at least three of PMA's 284 congressional beneficiaries have said they will return the money.

Update: Mollohan is not among the House members identified by Congressional Quarterly "who secured earmarks for clients of The PMA Group in the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations law, which was enacted in 2007."

Political Wire explains that the bill was "managed by Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) to exclusively help a lobbying firm with close ties to Murtha."

Quote of the Day

"That is what we should do here, whether it's constitutional or not... Okay, I should not have said it like that."

-- Delegate Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, while urging support for his proposal to require drug testing of those who apply for public assistance.

Legislature 2009: Day 8

• The West Virginia Behavioral Health Care Provider Association is urging lawmakers and other state officials to reverse years of neglect and underfunding, The Associated Press reports.

• Some lawmakers want to repeal the power of the state insurance commissioner to craft workers' compensation rules without legislative review, AP reports.

• MetroNews hears from Republican legislative leaders who continue to question the impact of the gradual, modest tax cuts pursued by Gov. Joe Manchin and his fellow, majority Democrats. With audio.

• The Charleston Daily Mail reports on Manchin's proposed one-time "salary enhancement" for teachers, school service personnel and state employees "if the state has a sufficient surplus on hand at the end of the fiscal year June 30."

• Manchin outlines other items from his 2009 agenda for Public Broadcasting, which also offers audio.

• Manchin spoke to The Register-Herald of Beckley about breaking a toe during a workout.

A Raise, Sort of , for West Virginia Public Employees

As MetroNews explains, "state workers, including teachers, may not get a pay raise out of this session of the legislature, but they may receive a break in health care premiums."

The Charleston Gazette also has an item on the $6 million and $9 million proposal "to offset pending Public Employees Insurance Agency employee premium increases."

Public Broadcasting talks to House members supportive of the measure, and offers video.

Hunting in West Virginia

West Virginia's bowhunters have come out in force to support the state's ban on firearm deer hunting in four southern counties.

Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming counties have been bowhunting-only since 1979, "when Division of Natural Resources officials decreed the deer population too depleted to further support" a firearms season, The Charleston Gazette reports. But the counties have since "gradually developed a reputation for producing trophy bucks" for bowhunters, the article said.

National Rifle Association officials in Virginia appear to have spurred a postcard campaign aimed at urging West Virginia to lift the firearm ban, The Gazette reports. "The postcards incensed so many bowhunters, they chartered a bus to transport them from a rallying point in Beckley" to a Flatwoods meeting of the state's Natural Resources Commission, the article said. "Other hunters drove two to three hours to attend. Their numbers swelled the midwinter meeting's attendance, which usually numbers two to three dozen, to nearly 200."

But The Register-Herald of Beckley hears from an NRA official who says the bowhunters "overreacted."

"A few months ago, the NRA decided to poll its membership in West Virginia after some had inquired about removing the firearms ban," the article said. "But so few members favored changing the status that the NRA decided to go no further with the idea."

The article quotes Jordan Austin of the NRA's Virginia-based Institute for Legislative Action, who said the offending postcards were part of the survey.

Stimulus Funds Heading to W.Va. (Updated)

The Obama administration trotted out estimates alongside Tuesday's signing of the sprawling federal stimulus bill that suggest West Virginia will reap $1.6 billion and save or create 20,000 jobs from it, The Associated Press reports.

A separate estimate pegs the state's slice of funds at $1.38 billion, while the GOP continues to tout their alternative proposal to argue it promised 15,000 more jobs for the Mountain State.

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., provided the White House spending estimates and talked to WOWK-TV and (updated) The Charleston Gazette about his support for the bill

Among the state's three congressional districts, the White House breakdown assigns a larger share of jobs to the 2nd District, where Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito was alone among the three in opposing the stimulus (but was joined by all GOP members present in each vote).

"Capito explained her stance against the legislation during a closed-door Tuesday meeting with Republicans in the state House of Delegates, where she once served," AP reports.

AP also cites the new special committee formed by the state House "to find ways to make the most of the funding, provide for a fair and transparent spending process and identify 'those projects and sectors that provide the best opportunity for long term job creation and economic growth.'"

MetroNews also reports on the House committee (audio here), with a separate item on the Republican objections (and audio from former GOP congressman J.C. Watts). MetroNews has the White House spending estimates as well.

The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington focuses on a $290 million section of West Virginia's share, while The Register-Herald of Beckley examines the highway portion.

Gov Joe Manchin, meanwhile, told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that he hopes the federal dollars can be distributed equally among the counties. He also spoke to The Intelligencer of Wheeling about the state's share.

Update II: the Charleston Daily Mail focuses on stimulus funding slated for alternative energy and "clean coal." Public Broadcasting solicits legislative reaction. With video.

Legislature 2009: Day 7

• Gov. Joe Manchin is seeing progress from his bill to bar a repeat of the pension draw-downs executed by two circuit judges last year, The Charleston Gazette reports.

• The Charleston Daily Mail reports that "state officials are considering moving the start of buck gun season to a Saturday, a move likely to reignite the debate over Sunday hunting."

• Both The Associated Press and The Gazette examine the budget proposal from West Virginia's higher ed system, where efforts to improve funding are likely stymied by the recession-threatened state budget.

• MetroNews gets legislative reaction to a decision by the parent company of Charles Town Racetrack in Jefferson County not to seek a table games ballot issue this year, having lost the 2007 vote.

• The Daily Mail also focuses on Manchin's proposal to equalize treatment of veterans in West Virginia's main retirement program for public employees.

• The Gazette and MetroNews (with audio) each fielded Manchin's reaction to Monday's public employee rally at the Capitol. " Manchin says those workers should be thankful they have jobs," the latter reports.

Quote of the Day

"I understand that these plants require a lot of water, and would need to be along one of our rivers. Perhaps we should build one on the Kanawha [River], maybe right next door to the state Capitol.''

-- Don Garvin of the West Virginia Environmental Council, reacting to The Associated Press regarding proposed legislation that would repeal the partial ban on in-state nuclear power won by his group in 1996.

Legislature 2009: The Nuclear Option

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill this session "to repeal a 1996 partial ban on the building of nuclear power plants," The Associated Press reports.

Lead sponsor and Kanawha County Sen. Brooks McCabe tells AP "a ban is inconsistent with West Virginia's claim that it is an energy state." But "a lobbyist with the group that helped pass the limited ban questioned why energy-rich West Virginia would bother with the associated risks."

AP explains that "while not forbidding nuclear power plants, the 1996 law sets several hurdles for one. They include a requirement that the country have a dumping site for radioactive waste that has operated safely and effectively for at least two years."

McCabe said such concerns could instead be addressed during the process of developing a nuclear plant project, which he estimated would likely takes decades.

While open to options for helping the nation achieve energy independence, Gov. Joe Manchin "believes that because West Virginia has an abundance of coal that nuclear power is not as practical as the resources already at our hands," a spokesman tells AP.

Obama Adviser Has W.Va. Connection

The former investment bank and labor union aide tapped by President Obama to advise his new auto industry task force has a track record that includes helping West Virginia's steel industry, the The Associated Press (corrected cite) reports.

Ron Bloom "helped resolve a 10-month strike against the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. in 1997," and "facilitate Esmark Inc.'s successful tie-up with Wheeling-Pittsburgh in 2006," while a top adviser to the president of the United Steelworkers union, the article said.

"He should be given a tremendous, tremendous amount of credit for restructuring -- and I believe saving -- the American steel industry," Mark Glyptis, president of USW Local 2911 in Weirton, told the newspaper.

As an adviser to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, "Bloom will have the day-to-day task of working with carmakers, their bondholders and labor unions to force concessions, reprising a similar role he played during the consolidation of the steel industry in the last decade," the article said.