Howard Dean in W.Va.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean rallied delegates of the National Federation of Democratic Women today at their annual meeting in Charleston, The Associated Press reports.

Dean touted his party's 2006 electoral gains while lambasting the GOP and President Bush. Iraq was a recurring topic.

The Republican National Committee was quick to respond. MetroNews also covered Dean's late morning speech.

Quote of the Day

"They said, 'Joe, you cannot hug the queen.' I wanted to, and I believe she needed one, but I refrained."

-- Gov. Joe Manchin, telling the National Federation of Democratic Women on Friday about his meeting Queen Elizabeth II during her recent trip to Virginia.

Rahall's Latest Middle East Mission

The Charleston Gazette's Tom Searls managed to snag U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall after his John Unger endorsement Thursday, and asked the 3rd District Democrat about his recent trip to Egypt, Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank.

Rahall told Searls that "weak leadership for Israelis and Palestinians leaves little hope for immediate change in the region."

Rahall also spoke to MetroNews Talkline host Hoppy Kercheval about the trip and the disheartening assessment it produced (with audio).

W.Va. Struggling To Account For ATV Deaths

Health care writer Tom Breen highlights West Virginia's lack of solid statistics on the number of and details behind all-terrain vehicle deaths in the Mountain State, in this story for The Associated Press.

It's a compelling "lede:"

"When 50-year-old Pentress resident Randy Marshall was killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident in Mingo County on Sunday, it was the 13th such death this year. Or the 14th. Or possibly the 15th.

No one seems to know, despite an order by Gov. Joe Manchin tasking the state with creating a comprehensive statewide report on fatal ATV crashes. The lack of such information, some experts say, is cloaking the severity of the state’s ATV safety problem."

Rahall, Mollohan endorse Unger

In a move that could likely give pause to any other would-be candidates, West Virginia's two Democratic U.S. House members have endorsed state Sen. John Unger in his bid to unseat 2nd District Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

Both showed up and spoke at the Berkeley County Democrat's press conference at the Capitol Complex launching his campaign. So did Nick Casey, state Democratic Party chairman.

The Rev. Dennis Sparks, executive director of the state Council of Churches, led the small crowd in attendance in prayer to start and end the press conference.

Casey told The Associated Press afterward that he and the party will wait until the May 2008 primary to endorse a candidate. But he also acknowledged the significance of Rahall and Mollohan backing a candidate so early in the process.

‘‘I think that’s something that other candidates really have to look at,’’ Casey said. ‘‘These two congressmen really made a declaration today.’’

Others who covered the press event and Unger's announced candidacy include The Journal of Martinsburg, The Charleston Gazette and MetroNews. The latter links includes audio of Hoppy Kercheval's interviews with both Casey and state GOP Executive Director Gary Abernathy on the statewide Talkline program Thursday.

Once Again, Duluth Passed Over For Junket

A number of West Virginia newspapers today have picked up The Associated Press version of a story that ran Thursday in the Charleston Daily Mail about state legislators heading to balmy Puerto Rico this month for the spring meeting of the Council of State Governments.

"Taxpayers will pick up the roughly $40,000 tab for sending 25 state legislators to Puerto Rico next month for a conference," the AP's take said. "State leaders will be staying at El Conquistador Resort and Golden Spa in Las Croabas overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The hotel was voted best resort casino and hotel spa last year by the Caribbean Travel and Life magazine."

Other newspapers, including The (Wheeling) Intelligencer, have also done their own reporting on the junket.

Update: Both the Daily Mail and The Charleston Gazette opine on the upcoming junket in separate editorials today.

Also...state Sen. Andy McKenzie, R-Ohio and a scheduled participant, defended the trip on MetroNews' Talkline program (with audio).

Benjamin Revisits 2004 Election

Public Broadcasting reports on Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin's recent appearance at a National Press Club forum on judicial elections, where he talked about the 2004 race.

"Benjamin defeated then-Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw in the nastiest and most expensive court race in WV history," Public Broadcasting's Scott Finn Reports. "Most of the money spent on that race came from outside groups; trial lawyers targeted Benjamin, while business groups and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship attacked McGraw. Blankenship alone spent more than $3M on the race."

But Benjamin "says he won because of McGraw’s mistakes – not Blankenship’s money."

Public Broadcasting also offers a print version as well as audio from last week's Washington, D.C., forum.

The Death Penalty in W.Va. - UPDATED

I have been covering the federal trial of George "Porgy" Lecco and Valerie Suzette Friend, stemming from the 2005 death of a drug informant. The U.S. District Court jury found them guilty on all charges against each in a 13-count indictment. The jurors have been deliberating since Wednesday on whether to sentence each to death or to life in prison without parole.

Update -The jury voted for death for both Lecco and Friend _ the first death sentences handed down in West Virginia in more than 40 years. The Associated Press has the story, while The Charleston Gazette and MetroNews were among those also in the courtroom for the penalty verdicts.

Before the jury resumed deliberations today after the holiday weekend, I wrote this piece for The Associated Press on what affect this federal death penalty case might have on state law.

This is the fourth death penalty case in West Virginia since capital punishment was restored on the federal level in 1988. It was abolished for state crimes in 1965; the last execution for state crimes was in 1959.

The previous federal death penalty cases in the state all ended short of the penalty phase now underway in the Lecco-Friend case. But five other states without capital punishment have seen federal prosecutors secure the death penalty within their borders since 1988.

Yet, the death penalty remains off the books in those states. One state has revived the death penalty since 1988: New York, in 1995. But a federal death sentence was not handed down in that state in modern times until February.

Hiram Considers Adding Hat to Hypothetical '08 Ring

Republican Hiram Lewis told the Charleston Daily Mail that he's testing the waters for a 2008 run for attorney general.

Lewis is among 95 West Virginians who have filed (free and non-obligating) pre-candidacy papers for legislative, statewide or undeclared offices.

The official filing period runs Jan. 14-26, and several offices carry hefty filing fees. Filing for attorney general, for instance, is $950.

More than a third of these filers did not declare an office, including incumbent Attorney General Darrell McGraw. A Democrat, McGraw filed his pre-candidacy paperwork in April 2005.

More than half the pre-candidates are incumbent legislators. Another five lawmakers filed pre-candidacy papers for 2010 races.

The Daily Mail reports that Lewis is "getting ready to set up a Web site and start fishing for campaign money." I did find this web site for his law practice, though it may pre-date his unsuccessful 2006 bid for U.S. Senate.

Lewis lost in the GOP primary that year. The Daily Mail cites how he fell to McGraw in 2004 by about 5,000 votes.

Upshur County Lands Romney's Son For Event

Tagg Romney, a son of former Massachusetts governor and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is slated to appear at the June 22 Lincoln Day Dinner in Upshur County.

West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon will host the event. A former executive in the L.A. Dodgers organization, the younger Romney is a senior advisor to his father's campaign.

The state Republican Party offers additional details.

Howard Dean coming to Charleston

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is the scheduled headliner for the 36th annual convention of the National Federation of Democratic Women, slated for May 30- June 3 in Charleston.

The former Vermont governor and 2004 presidential candidate will help open the convention with a Thursday speech before returning to Washington, D.C., the Saturday Gazette-Mail reports today.

Dean last visited West Virginia for a Democratic Party rally in January 2006.

Critics Decry Pro-Table Game Ads - Updated

Freshly kicked out of state court and looking to rebound, the West Virginia Family Foundation is crying foul over the appearance of three Kanawha County-area police chiefs _ two of them in uniform _ in direct mail flyers promoting table games.

"We think it's a crying shame that we have law enforcement actually getting involved in the promotion of gambling in the county," Foundation Executive Director Kevin McCoy told the Charleston Daily Mail. "We're appalled that law enforcement would get involved in promoting an issue that ultimately comes back to haunt them."

The flyers address the argument by gambling foes that crime will follow full-blown casinos into West Virginia. " (T)he police chiefs and the state Fraternal Order of Police president say they don't see crime increasing," the Daily Mail reports.

The Associated Press has a story drawn from the Daily Mail article.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, has a lengthy story on table games and the upcoming special elections _ but apparently still thinks that all four will be held on June 9...

Update: The Daily Mail follows up on its story with an article today citing Senate Bill 526. Passed during the recent legislative session, the new law says that "A member of a paid police department may not" engage in certain political activities including " the wearing by a municipal police officer of his or her uniform for the purpose of interfering with or affecting...the passage or defeat of any ballot issue."

Signed by Gov. Joe Manchin on April 4, the legislation also says that "Any member of any such paid police department violating the provisions of this section shall have his appointment vacated and he shall be removed."

But, as the Daily Mail article notes, the new law does not take effect until June 8 _ two days after the table games legislation becomes law.

Quote of the Day

"I guess I come from a small place and quite frankly I'm just not used to the scrutiny that I guess comes with the job... I'm a little bit more of a country boy than I am a city boy."

-- State Sen. Randy White, D-Webster, to the Charleston Daily Mail, about sideswiping a car Jan. 30, while in Charleston for the legislative session, and then leaving the scene.

State Senator Pleads Guilty In Hit & Run

Sen. Randy White, D-Webster, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Charleston Municipal Court to a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident from a January incident, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

"White sideswiped a car with his pickup in the 1600 block of Virginia Street near the state Capitol Complex," the article said. "White told city police it was too late to look for the car's owner or report the accident, so he left the scene."

White has agreed to pay a $100 fine and $57 in court costs within six months, and also could lose six points on his driver's license, the article said.

DOJ v. Daily Gazette - The Bray Cary Connection

As part of an extensive follow-up to the U.S. Justice Department antitrust lawsuit against the Daily Gazette Co., West Virginia Public Broadcasting interviewed Bray Cary.

The president of West Virginia Media Holdings said that DOJ contacted his company as they investigated the 2004 purchase of the Charleston Daily Mail, but "we never had any formal interviews."

The lawsuit alleges that a $55 million bid by "an experienced third-party newspaper company" for the PM newspaper in late 2003 spurred parent company of The Charleston Gazette to match the offer.

DOJ cites a December 2003 letter of intent between the unnamed company and MediaNews Group, the Daily Mail's then-owner and a co-defendant in the lawsuit.

Cary told Public Broadcasting that while he had "preliminary discussions" with MediaNews about buying the Daily Mail, he ultimately ran into the Federal Communication Commission's current ban on cross-ownership of different media in the same market.

"I can unequivocally state that at not time did West Virginia Media Holdings ever make a formal offer for the Charleston Daily Mail," Cary said.

Besides audio of today's piece and a transcript, Public Broadcasting also offers an interview with Dean Corley Dennison of Marshall University's journalism school, who "discusses the history of Justice Department enforcement in the news, and explains how joint operating agreements work."

The links are also available on Public Broadcasting's new blog, while DOJ offers both the lawsuit and a press release on the web pages for its antitrust division.

Feds Sue Gazette Parent Company - Updated

The U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Tuesday against the owner of West Virginia's largest daily newspaper, The Associated Press reports.

The DOJ's antitrust division is focusing on the Daily Gazette Company's 2004 purchase of the Charleston Daily Mail, the capital city's afternoon newspaper. The allegations are framed by the protections afforded that newspaper and The Charleston Gazette under a circa-1959 Joint Operating Agreement.

The lawsuit alleges that after the purchase, the Daily Gazette Co. "stopped all Daily Mail promotions, halted delivery to thousands of customers, discontinued publishing a Saturday edition and cut the editorial budget by almost half, forcing reporters to leave the newspaper," the AP's Tim Huber reports. "As a result...the Daily Mail's daily circulation plummeted from 35,076 in February 2004 to 23,985 in January 2005."

MediaNews Group, which sold the Daily Mail to the Gazette's parent company, is also a defendant in the lawsuit.

Update: The Gazette offers a take on the lawsuit against its parent company. West Virginia Media News, which has sought to buy the Daily Mail, has a story as well.

Justices Turn Down Table Games Challenge

Well, that was quick.

Looking for Ugly

West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin is among the listed speakers for Mudslinging in Judicial Campaigns: Beginning to Look a Lot Like Congress, a Wednesday conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

"In 2006, an estimated $16 million was spent on advertising in Supreme Court races in 10 states, more per race than ever before, with an escalation in fierce and often misleading attack ads," says the event's co-sponsors, the Annenberg Public Policy Center and FactCheck.org.

As the program notes, Benjamin was "elected 2004 in a race with record-setting third-party negative ads."

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."

Table Games - Updated

Jefferson and Ohio county voters have begun casting ballots in their respective special elections on the table games question.

Both the Wheeling News-Register and The Journal of Martinsburg found racetrack employees among the early voters.

The Journal also reports on the debate it sponsored last week on the issue in Jefferson County. "Four community leaders took center stage on the pros and cons of table games. Retired businessman Walt Pellish and Jefferson County Board of Education member Alan Sturm argued in favor of the issue, while Delegate John Doyle, D-Jefferson, and the Rev. Douglas Fraim spoke against table games," the article said.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting also covered the debate, and offers audio as well as information on a pro-table games group in that county.

The state Supreme Court, meanwhile, is expected to decide later this week on whether to consider a constitutional challenge to the table games legislation.

Update - The Associated Press offers this roundup of the early voting and related issues -- including a rise in registered voters in the racetrack counties. Get-out-the-vote efforts in both Ohio and Jefferson counties by table games supporters includes driving track workers to the polls. But opponents are also rallying, with one Jefferson County group setting up this web site to educate would-be voters.