W.Va. Now Fears Budget Deficit

Guarded optimism marked the opening months of the budget year, but now West Virginia officials believe recession-rocked revenues will not match expectations, The Associated Press reports.

Even though October beat its estimate, state government remains $16 million below projections for the year that began July 1, figures show, and officials expect that gap to grow.

Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow offered a ballpark estimate of $100 million for the shortfall he expects by the June 30 end of the budget year.

But while other states are laying off workers, shuttering services, cutting programs and even talking tax hikes, Manchin administration officials maintain that such options aren't on the table in West Virginia.

"We are vigorously looking for additional efficiencies in state government," spokesman Matt Turner told AP. "(Gov. Joe Manchin) believes there is much more that can be done to improve efficiency and save money."

AP also observes that West Virginia has an ace in the hole: "$168 million in revenues left unspent from the two previous budget years," the article said. "That surplus is in addition to the state's emergency reserves, which exceed $537 million. The state also has yet to tap the bulk of its estimated $1.8 billion share of federal stimulus funding. "

Muchow noted that West Virginia's "rainy day fund" exceeds the national average in size relative to the state budget, and called tapping it a last resort. Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, echoed that sentiment to MetroNews (with audio).

Another Competitor to the W.Va. Lottery (Updated)

Ohio voters on Tuesday approved a ballot issue allowing casinos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo, The Associated Press reports.

The Buckeye State joins Pennsylvania and Maryland, each of which recently legalized slot machine casinos, as neighbors of West Virginia with advanced gambling options.

The outcome follows a pricey and barbed advertising campaigns, with evidence that West Virginia was dragged into the fray at one point.

MetroNews also has an item.

Update: West Virginia officials tell The Charleston Gazette they "know Ohio casinos won't be good for the Mountain State's budget, but they say it's too soon to put a dollar amount on the damage."

While the impact won't be immediate, "the move is expected to hit West Virginia's Northern Panhandle casinos -- Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in Chester and Wheeling Island -- especially hard," that article said. "Ohioans make up about 45 percent of Mountaineer's and Wheeling Island's patrons combined, lottery officials said."

November Special Session Still Possible

Gov. Joe Manchin tells The Register-Herald of Beckley that "chances are strong that West Virginia lawmakers will spend part of this month’s interims sessions taking up a plan to resolve a municipal police and fire pension crisis."

About that Guy in the Chicken Suit... (Updated)

With Ohio voting today on whether to legalize casinos, The Associated Press questions whether a recent stunt staged in front of West Virginia's Capitol was meant to sway Buckeye voters.

As the article explains, several media outlets had reported on a man in a chicken costume near the Capitol's south steps "waving to morning commuters and passing out flyers that advocated 'Cockfighting at West Virginia Casinos!'

Within days, foes of the pending gambling measure seized on the episode and "invoked the specter of cockfight wagering at West Virginia casinos to urge the Ohio measure's defeat. They argue that a provision of the referendum would allow the casinos proposed for Ohio to host any form of gambling found in other states," AP reports.

And while the man in the costume had refused to give his name to reporters, "a Democratic political activist, John Bradford "J.B." Parker, later presented himself as a spokesman for the West Virginia Association for Gamecock Sports," the article said. "No group by that name is on file with the Ethics Commission, which regulates all lobbyists, or on the register kept by the secretary of state of organizations doing business in West Virginia. The group has a Web site, which consists of a single page that online records show was created five days before the chicken costume appearance."

National gamefowl groups say they've never heard of such an organization, nor have lawmakers from West Virginia's gamecock-breeding areas.

Parker told AP last week that he "would not rule out that the whole thing is a hoax, perhaps meant to influence Ohio voters."

Those who reported on the chicken man include MetroNews, the Williamson Daily News, WKKX radio and The Charleston Gazette. The latter has followed up on the episode.

Update: A reader invokes Roger Stone. AP reported -- before the chicken suit episode -- that Stone is one of "two notoriously aggressive tacticians" pitted against each other in the battle over Ohio's casino ballot issue.

Stone was a cohort of "legendary GOP tactician Lee Atwater," and "ran Ronald Reagan's Ohio campaign in 1984," that article said. "One of Stone's first forays into campaigning was as a volunteer at CREEP, the Committee to Re-Elect the President, whose misdeeds were at the center of the Watergate scandal."

Stone is aiding the anti-casino TruthPAC. The earlier AP article quotes Democratic strategist Gerald Austin, who said the "constant barrage" deployed by that group "is classic Stone and intended to confuse voters. Confused voters generally vote no."

"One of Roger Stone's rules to live by is 'Hit from every angle, open multiple fronts on your enemy,'" Austin told AP. "'He must be confused, and feel besieged, on every side.'"

W.Va.'s Stimulus Job Count at 2,409

The Associated Press reports that "more than 2,400 jobs have been saved or created in West Virginia because of federal stimulus funding, according to those who have been spending the money.

The figure comes from hundreds of reports filed in early October. After a review by state and federal officials, they were posted online by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.

West Virginia's stimulus site should also have details from the first quarterly update of stimulus spending and effects.

State government spending of stimulus dollars accounts for two-thirds of West Virginia's total figure, according to numbers provided to AP.

"The largest share of those 1,554 jobs created or retained, about 20 percent, were in education," the article said. "The next-largest share resulted from spending on Workforce Investment Act programs, which offer training and other employment services. Another 16 percent came from road and bridge projects fueled by stimulus dollars."

AP reported earlier that by the Sept. 30 end of the reporting period, state government agencies had spent $250 million of West Virginia's share of stimulus funding.

Montana Governor Headlines W.Va. Dem Event

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer topped the billing at this year's Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, the annual gathering of West Virginia's Democratic Party.

The Charleston Gazette casts the dinner and Schweitzer's appearance against the percolating issues that "Republican leaders predict...will lead them to victory in 2010."

Others with coverage include WSAZ-TV and WOWK-TV (with video).

Mollohan Still Under Scrutiny?

The U.S. Justice Department has told the House ethics committee to cease its inquiry into Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-1st, according to a confidential committee report obtained by The Washington Post.

As the article explains, federal investigators "often ask that the House and Senate ethics panels refrain from taking action against members whom the department is already investigating."

Mollohan is among more than 30 House members and several aides featured in the report, a weekly summary of committee cases issued in July and later "disclosed on a publicly accessible computer network," the article said.

Posts on the apparent federal scrutiny of Mollohan can be found here, here, here , here, here and here.

The Post reports that "there has been no public action on that inquiry for several years. But the department's request in early July to the committee suggests that the case continues to draw the attention of federal investigators."

Mollohan told the newspaper that "he was not aware of any ongoing interest by the Justice Department in his case and that he and his attorneys have not heard from federal investigators."

Mollohan's latest campaign finance report lists $3,000 spent on Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evan and Figel in July for legal services, the first such payment since October 2008. Mollohan's campaign has paid the Washington, D.C., law firm nearly $300,000 since November 2006, its reports show.

The Skinny on W.Va.'s Proposed "Fat Tax"

Gov. Joe Manchin is questioning the existence of a proposed "fat tax" on West Virginia public employees, The Associated Press reports.

Manchin tells AP's Tom Breen that "talk of punishing hefty state workers who get health coverage through the Public Employees Insurance Agency is inaccurate and misleading." He instead "says he wants to look for ways to reward healthy choices, and wants to hear all the available options."

PEIA's Finance Board began discussing "phased-in personal responsibility agreements" in May, as AP reported at the time.

Agency Director Ted Cheatham "proposed linking premium breaks to blood screenings, advance end-of-life care directives, and ultimately enrollment in a preventive care-wellness plan," that article said. "Board members said they needed more time to weigh that proposal and seek public comment."

In Wednesday's article, "Perry Bryant, a former member of the PEIA finance board, agrees that talk of premium differentials based on health choices came not from Manchin, but from within the agency."

The Charleston Gazette has articles on a proposed "fat tax" here, here, here and here.

The Art of the Deal

Gov. Joe Manchin's approach toward taxing West Virginia's natural gas industry was invoked by a recent article in The Philadelphia Inquirer to contrast the lack of success by his Pennsylvania counterpart on that front.

The article reports that despite that state's recession woes and resulting budget impasse, its "natural-gas industry's leaders and lobbyists beat back (Gov. Ed) Rendell's proposal to tax gas as it is pulled to the surface from the rich black-rock reservoir known as the Marcellus Shale."

The absence of a severance tax on that resource "makes Pennsylvania unique among the 15 states that produce the most natural gas," the article notes.

While weighing a tax, Rendell said he spoke to Manchin about the Keystone State's neighbor, which "also sits atop the Marcellus Shale and has taxed natural gas for years."

"Rendell said Manchin, a fellow Democrat, had assured him that West Virginia's tax did not 'inhibit gas extraction and that it is continuing at a record pace, and it's reaping critically needed revenues so the state can provide services to its citizens,'" the article said.

Manchin also explained his approach in an interview with the newspaper. As the article recounts:

"The Marcellus Shale is a tremendous producer. A severance tax will not deter" the drillers, Manchin said. "Believe me, if we didn't have the gas, they wouldn't be here."

Manchin said he had faced industry complaints in 2005 when he proposed to expand the tax, with some companies threatening to leave.

He offered to have the state buy up their leases "so you don't lose one penny." No one took him up on his offer.

U.S. Senate Confirms Berger, 97-0

A unanimous U.S. Senate has confirmed Kanawha Circuit Judge Irene Berger for a seat on West Virginia's southern federal court district, The Associated Press and others report.

"A former county and federal prosecutor and Legal Aid Society lawyer, Berger has been a state trial judge since 1994," the article said. "She is the first African-American confirmed for either of West Virginia's federal court districts."

Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., had jointly recommended Berger to President Obama, and each urged their colleagues to back her in advance of Tuesday's vote.

Others with coverage include The Charleston Gazette, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph and MetroNews, which also offers audio of Byrd's brief floor speech.

The Charleston Daily Mail reports on the prospects for a Republican to challenge Gov. Joe Manchin's eventual appointee to Berger's circuit court seat.

W.Va. Tries to Get a Grip on Its Vehicle Fleet

Following an audit that raised several concerns about vehicles owned or leased by state government, Gov. Joe Manchin has formed a task force while also touting recent efforts to address the topic, The Associated Press and others report.

"All employees with take-home vehicles must ensure, along with their agencies, that they are properly counting this fringe benefit," AP's article said. "The administration ordered mileage logs for all vehicles and surveyed all executive branch departments and agencies"

Manchin's Department of Administration also surveyed executive branch agencies, including those of other elected officials, and counted 9,312 state-titled vehicles.

That census "identified 56 percent of the total as specialty vehicles," AP reported. "Those include mine rescue and heavy-duty highway trucks, boats and boat trailers, all-terrain and emergency response vehicles, and transports for prisoners and veterans. The remaining 44 percent are 4,083 passenger vehicles."

The new task force, meanwhile, "has until Dec. 15 to improve the way the state manages its fleet. "

The Charleston Gazette also has coverage. The Charleston Daily Mail focuses on the task of gauging the size of the vehicle fleet. MetroNews spoke to state Auditor Glen Gainer about the administration's report, and has audio.

Health Care in West Virginia: Drug Abuse

A new report estimates that "preventable ailments stemming from alcohol and drug abuse" increased costs for West Virginia's health care system in 2007 to the tune of $116 million, The Associated Press reports.

AP's Tom Breen delves into the study by the Prevention Resource Center for the Partnership to Promote Community Well-Being, a group created by Gov. Joe Manchin.

"By 2017, the report estimates, the cost could be more than $201 million, even as the number of patients suffering from alcohol and drug-related diseases has held steady or even declined slightly in the last decade," the article said. "The only way to bring down those costs in the future, the report says, is to spend more money now -- on early intervention, prevention, treatment and recovery."

Abortion and the Health Care Overhaul (Updated)

The Associated Press reports that U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-1st, has written a letter that he and 29 fellow anti-abortion Democrats have signed asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to ensure that the pending health care legislation now under debate not provide any federal funding for that procedure.

"House Democrats are at an impasse over whether their remake of the nation's health care system would effectively allow federal funding of abortion," the article said. "Lawmakers on the other side say they've compromised as far as they can to address the anti-abortion lawmakers' concerns by specifying that people receiving government subsidies to buy health insurance couldn't use that money for abortions. Negotiations to find common ground have not yielded fruit."

Mollohan has also issued a release on the topic.

Update: Rep. Nick Rahall, D-3rd, is among those who signed. The anti-abortion group that has posted the letter online identifies Mollohan as its author.

She Voted For You: Financial Overhaul (Updated)

U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, voted against advancing the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 from the House Committee on Financial Services.

Endorsed 39-29 by the committee largely along party lines, the measure would create "a federal agency to regulate home loans, credit cards, savings accounts and other financial services," The Associated Press reports.

The proposed office "is a cornerstone to Obama's broader plan to clamp down on Wall Street and prevent much of the reckless lending that contributed to last year's near-collapse of the market," the article explains. "But the agency also has been the administration's toughest sell to lawmakers worried that the added regulation would strain neighborhood banks and small businesses."

The article adds that "business lobbyists pressed lawmakers to scale back the legislation and won several concessions." The changes "exempted general retailers, auto dealers, title insurers, accountants, lawyers and others," AP reports. "All but the biggest banks were spared from routine agency inspections and no businesses were required to offer standard, government-approved financial services, as Obama had wanted."

Capito earlier voted against a companion measure, the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Markets Act of 2009, when the committee advanced it by 43-26.

That bill would "tighten rules on previously unregulated financial instruments," AP reported in a separate article, which called it "a long-awaited step toward governing the obscure and complex transactions at the heart of the troubles that befell some of Wall Street's most well-known financial houses."

"Republicans said derivative transactions should be disclosed and operate under great visibility but object to trading them in regulated exchanges," that article also said. "Federal regulators have argued for a tougher proposal."

AP also offers "the whys and hows of regulations on derivatives."

Update: The Charleston Daily Mail, The Journal of Martinsburg and The Intelligencer of Wheeling have articles (of 726, 366 and 326 and words, respectively) reporting that Capito's husband, Charles Capito, had been hired by United Bankshares Inc. as an executive vice president and director of business development.

He had been with what has become Morgan Stanley Smith Barney since 1976. The Daily Mail article said Capito had been working on a project for Smith Barney and Citigroup, merged under a previous deal, for the last two and a half years in New York.

He Voted For You: Hate Crimes (Updated)

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., helped send a measure to President Obama that The Associated Press describes as expanding the definition of a federal hate crime "to include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability."

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., did not vote on the legislation, which passed 68-29 (see update below).

"To assure its passage after years of frustrated efforts, Democratic supporters attached the measure to a must-pass $680 billion defense policy bill," the article said. "Many Republicans, normally staunch supporters of defense bills, voted against the bill because of the hate crimes provision. "

Updated: U.S. Reps. Alan Mollohan, D-1st, and Nick Rahall, D-3rd, had earlier voted for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 while Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, opposed that measure.

All three helped the House approve the defense policy measure with the hate crimes language in 281-146 roll call earlier this month.

A spokesman for Byrd told The Charleston Gazette that "the senator supported the hate-crimes provisions of the defense bill," and that "Byrd had earlier voted to invoke cloture, or end debate, on the measure so it could proceed to final passage."

Casey Pick Rankles Some in W.Va. GOP (Updated)

Some West Virginia Republican leaders are objecting after the head of the state's majority Democrats was recommended for a federal judgeship, The Associated Press and others report.

They cite the partisan position and comments of Nick Casey as well as his ties to Gov. Joe Manchin. Casey had been Manchin's campaign treasurer and became Democratic Party chairman in mid-2004 after Manchin won the gubernatorial primary.

The longtime Charleston lawyer has also been dinged for his status as a lobbyist, with critics citing an Obama campaign pledge. "Obama had promised not to appoint Washington lobbyists to executive branch posts overseeing regulations or contracts directly related to their former employers," the AP article said. Besides the seat at issue hailing from the judicial branch, "Casey has lobbied the state Legislature," the article said.

U.S. Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., jointly recommended Casey for a vacancy in the state's northern U.S. District Court (Charleston falls outside that district, another point of contention for critics). They stand by the pick.

"Through a spokesman, Byrd said Thursday said the negative comments by Republican partisans were unwarranted, and that he can attest to the content of Casey's character," AP reported.

The Charleston Gazette also has a story (updated: and reported that Rockefeller responded by calling Casey "a dedicated public servant and well-respected lawyer.")

MetroNews hears from Casey's GOP counterpart on the topic.

Update: A reader questions why Republicans have been criticizing a potential anti-abortion nominee to the federal judiciary, and also asks why that has not been part of the discussion.

Like Manchin, Casey is considered anti-abortion. As noted above, he also lobbies for the state's Roman Catholic diocese, a leading voice on that side of the abortion debate. He has helped the diocese participate in Pro-Life Day at the Legislature since at least 1993.

When Manchin won the 2004 nomination and Casey accepted the Democratic reins soon after, their stance on the issue prompted speculation that there would be "an effort to remove a pro-choice plank" from the party's platform, as The Charleston Gazette reported at the time.

That speculation returned during the crafting of the party's 2008 platform, as The Gazette and others reported.

While the 2004 platform says state Democrats "support decisions of the United States Supreme Court regarding the right of every woman to make choices regarding reproduction," the 2008 version does not appear to include that language. But it does say that "West Virginia Democrats believe that government, at every level, should not interfere with an individual's or family's right to make a personal or medical decision."

(Note: Some of the wording in the update has since been edited to conform to AP style.)

Manchin Seeks Obama Sit-Down

Gov. Joe Manchin tells The Associated Press that he's lobbied the White House for an in-person meeting with President Obama "over his administration's stance on climate change and its pursuit of cap-and-trade legislation."

"Coal is going to be our primary provider of electricity for the next 30 years. That's the practical reality," Manchin is quoted as saying. "West Virginia is very much willing to be involved and play a responsible role."

"But the governor also said his desire to meet is unrelated to his recent frustrations with Obama's Environmental Protection Agency," the article said. "He instead wants to revisit the sort of talks the two had when Obama was in the U.S. Senate."

Byrd, Rockefeller Tout Casey for Federal Bench

The head of West Virginia's Democratic Party has been recommended for a federal judgeship by the state's U.S. senators, The Associated Press reports.

Nick Casey "has distinguished himself as an attorney, as well as a tireless advocate for many social and civic causes," Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., said in a letter to President Obama quoted in a Tuesday release.

The senators want Obama to nominate Casey for a seat in the state's northern federal court district left vacant by the 2006 death of Judge Craig Broadwater.

Long a lawyer in the southern district, Casey helps head a Charleston law firm and has been Democratic chairman since June 2004, after Gov. Joe Manchin won the party's nomination for his current office. Casey had been the governor's personal attorney and campaign treasurer, the AP article said.

Byrd and Rockefeller had earlier recommended another Charleston lawyer and Democratic stalwart, Ned Rose, for the judgeship in January. But Rose withdrew from consideration without explanation in July.

Obama nominated the senators' other pick, Kanawha Circuit Judge Irene Berger. She appeared last month before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has since endorsed her nomination for a southern district seat.

7 Arrests at Manchin's Office Cap Mining Protest Sit-In

Seven environmental activists were arrested Monday in the reception room for Gov. Joe Manchin after they staged a sit-in to urge his intervention in a pending mountaintop removal mining project, The Associated Press and others report.

Those arrested were among a group of several dozen protesters who "delivered a letter asking Manchin to act," AP reported. "He met briefly with the group, listening and taking questions. But he said they were wrong to believe he can unilaterally yank the permits in question."

W.Va. House members Press EPA on Mountaintop Removal Mining

House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Vice Chairman Nick Rahall, D-3rd, and member Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, used a Thursday hearing on the Clean Water Act to quiz a top Obama administration official "about her agency’s position on mountaintop removal coal mining," Public Broadcasting and others report.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said the "neither EPA nor I personally have any desire to end coal mining, have any hidden agenda or any agenda whatsoever that has to do with coal mining as an industry," the report said. "I believe that coal can be mined safely and cleanly."

The appearance follows what Rahall and Capito call frustration and concern about federal scrutiny of the mining method, as reflected at this week's public hearings in Charleston and Kentucky.

"Jackson said the 79 permits currently under review have been held up for years by litigation and had never been reviewed by the EPA," Public Broadcasting reports. "She said there are some scientific concerns about the large amounts of valley fills that have been allowed since a new stream buffer rule was developed in 2008 under the Bush administration."

Public Broadcasting offers audio, while the committee links to video and hearing details.

The Charleston Gazette has an article, as does The Register-Herald. The Beckley newspaper focuses on Rahall's remarks and also includes comments from state legislators on the topic.

The Charleston Daily Mail includes hearing details while reporting that "U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials are close to making a decision on six of the 23 West Virginia permits" under review.

MetroNews has an item on the hearing, with audio.

The West Virginia Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training reports that as of early August, about 37% of the coal produced in the state in 2009 came from surface mining, of which the mountaintop removal method is a part. The share from all surface mining has averaged 38% so far this decade, and 36% since 1996, the earlier year for agency figures.