Curious about politics in WV (Charleston, Washington: condos, jobs, home)

[BJC]

I keep seeing in different threads, “just WV politics as usual”, also it seems that the public or at least on this board have a pretty bad view of the police in WV. Are most of these public officials “on the take” or corrupt? I am originally from WV, left there at the age of 10, parents moved north for jobs, however I do consider WV HOME!, and plan to retire there.

I do know from reading the Nicholas Chronicle and hearing from family/friends that certain politicians at the very local level have some issues.

Is the entire state run by crooks?

I do not want this thread to be nasty; however I would like to hear about good elected public servants if there are any.

[Threerun]

There are good public servants out there. Problem is, you never hear about them. They simply do their jobs without much merit.

My philosphy is; If you hear much ado- they're more than likely crooked.

[Silkdashocker]

There are many politicians in WV that i really like. Then, there are a few that i'm not too fond of. It's probably like that just about anywhere you go.

[David Kennedy]

Its really a family affair...every county has its own family...Wv's corruption is easier to see because it's so small. Its hard for our crooks to hide from everyone...In the big city urban areas, several layers of breauracracy can hide them...
Once in a while a dweeb secretary or minor money handler will be sacrificed to the gods of justice, but bye and large the big fish always go free.
An honest effort by Sen. Byrd has begun to root them out, but these grifters are entrenched from prior generations of relatives. They own the shop to speak...sending them to jail is difficult...most eventually move away to their condos in North Carolina or a haven in Mexico and fade away with the loot they stole...
The honest people are not interested in it at all...they just don't want to be bothered..they don't have a vanity or power desire to fulfill...they want a privacy to just live their lives...

The problem here is the magnitude of the money and benefits of an entire culture and society, all being stolen by a selected few for their personal gain...the sufferers being the ordinary people who do that with a great silence.

Some of the grifters on the national platform speak of wealth distribution.
A friend sent me a photo spread yesterday of a 2nd or 3rd home owned by the former president of Saudi Arabia..It was a mile long and contained over 500 rooms. Out front was the fleet of new RR's and a dozen white bmw's. A servant was shown with the silver BMW...a solid silver BMW.
When I saw that our inflated petro dollars was buying I though of Al Gore's small bungalow in North Carolina...
Al's electric bill wouldn't feed the front lights on that sheik's home...

If the dem's want to redistribute the wealth...let them go where the really rich liveor better yet, just clean up the corruption we have and make our governments efficient.

We may have to clean up the corruption just to survive...I never thought of that until now...thanks.

[BJC]

DK, I swear your are talking about a bunch that I hear about in Nicholas County!!!! I love WV and we have some of the most honest people there, why can't they run for the local office? really not expecting an answer here, just someting to ponder......

[LuckyLoki]

What family runs wetzel county? thats where my wife is from and her folks still live there.

Originally Posted by David Kennedy

Its really a family affair...every county has its own family...Wv's corruption is easier to see because it's so small. Its hard for our crooks to hide from everyone...In the big city urban areas, several layers of breauracracy can hide them...
Once in a while a dweeb secretary or minor money handler will be sacrificed to the gods of justice, but bye and large the big fish always go free.
An honest effort by Sen. Byrd has begun to root them out, but these grifters are entrenched from prior generations of relatives. They own the shop to speak...sending them to jail is difficult...most eventually move away to their condos in North Carolina or a haven in Mexico and fade away with the loot they stole...
The honest people are not interested in it at all...they just don't want to be bothered..they don't have a vanity or power desire to fulfill...they want a privacy to just live their lives...

The problem here is the magnitude of the money and benefits of an entire culture and society, all being stolen by a selected few for their personal gain...the sufferers being the ordinary people who do that with a great silence.

Some of the grifters on the national platform speak of wealth distribution.
A friend sent me a photo spread yesterday of a 2nd or 3rd home owned by the former president of Saudi Arabia..It was a mile long and contained over 500 rooms. Out front was the fleet of new RR's and a dozen white bmw's. A servant was shown with the silver BMW...a solid silver BMW.
When I saw that our inflated petro dollars was buying I though of Al Gore's small bungalow in North Carolina...
Al's electric bill wouldn't feed the front lights on that sheik's home...

If the dem's want to redistribute the wealth...let them go where the really rich liveor better yet, just clean up the corruption we have and make our governments efficient.

We may have to clean up the corruption just to survive...I never thought of that until now...thanks.

[appalachiangirl]

When you run for a political office,you have to put up with so much mudslinging,not only at you,but at your whole family,that a lot of honest people don't want to go through this. A friend of my uncle's (who lives in Charleston) tried to persuade him to run for public office saying "we need more honest men like you", but my uncle didn't want to put his family (he has young children) through a campaign.

[David Kennedy]

What would work is this:

Have term limits period.
Extend the candidate filing age to 55 yrs for career seekers.

The age qualification for Senator and President was intended to gather-in a retired candidate.
Most people were washed up at age forty or fifty in that time period.

[harborlady]

That never occured to me- longevity being relative to a legal filing age. Makes sense. Are men all grown up at 55? hehehehee

[David Kennedy]

Washington compared himself to Cinncinatus...left the plow in the field to serve the country...thought all servants of the government should be citizen servants, giving their best and not taking anything in return....ha ha ha....wonder what he was smoking?

Can you see Washington running for election in our day? ha ha ha....He would end up like Fred Thompsom and that other guy who had some morales....ha ha ha...