Senator John Unger has withdrawn from the race for U.S. House of Representatives from West Virginia’s second district. This was surprising considering Unger was the overwhelming front-runner for the Democratic nomination to face off against incumbent Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican. Sen. Unger announced his intention to run many months ago, and was known to have the support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the rest of West Virginia’s House delegation, both Democrats. Unger said in a statement: “I believe it is more beneficial for me to focus my attention on working closely with the people of West Virginia to find solutions to these problems, rather than spend the next 10 months campaigning for Congress.” Two other democrats have filed for the race, Thornton Cooper, and Richard Robb.

Gov. Joe Manchin’s daughter - Heather Bresch - has been accused of saying she has an MBA even though WVU records initially showed she had completed only about half of the required credits when she was in school a decade ago.  WVU has appointed a panel to look into the controversy.  On Oct. 2, Heather Bresch was promoted to chief operating officer of Mylan Inc. Mylan is chaired by Milan Puskar, WVU’s largest benefactor. Puskar’s name is on several buildings at WVU, including the football stadium. Puskar is also a close friend of Manchin. According to Lara Ramsburg, Manchin’s Director of Communications, “The Governor has made absolutely no efforts whatsoever to interfere with the MBA process at WVU, and was not even aware of the situation with his daughter until it was reported in the paper a few weeks ago. He will not be a part of the inquiry, and has full confidence in those who are a part of the review that they will be thorough and fair in their evaluations.”

Judge Spike Maynard is running again for WV Supreme Court this year. In January 2008, Hugh Caperton, owner of Harman Mining Corp., filed a motion asking that Maynard be disqualified from a recent $76 million case between the Harman Mining and Massey Energy. In the suit, Caperton included dozens of photos of Maynard socializing with Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship on a yacht in Monaco off the French Riviera in 2006. On January 18th Maynard pulled himself from the case: “I will recuse myself despite the fact that I have no doubt in my own mind and firmly believe I have been and would be fair and impartial in this case,” Maynard said. 

Menis Ketchum visited the Eastern Panhandle in late January, introducing himself to the area in his bid for the West Virginia Supreme Court. When asked about Judge Maynard’s recusal from the court (see above), Ketchum said that he believed that Maynard should also withdraw from the race for the supreme court because of his ‘arrogant’ behavior. Ketchum added that all those running for the supreme court should answer questions when asked about their values and the important issues of the day. Ketchum added that he would be donating as much as two million of his own money into the race.

Beth Walker, who has announced that she will be trying to become a judge on the WV Supreme Court, says that she has been in talks with controversial political donor and CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship. Walker would not say whether Mr. Blankenship has committed to supporting her campaign. She also would not discuss her values or which issues are important to her. “The Supreme Court should interpret the law, nothing more than that,” she said.
Sen. Rockefeller has announced that he will run once again for US Senate. Rockefeller made the announcement at Shepherd University January 20th. Rockefeller is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Former state Sen. Jay Wolfe has entered the race as a Republican. Billy Hendricks and Shirl Fletcher have entered as Democrats.

Rusty Morgan and Bob Adams have confirmed they will be running for the West Virginia State Senate race. There will therefore be a competitive republican party primary election. Morgan has announced his campaign team includes Tom Trumble – formerly on the Jefferson County Board of Zoning Appeals - and Peter Smith, president of Potomac Valley Audobon Society. Adams says he doesn’t have a campaign team but will be using the help of Charleston consultant Gary Abernathy.

Attorney Harry Patton Waddell announced his candidacy for election as Judge of the 23rd Judicial Circuit, Division 5.  Mr. Waddell has been in private practice for over twenty-seven years, specializing in civil litigation with a particular focus on trial practice throughout the State of West Virginia in the areas of personal injury, medical negligence and employment discrimination.  He was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 1993. He has successfully litigated over 1000 cases in which he achieved justice for his clients. “Given the exponential growth occurring in our region, and the corresponding increase in social challenges such as crime, my extensive law experience makes me uniquely qualified to serve as a Circuit Court Judge in Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan Counties”, states Mr. Waddell.

Ed burns announced that he is running as a Democratic candidate for the County Commission’s Harpers Ferry District seat, which is open because Commissioner Greg Corliss is not seeking re-election to the six-year term. “I tell it like it is,” he said. “I’m a pretty straightforward kind of guy.” Burns says that doesn’t want to see the area experience the same level of growth-related problems that have occurred in counties closer to Washington, D.C. Burns said the County Commission has become a full-time job, and he has the time and energy necessary to serve the community. He retired after 23 years with the federal government, and he spent the last years working for the U.S. State Department.

Ronald Moltere withdrew from the State Senate race this month. He said that he realized that he had registered as a democrat. “When I submitted my pre-candidacy registration as a Republican for State Senator in the 16th District race,” wrote Motlere, “I was unaware that I was not a registered Republican. Since I discovered that I was a registered Democrat, I was contemplating running as a Democrat. After much thought and prayer, I came to a conclusion that I could not run for the Democratic Party if I were to be honest with myself and my convictions.”

The Republican Party is holding a state convention for the presidential race earlier than ever before on February 5th in Charleston WV. The convention is being held in the morning, so that the results will be known and broadcast nationally before the close of primary voting in other states later in the day. Republicans hope this will give West Virginians more of an influence in voting in other states. In Jefferson County, 16 delegates were nominated for the convention: 11 for Ron Paul, 4 were uncommitted and one for Thompson. The Republican state convention will award 18 national nominating delegates to a single White House hopeful. A further nine delegates will be nominated at the May 13th primary election.