The fall campaign season is off to a slow start (perhaps because it's looking like there won't be that many tightly contested statewide races), but a glance through any weekly or small-town newspaper provides proof that, yes, this is an election year.
You'd be hard-pressed to pick up an issue of a local paper that doesn't have pictures and articles about local legislators presenting Community Participation Project grants to constituents.
Since January, the governor's office has approved 225 grants totaling $1.27 million.
As noted previously, legislators latched on to the CPP grants after being forced to do away with the legislative Budget Digest in 2006 in the face of multiple legal challenges and public criticism.
For legislators, there are two downsides to CPP grants: The available funds are a fraction of what they used to allocate through the Budget Digest; and the grants have to be approved by the governor's office.
(In the years immediately following the demise of the Budget Digest, legislators complained that then-Gov. Joe Manchin would not turn loose of the CPP purse strings ...)
Some of the larger awards approved recently include: $8,000 for renovations at the Huntington Museum of Art, $15,000 for Grant County Parks and Recreation improvements; $16,000 for the Hardy County Rural Development Authority; $10,000 for the American Red Cross of North Central West Virginia; $7,000 for the A.D. Lewis Community Center in Huntington; $15,000 for Hurricane City Park improvements; $15,000 for welcome signs for the town of Man, Logan County; $10,000 for roof repairs for the Tug River Health Association, McDowell County; $24,000 for the Pumpkin Park Sheep House in Milton; $25,000 for the West Virginia River and Rail Festival in Pleasants County; and $12,000 for renovations to the Weirton Area Museum.
Among funding requests approved from Kanawha County legislators are: $9,800 for a garbage truck for the town of Cedar Grove; $6,300 for a parking lot for the Alum Creek Alliance for Community Developments; $7,000 for the Belle Community Playground; $3,500 for roof replacement on the Glasgow Municipal Building; and $1,000 for a beautification project for the town of East Bank. (As Mama June might say, it's going to take more than $1,000 to make that town beautimous ...)
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Last week, I mentioned how the WCHS radio/MetroNews' decision to not only send conservative talk show host Mike Agnello to the Republican National Convention, but to have corporate sponsors for his coverage -- one of which happened to be the state Republican Party -- raised questions about objectivity, particularly since the station/network's owner is the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.
Those issues of bias seemed to be confirmed last week, when WCHS/MetroNews failed to send Agnello, or anyone, to cover the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.
***
The fall campaign season is off to a slow start (perhaps because it's looking like there won't be that many tightly contested statewide races), but a glance through any weekly or small-town newspaper provides proof that, yes, this is an election year.
You'd be hard-pressed to pick up an issue of a local paper that doesn't have pictures and articles about local legislators presenting Community Participation Project grants to constituents.
Since January, the governor's office has approved 225 grants totaling $1.27 million.
As noted previously, legislators latched on to the CPP grants after being forced to do away with the legislative Budget Digest in 2006 in the face of multiple legal challenges and public criticism.
For legislators, there are two downsides to CPP grants: The available funds are a fraction of what they used to allocate through the Budget Digest; and the grants have to be approved by the governor's office.
(In the years immediately following the demise of the Budget Digest, legislators complained that then-Gov. Joe Manchin would not turn loose of the CPP purse strings ...)
Some of the larger awards approved recently include: $8,000 for renovations at the Huntington Museum of Art, $15,000 for Grant County Parks and Recreation improvements; $16,000 for the Hardy County Rural Development Authority; $10,000 for the American Red Cross of North Central West Virginia; $7,000 for the A.D. Lewis Community Center in Huntington; $15,000 for Hurricane City Park improvements; $15,000 for welcome signs for the town of Man, Logan County; $10,000 for roof repairs for the Tug River Health Association, McDowell County; $24,000 for the Pumpkin Park Sheep House in Milton; $25,000 for the West Virginia River and Rail Festival in Pleasants County; and $12,000 for renovations to the Weirton Area Museum.
Among funding requests approved from Kanawha County legislators are: $9,800 for a garbage truck for the town of Cedar Grove; $6,300 for a parking lot for the Alum Creek Alliance for Community Developments; $7,000 for the Belle Community Playground; $3,500 for roof replacement on the Glasgow Municipal Building; and $1,000 for a beautification project for the town of East Bank. (As Mama June might say, it's going to take more than $1,000 to make that town beautimous ...)
***
Last week, I mentioned how the WCHS radio/MetroNews' decision to not only send conservative talk show host Mike Agnello to the Republican National Convention, but to have corporate sponsors for his coverage -- one of which happened to be the state Republican Party -- raised questions about objectivity, particularly since the station/network's owner is the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.
Those issues of bias seemed to be confirmed last week, when WCHS/MetroNews failed to send Agnello, or anyone, to cover the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.
***
Speaking of the RNC, isn't it ironic that Republicans have made hay over the failure of Manchin, Earl Ray Tomblin, and Nick Rahall to attend the DNC, while failing to point out that their Senate candidate, John Raese did not attend the RNC, even though it was in Tampa, a short 20-minute Learjet flight from Raese's "winter" home in Palm Beach?
Chad Holland, executive director of the state GOP, said of Raese's absence, "He was focused on his campaign here in West Virginia."
(Hold it, isn't that the same excuse -- er, reason -- Manchin, Tomblin and Rahall gave for skipping the DNC?)
Holland also stressed that Raese supports the Romney/Ryan ticket 100 percent.
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Finally, add me to the list of those saying good riddance to the Marshall-West Virginia University football series.
On one level, it was like fighting your little brother: There's not much satisfaction gained by beating him up, and there would be no living it down if he ever managed to land a knockout punch.
On another level, the series fostered the illusion that Marshall and WVU are co-equal institutions. In reality, by no quantifiable measure -- be it enrollment, graduation rates, facilities, research dollars, endowments, academic honors, or athletics -- is Marshall by any means equal to WVU.
However, the illusion arguably clouded legislative actions. Case in point: Then-Gov. Manchin's "Bucks for Brains" initiative to provide $50 million of matching funds for research initiatives at the two schools.
Manchin proposed a 70/30 split of the funds, and there was even talk initially among legislators of making it a 50/50 split. Never mind that, based on historic research funding by institution, an 85/15 split would have been more rational.
Turns out, WVU raised its $35 million of funding, while I believe Marshall has yet to reach its $15 million goal, even though it was allowed to draw down $5 million of "Bucks for Brains" funds to help underwrite costs for construction of an athletic facility on campus ...
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.
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