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Upshur County Blog
The weekend for the county politicial party conventions
I understand that both the Democrats and the republicans had their county conventions this weekend.
Does anyone care to comment on what happened, how long the meetings lasted, who spoke, what was the general thrust of the meeting, all that kind of stuff?
I think the loyal readers here woudl be interested in hearing about both parties and what happened.
Does anyone care to comment on what happened, how long the meetings lasted, who spoke, what was the general thrust of the meeting, all that kind of stuff?
I think the loyal readers here woudl be interested in hearing about both parties and what happened.
Any Easter weeknd activities anyone wants to tell us about?
I am horribly late in asking this but are there any Easter weekend activities in Upshur County that anyone wants to share with us?
We also want to talk about the good in our county, not just the bad or controversial.
We also want to talk about the good in our county, not just the bad or controversial.
Some politicians have to play dirty
I'm not going to mention names here (maybe I will in a later post) but word has it that one of the precinct level politicians is bad mouthing other county officials again.
There is nothing wrong with telling constituents, or anybody you damn well please, how you feel about an elected official however there is a line that can be crossed. You don't give up this right just because you hold a public office but I think you have a higher level of responsibility to be accurate in your statements and not make unsubstantiated personal attacks.
Word has it that a certain controversial figure is out bad mouthing almost every other elected official who has disagreed with them, and the comments aren't limited to their disagreements. Instead, the language being used is offensive and probably could be considered slanderous/libelous. Their ethics and honesty are being questioned in a way that is absolutely incorrect and inappropriate.
To be honest, I'm not really surprised that this person is doing this but what I am surprised about is that they are either too dumb or too irresponsible to consider that word will get around and make them look much worse than the people they are slandering.
Keep it clean people, keep it clean.
There is nothing wrong with telling constituents, or anybody you damn well please, how you feel about an elected official however there is a line that can be crossed. You don't give up this right just because you hold a public office but I think you have a higher level of responsibility to be accurate in your statements and not make unsubstantiated personal attacks.
Word has it that a certain controversial figure is out bad mouthing almost every other elected official who has disagreed with them, and the comments aren't limited to their disagreements. Instead, the language being used is offensive and probably could be considered slanderous/libelous. Their ethics and honesty are being questioned in a way that is absolutely incorrect and inappropriate.
To be honest, I'm not really surprised that this person is doing this but what I am surprised about is that they are either too dumb or too irresponsible to consider that word will get around and make them look much worse than the people they are slandering.
Keep it clean people, keep it clean.
If your comments and emails aren't coming through on this blog...
We are once again being hit with a lot of SPAM coming through as comments. As before, we are marking these as SPAM and then banning the IP addresses.
If you are unable to post a comment (and it is normal for it to take a couple of days to be approved) or have sent an email without a response of any kind, please let us know by sending from another computer and we will try to rectify the problem.
If you are unable to post a comment (and it is normal for it to take a couple of days to be approved) or have sent an email without a response of any kind, please let us know by sending from another computer and we will try to rectify the problem.
Interesting numbers in the election
If my calculations are correct Democrats county wide outvoted Republicans by more than 3 to 1. This is based on Sheriff's race, the one which garnered the most votes in both parties.
I suspect that a number of what would normally be Republican voters crossed the party line to vote in the Sheriff's race.
What I am curious about is whether the recent national and local events concerning Republicans has caused the swing in that direction to cease. Maybe many people are realizing that you can remain a Democrat without being a liberal.
I wish there was a way to figure out what effect the last episode with Ms. Patterson and Comm. Crittenden had on the voters in that primary. Many votes had already been cast by the time the news became widely known.
I suspect that a number of what would normally be Republican voters crossed the party line to vote in the Sheriff's race.
What I am curious about is whether the recent national and local events concerning Republicans has caused the swing in that direction to cease. Maybe many people are realizing that you can remain a Democrat without being a liberal.
I wish there was a way to figure out what effect the last episode with Ms. Patterson and Comm. Crittenden had on the voters in that primary. Many votes had already been cast by the time the news became widely known.
Election Results
Although early voting was up from normal, my understanding is that voting on Tuesday was a little slow.
Rather than posting all of the results I'm going to link to the official county vote so you can all look it over.
I was fairly close in what few predictions I gave, although Sheriff Betterton gathered even more votes than I had thought.
Even though he was in the crosshairs of the Conspiracy Committee of the Republican Party, Comm. Crabtree appears to have beaten both of his primary opponents by enough votes where a runoff will not be required.
Comm. Crittenden seems to be the nominee for his commissioner's seat, although Mr. Oney did post bigger numbers than expected.
The race for the Republican candidate for Sheriff looks interesting, with Mandreger edging out Fatheree by only 22 votes. It wouldn't surprise me for this race to be the one the lawsuit springs from, since Mandreger was the one the "elite" of the party was pushing.
We'll wait and see.
Rather than posting all of the results I'm going to link to the official county vote so you can all look it over.
I was fairly close in what few predictions I gave, although Sheriff Betterton gathered even more votes than I had thought.
Even though he was in the crosshairs of the Conspiracy Committee of the Republican Party, Comm. Crabtree appears to have beaten both of his primary opponents by enough votes where a runoff will not be required.
Comm. Crittenden seems to be the nominee for his commissioner's seat, although Mr. Oney did post bigger numbers than expected.
The race for the Republican candidate for Sheriff looks interesting, with Mandreger edging out Fatheree by only 22 votes. It wouldn't surprise me for this race to be the one the lawsuit springs from, since Mandreger was the one the "elite" of the party was pushing.
We'll wait and see.
Tuesday is election day. Get out and vote!
I hope everyone realizes that tomorrow is the day to vote in the primary election.
This year's elections are the most important in recent memory, local and national.
Everyone, no matter their party, should vote.
I think my views on certain candidates are well known, but I want to urge people to vote their conscience, not how the party officials are telling them to vote.
My predictions on the local races?
Only a couple.
Sheriff Betterton will be the Democratic candidate. While I think he has done a good job overall, his record with the management of the jail and the way it has benefited the county will earn him the nod and two thumbs up. I would like to congratulate his opponent for a clean campaign. He is an honorable man.
No predictions on the Constable races. Too many good candidates and they have also conducted themselves in a manner that reflects well on all the candidates.
I predict that Comm. Crittenden's race will be much closer than originally thought. If the full story on the recent fiasco was known, I would be predicting his defeat by a large margin. As it is, if he does make it through the primary it will not be by a large margin.
Comm. Crabtree will retain his place as the Republican candidate despite the efforts of the "Conspiracy Committee" to defeat him.
Finally, I predict that there will be at least one lawsuit brought as a result of the Republican primary elections not being in compliance with U.S. law and possibly because of irregularities in the hand counting of ballots.
Hopefully I will be wrong about the lawsuit, but if it is brought maybe it will be the last one for a while.
This year's elections are the most important in recent memory, local and national.
Everyone, no matter their party, should vote.
I think my views on certain candidates are well known, but I want to urge people to vote their conscience, not how the party officials are telling them to vote.
My predictions on the local races?
Only a couple.
Sheriff Betterton will be the Democratic candidate. While I think he has done a good job overall, his record with the management of the jail and the way it has benefited the county will earn him the nod and two thumbs up. I would like to congratulate his opponent for a clean campaign. He is an honorable man.
No predictions on the Constable races. Too many good candidates and they have also conducted themselves in a manner that reflects well on all the candidates.
I predict that Comm. Crittenden's race will be much closer than originally thought. If the full story on the recent fiasco was known, I would be predicting his defeat by a large margin. As it is, if he does make it through the primary it will not be by a large margin.
Comm. Crabtree will retain his place as the Republican candidate despite the efforts of the "Conspiracy Committee" to defeat him.
Finally, I predict that there will be at least one lawsuit brought as a result of the Republican primary elections not being in compliance with U.S. law and possibly because of irregularities in the hand counting of ballots.
Hopefully I will be wrong about the lawsuit, but if it is brought maybe it will be the last one for a while.
Why should local Democrats care what is happening in the local Republican party?
The simple answer to this question is that what is good for Upshur County should transcend what is good for any particular party.
I don't care when commissioners or any other politicians disagree. In fact, I would be suspicious if they agreed all the time. The problem occurs when disagreements are not truly over what is the best choice for the county, but what is the mandate being issued by the local political party.
Democrats should pay close attention to what is going on because, until recently, Upshur County has been "trending" Republican. When Ms. Lagrone was elected County Clerk she replaced a woman who was doing a good job despite major changes in her duties. While I don't know this for a fact, it is my firm belief that Lagrone was encouraged to run and supported by the powers that be because they expected her to toe the line when it came to the elections. Unfortunately for them, she instead chose to do her duties in an ethical and non-partisan manner, for which she quickly drew their ire.
It would not surprise me, and I have heard rumors, Ms. Patterson, the Upshur County Republican Chair, desires to be the next county clerk so that she can control the elections.
All of us, Republicans and Democrats alike, should be extremely concerned about that. Of all of the county offices that of County Clerk CANNOT be handled in a partisan manner. Certainly there is nothing untoward about the Clerk having a political affiliation but the moment that affiliation influences their duties in any manner they should be removed from office. If we know in advance a person has already tried to short circuit the system then they should never be elected.
By the way, if I heard the testimony correctly the failure of the Republican party to meet federal law in the upcoming primary due to the failure to sign the contract and the unsuccessful lawsuit can be placed squarely on the heads of Ms. Patterson and the other members of the Upshur County Republican Party Executive Committee. Apparently they had requested, and had been granted, a deadline for signing the contract until after they had a chance to meet. It was only after this meeting that the refusal occurred and the mess resulted. It appears that since the election CANNOT meet federal standards it at least will cast a shadow on all of the Republican primary elections and it would surprise me if we do not see more lawsuits from those candidates who lose their primary.
By the way, the Gilmer Mirror nailed their coverage of the trial, both factually and conceptually, in the Saturday edition of the newspaper. Likewise, the Longview New-Journal had a good article on the front page of their Saturday edition.
I'm a little disappointed in the press coverage of the trial
Of course, the Gilmer Mirror comes out Saturday and I expect they'll do a substantially better job than some of the other papers did. At least they will have understood what the evidence that came out in court really said and what the lawsuit was really about.
The lawsuit that was filed last week was brought against Upshur County by the local Republican party. The desired result was that the county would be forced to provide them with electronic voting equipment even though they had refused to sign a contract.
The whole thing involved a comedy of errors on the part of the Chairperson and Executive Committee of the Republicans. It also seems to have involved some shading of the truth in an attempt to make themselves look better.
It was clear from the evidence that Mrs. Patterson was offered numerous chances to sign the contract with the County. It is also clear that she was advised by both the Secretary of State's Office and the Upshur County District Attorney that the contract was legitimate and their advice was to sign it if they desired to use the machines. Despite this advice from those familiar with the law, instead Brenda Patterson chose to meet with the republican Executive Committee, which I understand is composed of John Melvin Dodd (the loser of the last County Judge race), James Crittenden (it looks like he may very well be the loser of the next Commissioner's race) and Mrs. Patterson. Based on the advice of these three people, the Republican party chose not to sign the contract thus meaning that the upcoming Republican primary is out of compliance with federal voting laws.
One of the factors in the judge's decision was that, by their actions, the Republican party had created a situation with no solution. They had waited to file their lawsuit until even if the judge had been inclined to help correct the mistakes made by Mrs. Patterson he was unable to do so without violating a number of voting laws designed to ensure voting is kept on the up and up.
The newspaper story I read made it appear that the judge's ruling was why the Republicans got to vote at all, but that wasn't the ruling. The Republicans intended to vote on paper ballots all along, and hand count each ballot box in the precinct before returning it to the courthouse for tabulation. It is almost impossible to imagine a situation with more opportunities for voter fraud than the one that is going to exist for all republican voters and candidates on Tuesday night.
The judge also made a specific finding on the record that the County Clerk, Peggy Lagrone, had acted at all times in good faith in her attempts to get the contract signed and in her actions afterwords.
One particularly troublesome piece of testimony from Mrs. Patterson was that she was unaware of the deadline when the contract was due. A deadline had been set so that the final programming of the machines could be accomplished in time to post notices and conduct the tests required by law.
Even though Mrs. Patterson stated under oath she was unaware of the date, this was contradicted by the other witnesses including Upshur County District Attorney Billy Byrd who testified that not only did he tell her to sign the contract, but that he had discussions with her in which the deadline was quite clear.
Perhaps now we see why Comm. Crittenden launched on Mr. Byrd the night before their lawsuit was filed. Was this an attempt to influence a witness's testimony, an example of what is going to occur if he doesn't get on board, or simply a man with a severe lack of understanding as to the way things really work. And, I might add, a lack of concern for ethical political conduct.
This whole thing could have been avoided if Mrs. Patterson had simply signed the contract once the people with legal knowledge had advised her to. Instead, she retreated into her conspiracy chamber where they are less concerned with an effective county government than they are with one they can control.
Bottom line - the Republicans got none of the relief they requested but did manage to force the County to spend money on the fine lawyers who won the case.
Fiscal conservatives my butt.
The lawsuit that was filed last week was brought against Upshur County by the local Republican party. The desired result was that the county would be forced to provide them with electronic voting equipment even though they had refused to sign a contract.
The whole thing involved a comedy of errors on the part of the Chairperson and Executive Committee of the Republicans. It also seems to have involved some shading of the truth in an attempt to make themselves look better.
It was clear from the evidence that Mrs. Patterson was offered numerous chances to sign the contract with the County. It is also clear that she was advised by both the Secretary of State's Office and the Upshur County District Attorney that the contract was legitimate and their advice was to sign it if they desired to use the machines. Despite this advice from those familiar with the law, instead Brenda Patterson chose to meet with the republican Executive Committee, which I understand is composed of John Melvin Dodd (the loser of the last County Judge race), James Crittenden (it looks like he may very well be the loser of the next Commissioner's race) and Mrs. Patterson. Based on the advice of these three people, the Republican party chose not to sign the contract thus meaning that the upcoming Republican primary is out of compliance with federal voting laws.
One of the factors in the judge's decision was that, by their actions, the Republican party had created a situation with no solution. They had waited to file their lawsuit until even if the judge had been inclined to help correct the mistakes made by Mrs. Patterson he was unable to do so without violating a number of voting laws designed to ensure voting is kept on the up and up.
The newspaper story I read made it appear that the judge's ruling was why the Republicans got to vote at all, but that wasn't the ruling. The Republicans intended to vote on paper ballots all along, and hand count each ballot box in the precinct before returning it to the courthouse for tabulation. It is almost impossible to imagine a situation with more opportunities for voter fraud than the one that is going to exist for all republican voters and candidates on Tuesday night.
The judge also made a specific finding on the record that the County Clerk, Peggy Lagrone, had acted at all times in good faith in her attempts to get the contract signed and in her actions afterwords.
One particularly troublesome piece of testimony from Mrs. Patterson was that she was unaware of the deadline when the contract was due. A deadline had been set so that the final programming of the machines could be accomplished in time to post notices and conduct the tests required by law.
Even though Mrs. Patterson stated under oath she was unaware of the date, this was contradicted by the other witnesses including Upshur County District Attorney Billy Byrd who testified that not only did he tell her to sign the contract, but that he had discussions with her in which the deadline was quite clear.
Perhaps now we see why Comm. Crittenden launched on Mr. Byrd the night before their lawsuit was filed. Was this an attempt to influence a witness's testimony, an example of what is going to occur if he doesn't get on board, or simply a man with a severe lack of understanding as to the way things really work. And, I might add, a lack of concern for ethical political conduct.
This whole thing could have been avoided if Mrs. Patterson had simply signed the contract once the people with legal knowledge had advised her to. Instead, she retreated into her conspiracy chamber where they are less concerned with an effective county government than they are with one they can control.
Bottom line - the Republicans got none of the relief they requested but did manage to force the County to spend money on the fine lawyers who won the case.
Fiscal conservatives my butt.
Comments and subscribing to this site
I just wanted to inform people how some things work on here.
I truly appreciate the comments being made and, although I often disagree with them, an open discourse is important to become informed and to bring about change where needed.
With that being said, I can tell several people have posted under more than one name and often multiple posts are made on the same topic making it appear that more people have an opinion than is reality. I would ask you to please use one screen name. More than that and it appears you are making an attempt to manipulate opinion in a way that I consider inappropriate.
Also, people who subscribe have absolute anonymity. Unless I get an email asking me to do it, there is no way for me to know who subscribed or what their email address is. This is a safeguard built into almost all blogging software. So if anyone is worried about SPAM, unwanted emails from me or anyone else, or anything else which might come from giving your email please be reassured that this cannot happen.
I truly appreciate the comments being made and, although I often disagree with them, an open discourse is important to become informed and to bring about change where needed.
With that being said, I can tell several people have posted under more than one name and often multiple posts are made on the same topic making it appear that more people have an opinion than is reality. I would ask you to please use one screen name. More than that and it appears you are making an attempt to manipulate opinion in a way that I consider inappropriate.
Also, people who subscribe have absolute anonymity. Unless I get an email asking me to do it, there is no way for me to know who subscribed or what their email address is. This is a safeguard built into almost all blogging software. So if anyone is worried about SPAM, unwanted emails from me or anyone else, or anything else which might come from giving your email please be reassured that this cannot happen.