West Virginia's official State Motto is Montani Semper Liberi, Latin for "Mountaineers are always free." While it may stand for the pride of its people, it does not accurately represent its system of elections. To this end, the State Motto has become a cruel joke on West Virginians who have witnessed outrageous and disgraceful election conduct throughout the years coupled with the consistently rising costs of campaigns. On a scale of corruption, West Virginia ranks at the top of the list with Mayor Richard J. Daley's Chicago and Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall running somewhere close behind.
The State's political history is the stuff of legend and mythology and unfortunately continues to create plenty of new fables on a seemingly daily basis. For the first time ever, these jaw-dropping stories of corruption have been included in one book. In more than 650 pages, which includes more than 160 remarkable photographs, "DON'T BUY ANOTHER VOTE, I WON'T PAY FOR A LANDSLIDE" tells the unbelievable tale of West Virginia's history of corruption from its very inception until 2006 and provides a unique and specific plan to reform the State's politics.
Of particular national interest this book includes a fresh look at the 1960 John F. Kennedy Presidential campaign in West Virginia as well as chapters on Mother Jones and the Hatfields and McCoys. In demonstrating its non-partisan nature and national importance, United States Senators Robert C. Byrd and John McCain have both written Forewords to the book.
This book details vote-buying and vote-selling with instances of corruption of past and present day so incredible that you can only close your eyes and shake your head in disbelief. It explains how West Virginia's politics is the most corrupt in the nation. A few examples include a sitting Governor who hid behind a trash dumpster with cash in his hand and begged a political boss to buy votes for him, while another sitting Governor set up dummy corporations to funnel millions of dollars in federal flood money to those corporations, just as a sitting circuit judge stepped down from the bench to bite off the end of a defendant's nose who he felt was being disrespectful to the court, while yet another sitting circuit judge was convicted for buying and selling all of the elected offices in his county.
Never before has such a courageous book been written detailing the outrageous events in any State's corrupt political history. For example, among some of the charges against West Virginia's elected officials during merely the last two decades included in the book include: stealing, cheating, gambling, bribery, ballot box/poll tampering, corrupt real estate transactions, insurance sales fraud, tax evasion, extortion, mail fraud, filing false tax returns, obstruction of justice, fraud, accepting illegal cash contributions, illegally distributing cash to influence elections, making illegal campaign promises, failing to report income, receiving money through illegal actions, lying, covering up unlawful acts, countless campaign violations, selling political offices, selling cocaine, failing to pay state bills, concealing state bills, violating the public trust, numerous sex offenses, falsifying documents, defrauding the government, drug racketeering, judicialnose biting, jury tampering, threatening witnesses, soliciting prostitution, liquor sales racketeering, perjury, federal securities law violations, illegal withdraw of public funds, embezzlement, forgery,larceny, assault, battery, public drunkenness, police brutality, civil rights violations, falsifying State Police laboratory test results, "election-rigging," blackmail, illegal gambling, illegal wiretapping, sexual harassment, robbery, arson, drug usage, and child abuse.
The book also illustrates the multi-millions of dollars pouring into state elections and describes how reform in West Virginia will lead to national reform. This book is something that no citizen should be without. It highlights all of the dirty little disgusting corrupt activities of one State's politicians, but also provides a roadmap of how we can get rid of those rotten politicians in state after state and take back our government, making public service once again an honored profession.
