Charleston Daily Mail July 3, 2006 West Virginians support political corruption by Dave Peyton
The Registar-Herald July 3, 2006 Taking on the Establishment By Carl “Butch” Antolini
Huntinton Herald Dispatch July 20, 2006 Editorial - Book highlights shamful side of WV politics New book details state's history of political corruption June 27, 2006 By Chris Stadelman
Charleston Daily Mail June 23, 2006 Author out to cleanse politics in W.Va. by Jake Stump The Putnam Herald Book details corruption in W.Va. politics by Bryan Chambers "West Virginians support political corruption" - Dave Peyton Monday July 03, 2006
When Taxes Really Were Robbery Looking for a deeper meaning in the wild and wooly days when West Virginia became a state June 22, 2006 by Chris Stirewalt
Dictionary of deceit: Author compiles thick volume on W.Va.'s corrupt political leaders June 18, 2006 By Paul J. Nyden
06/20/2006 Hoppy's Commentary For Tuesday Talkline Host Hoppy Kercheval
Parallel Universe: Allen Loughry Has Plan to Clean Out Stables of Mountain State Politics: Good Luck! 24th July 2006 by David M. Kinchen
Charleston Daily Mail July 12, 2006 Summer reading choices vary this year by Colleen Wright
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide’ Chronicles WV’s History of Political Corruption The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past - William Faulkner Reviewed By David M. Kinchen Huntington News Network Book Critic July 23, 2006
The Morgan Messenger, Berkeley Springs, WV 8/2/2006 Book highlights shameful side of W.Va. politics A saga of dirty politics in West Virginia by John Douglas
Public corruption is akin to the drug trade. In both instances, it takes two to tango.
Sadly, in West Virginia, "Shall we dance, West Virginia?" has many meanings.
Hats off to Dr. Allen Loughry II, a clerk in the West Virginia Supreme Court, who has amassed a history of public corruption in West Virginia into a book appropriately called "Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide."
It's about vote buying and myriad other ways the state's public officials have thoroughly corrupted West Virginia government and endlessly embarrassed those of us who can still be embarrassed.
I won't go through the li-tany of corrupt practices that predate West Virginia becoming a state. If you want to be reminded, read the book.
But the corruption in this state's government has been enabled by the people who have turned their heads away when they see or hear about sleaze. The fact is that most voters either don't care or secretly hope they can be beneficiaries of dishonesty. Too many of us feed on corruption.
Take vote buying, for example. As long as people are willing to sell their votes, there will be politicians willing to buy them.
It's the same with illicit drugs and the drug trade. Those who sell the drugs are probably not even half the problem. Those who are addicted to drugs probably commit more crimes than those who sell them.
For example, I remain convinced that the thief or thieves who have stolen about $1,000 worth of lawn and garden tools from my property in the past six weeks in two incidents are desperate addicts in search of goods they can pawn or sell on the street for money to buy crack, heroin, etc.
Thus, drug sellers have no direct effect on me and mine, but drug users have had a profound impact.
Drug users have created a culture of petty theft in our state. So have those who sell their votes or give a wink-wink, nudge-nudge when they see public corruption going on under their noses. Unfortunately, I have been guilty of the latter on occasion.
More than once in the past 40 years, I have smiled at the stories of public corruption I have heard or even ignored incidents of public corruption I have witnessed.
But that reaction has done nothing to put an end to it, just as eliminating the drug dealers will not end drug addiction and their associated illegal activities such as thievery, prostitution and more.
Loughry wants to put the onus on our public officials to clean the Augean stables of state politics.
But that will never happen until the culture changes -- until you and I and every law-abiding citizen in the state not only say "Enough!" but back it with action at the polls, in our daily activities, and in conversations with others.
Just as we will never eliminate the drug problem unless we deal with the addicts, we'll never eliminate corruption in government until we just say no -- and say it emphatically -- to our politicians and to ourselves.
When Taxes Really Were Robbery
Posted 6/22/2006 Looking for a deeper meaning in the wild and wooly days when West Virginia became a state
Story by Chris Stirewalt
I puzzled this week over the name of the new exhibit from the state archives celebrating the 143rd anniversary of the formation of the state of West Virginia - "A State of Convenience."
It never seemed very convenient to me to have to tear a whole new state out of one of the original colonies, stretch the Constitution tighter than a drum head and ignite a border war all to make West Virginia the 35th state.
It would have been a lot more convenient to do what the residents of other conflicted Confederate and border states did, which was more or less whatever they liked. The abolitionists and unionists from Tennessee or Arkansas didn't ever do anything so grand as we did.
In those states, just like our own, the initial goal of both sides in the conflict didn't have anything to do with naming rights. It was all about who controlled the real estate. Questions of possession in those days were more likely to be settled by a bayonet than a compass.
Consider the story that's retold in Allen Loughry's new book out this week: "Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia."
The book is a great compendium of the tawdry moments from our political past, and we all owe Loughry a debt for putting it all in one place and doing it in a clear-eyed fashion.
While he closes with the recent (i.e. "weasel-faced bastard" and "looking for ugly"), Loughry, a state Supreme Court clerk and former political flack, opens with the birth of this curious institution of ours.
In June 1861, after the boys in Richmond bugged out on the Constitution, Francis Pierpont and some other unionistas from western Virginia got together in Wheeling and had taken to calling themselves the Reformed Government of Virginia.
Wheeling may have been the second-largest city in Virginia, a transportation hub and a pretty big deal then, but the so-called reformed government was mostly hot air.
No troops. No courts. No police. No tax department. No stationery. No nothing.
What Pierpont and his crew needed was money, and fast. President Lincoln knew it, and he also knew that from a tactical and a public relations standpoint he needed to keep the reformed government going.
George McClellan, who later went on to be the man who tried to lose the war twice (once as a general and once as a Democrat), was in charge of the Army of Western Virginia at the time.
He was tasked with helping the reformed government stay afloat, and when he learned that the Weston Bank contained $26,000 in gold, he saw a chance to do just that.
McClellan ordered the gold seized (the bank president may have used a different word) and the money transferred to Gov. Pierpont. That gold, which would be worth nearly a million dollars today, covered the reformed government's first payroll, rented a capitol and conferred some legitimacy on the whole enterprise.
Some might say it was fitting that the state was founded on the proceeds of a bank robbery, but whatever the case, the work was done, and the U.S. Army locked up most of the strategic positions in the state.
And once our rivers, roads and railways were safely in Union hands, redrawing the map was of little strategic value to the U.S. government. We were probably even more valuable as reformed Virginia than West Virginia.
So the fact we went to the trouble to create a whole new state always struck me as something special.
Maybe it's because I'm from Wheeling.
But whether we were the tools of the North or refugees from secession and slavery to begin with, we finished our path to statehood by demanding to be recognized as something different and apart from the coastal aristocracy of Virginia.
Abraham Lincoln saw that we were and that our sacrifices for the Union should have been recognized. He went to the mat for us when he didn't have to, except to keep faith with the people of these counties and respect our wishes.
It hasn't always been easy doing it on our own. In fact, I don't know that it's ever been easy.
I've often wondered whether it wouldn't be better to send the governor of Virginia a nice note and a fruit basket and ask if we can just come back home.
But the differences that separated us then and now are real. And I love the things that make us different. They have kept us a lot wilder and a little freer than our aristocratic cousins, and, in the long run, those qualities will serve us well.
The first 150 years of the two Virginias may belong to the east, but I believe the next 150 will go to the other side of the Alleghenies.
Dictionary of deceit: Author compiles thick volume on W.Va.'s corrupt political leaders
June 18, 2006
By Paul J. Nyden
Staff writer
"Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide" is an encyclopedic account of corruption and wrongdoing by West Virginia politicians.
The colorful characters create the bread and circuses of local and state politics.
The text is sometimes autobiographical, when author Allen Loughry recounts his personal interactions and meetings with many West Virginia politicians in recent years.
The book - being released today - also has several historical chapters focusing on the rise of the coal industry in the 19th century, the Hatfield-McCoy disputes, Mother Jones and the mine wars in the early 1920s, including the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921.
Most of the book examines specific political figures, such as John F.
Kennedy, Gov. Arch Moore, Warren McGraw and Jay Rockefeller, and their campaigns.
In his introduction, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., writes, "In 1946, when I started out in politics, if we had the current system of funding campaigns, I would not be in the United States Senate.
"I came out at the very bottom of the ladder. I came out of a coal camp with my fiddle and my brain," Byrd wrote. "I would have been out if it had depended on money. I would never have gotten to first base."
The Congressional Research Office, Byrd notes, found the total costs of campaigns for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives rose from $115.5 million to $1.16 billion from 1976 to 2004 - a tenfold increase during years when the cost of living tripled.
Loughry criticizes people on all sides of the political spectrum, both Republicans and Democrats.
The book often focuses on money spent on recent campaigns, including:
Rockefeller's races for governor in 1980 and senator in 1984; Moore's six statewide races beginning in 1968; and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's (R-W.Va.) spending battles against Charleston lawyer James Humphreys in the 2000 and 2002 Congressional races.
Loughry writes about Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin and his supporters, particularly Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, in the
2004 race that removed Warren McGraw from the Supreme Court. Spending in that race, which included $3.5 million raised by Blankenship's 527 group called "And For the Sake of the Kids," was the nation's most expensive judicial battle that year.
A particularly impressive feature of the new book is a beautifully printed collection of 160 historic photographs of political leaders from the Mountain State since its birth during the Civil War in 1863 to the present.
Past and Future
Loughry also criticizes the failure of public schools to teach history.
"It amazes me that the injustices that occurred in Southern West Virginia aren't being taught in history classes in every high school in America today....
"I wonder why we weren't taught in school that as we fought for the freedom of others in Europe [in World Wars I and II] West Virginia coal miners were living in poverty and pre-Civil War slave-like conditions."
Loughry, who grew up in Parsons in Tucker County, said he had not even heard of Mother Jones until about 10 years ago.
That criticism may be especially timely today, since more books are now available - but generally not used - to teach the state's often-forgotten history. "West Virginia: A History for Beginners,"
published in 1997 by John Alexander Williams, is one of them.
"Corruption - with a Capitol 'C,'" the chapter on Arch Moore, begins by noting Moore's popularity, his brilliance and amazing recall of people's names.
Other West Virginia governors, such as Democrat Wally Barron, engaged in questionable and illegal activities to improve their personal finances.
"But Gov. Moore has to rank at the top of the list," Loughry writes.
The book specifically mentions the deal with Pittston Coal right before he left office after his second term as governor on January 1977. Moore allowed Pittston to pay $1 million to settle a state lawsuit seeking $9.5 million to pay for costs to clean up after the Buffalo Creek flood that killed 125 people and destroyed most of 14 towns in February 1972.
Moore ended up serving time in a federal prison after he pleaded guilty in May 1990 to extorting more than $723,000 from coal operator H. Paul Kizer for Black Lung refunds and for lucrative state "super tax credits."
The book also has a chapter critical of Darrell and Warren McGraw.
Loughry criticizes Darrell McGraw for spending state money on television ads promoting his own name and his Consumer Protection Division, as well as buying trinkets displaying his name, including key chains, magnets, pens, pencils, whistles and packs of crayons.
Corruption convictions have been widespread.
Between 1984 and 1991, Loughry writes, 77 public officials in Southern West Virginia alone were convicted on charges including extortion, fraud, arson, drugs and tax evasion.
The book also has chapters on gambling legalization and sex scandals.
Loughry writes of legislative leaders who held major interests in once-illegal "gray machines," including Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, and Delegate Joe C. Ferrell, D-Logan.
After 2001, when lawmakers voted to legalize 9,000 slot machines at local bars, State Lottery revenues from gambling rose even higher.
By 2005, annual State Lottery revenues reached nearly one-third of the state General Revenue budget. (Some of those revenues went to pay track and machine owners, as well as those who won at the machines.)
Today, gambling revenues have balanced the state budget, but Loughry questions their long-term impact.
"When the problems that surround gambling begin to surface in neighborhood after neighborhood, people may begin to question whether gambling has actually produced more economic benefits than actual harm."
His discussion of sex scandals includes former Gov. Bob Wise, who had an affair with an economic development aide; former Delegate Clyde H.
Richey, D-Monongalia, who sexually abused an underage male page in 1979; and Bradford Keller, an aide to Wise who resigned after he was arrested for soliciting a prostitute in 2002. Keller, however, was soon found innocent of all charges after a jury trial.
Comprehensive Reform?
"The kind of campaign system that we have today sends the clear message to the American people that it is money, not ideas and not principles, that reigns supreme in our political system," Byrd wrote in the introduction.
"We need comprehensive reform," Loughry said. "People do care, even if politicians think they don't."
Loughry proposes that people running for political office sign his "Contract with the Voter."
The contract proposes more severe criminal penalties for political leaders who violate laws and would curtail funds going to discretionary-spending funds such as the Legislature's Budget Digest and Governor's Contingency Fund.
His proposed reforms would also prohibit special-interest groups from holding legislative receptions and place strict limits on campaign expenses for all offices from governor to county school boards.
Some of his more controversial proposals would eliminate political action committees, which often allow labor groups to help fund campaigns.
One proposal, perhaps offered in humor, would require ballots to include "None of the Above" as a choice for every office.
Loughry often mentions the role major economic interests play.
However, his book never really takes a close look at the profound influence various special economic interests exert over legislators and top state officials.
These interests obviously include: coal companies, oil and gas producers, physicians, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, real estate agents, beer and liquor distributors, insurance companies, banks, loan companies and other business groups.
Statistical connections between major contributors and legislators often go a long way toward explaining votes. But they are never examined.
Taking on the establishment By Carl “Butch” Antolini REGISTER-HERALD EXECUTIVE EDITOR
— Political corruption and West Virginia have been virtually synonymous since the Mountain State joined the union in 1861.
There have been many who have decried it but none who have really wanted to do anything about it other than providing rhetoric.
That’s all changed now.
Starting nearly five years ago a young, aspiring lawyer figured he wanted to make a difference. After countless hours of work, Dr. Allen H. Loughry II has produced a 600-plus page book (including an 80-page pictorial section) detailing West Virginia’s sordid political history and offering solutions as to how it can be changed for the better.
“Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay For A Landslide” is the title of the work produced by Loughry, who presently serves as a law clerk to West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Elliott E. “Spike” Maynard.
The book details a plethora of the characters involved in shaping the Mountain State’s political history including chapters on: The McGraw Brothers, Warren and Darrell; Mother Jones and the bloodshed in Southern West Virginia’s coalfields; former Governor Arch A. Moore Jr.; U.S. Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller; The Hatfields and McCoys; and the 1960 Presidential primary victory of John F. Kennedy.
A Democrat himself, Loughry makes no bones about how he pieced the puzzle together.
“I’m just calling it how I see it,” Loughry said in an interview with The Register-Herald. “Nobody gets picked on and nobody gets a free pass.”
The book, which was just released in mid-June and is finding its way into bookstores throughout the state, has two forewords — one written by Byrd and the other authored by U.S. Sen John McCain.
To have two respected U.S. Senators, one from each side of the aisle, sign on to the book is a barometer for what Loughry intended the book to be.
“I wanted to lay out the history and then come up with solutions,” the Tucker County native said.
Not only does Loughry (who was told even before the book was printed that he would be professionally “destroyed’’ if he laid out the truth) provide an insightful look back, but he also uses the last three chapters of the piece to outline a detailed plan for reform.
“Now that the past has been dissected, we have an enormously unique opportunity to not only change the political face of West Virginia, but to show a nation that political reform is possible, from the bottom up,” Loughry stated. “People all over this state, and all across the country, don’t vote and politicians think it’s because they don’t care. That’s not true.
“Voters do care. They have just been frustrated and disappointed in the same old thing year after year, after year. It’s got to change.”
Priced at $34.99, “Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay For A Landslide” can be purchased at numerous bookstores or by logging onto the website www.reformwv.com where Loughry is offering autographed copies to buyers.
Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc.
New book details state's history of political corruption Tuesday, June 27, 2006 By Chris Stadelman
PARSONS -- A Tucker County native has written a book detailing West Virginia's history of political corruption, but he ultimately wants it to be more about the future than the past.
Dr. Allen H. Loughry II just released "Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide." The book, printed by Parsons-based McClain Printing Co., looks at corruption going all the way back to 1861, before West Virginia even became a state.
"West Virginia has had more than its fair share of corrupt political felons as countless state, county and city elected officials have spent time in federal and state penitentiaries," Loughry writes. "The people of the state who proudly call themselves Mountaineers have never been truly free from the depredations of political and financial corruption."
Loughry is a Tucker County High School graduate, and he has completed four law degrees and worked for a governor and a congressman.
He currently works as a clerk for state Supreme Court Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard. Although a registered Democrat, Loughry said corruption in West Virginia has been a bipartisan effort. He noted that Republicans love to criticize Democrats for the behavior of Wally Barron, while Democrats quickly point to the transgressions of Arch Moore.
"Both parties need to step up," Loughry said. "There's no accountability. It's just outrageous to me.
"I don't think anybody who picks this book up will be able to say 'Look at this left wing blank' or 'Look at this right wing blank.' "
The book, a longtime project of Loughry's that took years to write but includes information up through the 2006 legislative session, already has drawn praise from some political heavyweights. Sens. John McCain and Robert Byrd both wrote forewords in the book, and former Gov. Gaston Caperton calls it "a must read that no West Virginian should be without and no politician should ignore."
In his foreword, McCain writes, ""Allen Loughry has issued a reminder that there are watchdogs and whistleblowers willing to defy intimidation and do the difficult and necessary work of defending our American ideals," while Byrd says in his "The money cycle in politics too often corrupts political discourse. It makes us slaves to the dollar rather than the servants of the people we all aspire to be."
The book includes chapters on campaign corruption from the presidential level on down to local races, elected officials who went to prison and officeholders who use state money to further their own name recognition.
The title of the book actually is a quotation attributed to John F. Kennedy's father in the wake of the 1960 West Virginia primary that sent Kennedy on his way to the White House. Despite the hundreds of pages dedicated to the past, Loughry wants the book's impact to be on the future.
"This is not just a book complaining about West Virginia politics," he said. "It's a book that hopes to change the face of politics in the state forever."
The book includes 50 ways to change and improve the political process, a "Contract with the Voter" Loughry said all candidates should be asked to sign. Among the promises are to:
* Support legislation requiring that "None of the Above" be an option on every general election ballot;
* Support legislation taking away the state pension of any politician convicted of corruption;
* Ban the purchase and distribution of state-paid trinkets;
* Reform the state's ethics laws;
* Outlaw the practice of paying money to be placed on political slates used to buy votes;
* Support for stronger sunshine laws and more lenient Freedom of Information Act laws, which promote open government.
Loughry knows change won't be easy, pointing out the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charleston has tried to stop vote-buying and other corrupt practices.
"There are a lot of early patterns. There's never been a break," he said. "We've never left the history truly in the past.
"You can't fix the system from the top down," he added. "You have to do it at the local level first, then move up the ladder. You can't ask people at the top who are already products of a corrupt system to fix the system."
Loughry currently is driving around the state promoting the book, including appearances on MetroNews Talkline with Hoppy Kerchaval and 58 Live on WCHS-AM in Charleston. The book is available locally at Taylor Books and on the Web at McClain Printing's site at www.mcclainprinting.com. The book and more information also is available on Loughry's Web site at www.reformwv.com.
Stadelman is editor of The Parsons Advocate. The paper can be found online at www.parsonsadvocate.com.
Author out to cleanse politics in W.Va. by Jake Stump Daily Mail Staff Friday June 23, 2006
Allen Loughry doesn't expect to make many new political pals since he's unveiled a 600-page opus detailing the history of corruption in West Virginia.
He's received personal threats -- when the book hadn't even hit the shelves yet.
"It's uncomfortable when someone says they're going to destroy you professionally," said Loughry, author of "Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay For A Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia."
But Loughry is willing to risk it if it means cleansing the state's dirty political system.
The 35-year-old native of Parsons, Tucker County, gained an appreciation of politics at an early age. But he would eventually see a different, darker side of it as he matured.
Loughry has worked in several government offices and is now a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Spike Maynard.
He's observed and researched stories of Joseph Troisi, a circuit judge in Pleasants County who bit the nose of a defendant in court; the John F. Kennedy presidential campaign buying votes in southern West Virginia, and the sexual escapades of state lawmakers.
Those are just a few of the book's tidbits of West Virginia politics at its lowest.
"We've had these problems consistently from 1861 to 2006," Loughry said. "The Kennedy campaign -- they spent millions of dollars here. The cash flowed like a mountain spring."
The title of Loughry's book comes from a quote by Joe Kennedy, John's father. The president often joked that he had received a telegram from his father saying, "Don't buy another vote, I won't pay for a landslide."
Loughry said the book evolved from a dissertation he completed for his law degree at The American University, Washington College of Law in 2003.
He spent the last few years molding it into a readable political encyclopedia for the public and was always updating it with the latest shameful government controversies.
He joked he could continue updating the book until the world turns to dust.
His initial intent focused on the saturation of money in politics.
"As I started to study this area, I found out that wasn't the only problem with West Virginia politics, by far," Loughry said. "If you ever fix West Virginia politics, you need comprehensive reform."
At the end of his book, Loughry includes a plan to reform state politics. He urges elected officials and candidates to abide by this contract, which consists of 50 items ranging from expanding the state Supreme Court to seven justices and prohibiting the renting of the governor's mansion.
Loughry isn't holding his breath. But he believes it's the perfect time for change to correspond with a pending change in House of Delegates leadership.
"It's a good time to print this contract off and go to your delegates to see what they stand for," he said. "We don't know what they stand for. Anyone can put out a commercial that says healthcare is important. Of course it is."
But Loughry figures some politicians are too entrenched in the murk and muck of unethical conduct.
That's how they survive in politics, he reasons.
But not all elected officials fit into this category. Loughry had Sens. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and John McCain, R-Ariz. pen the forewords to his book.
Loughry met McCain along his 2000 presidential campaign trail and just recently sent the senator an advanced copy of his book.
McCain liked it enough; he wrote a one-page foreword and stated, "To find political success it seems one has to play the game and ignore ethical quagmires, but by engaging in such behavior, one must accept the consequences of making voters apathetic and weakening our democracy."
Having senators from opposite sides of the aisle writing forewords for a book is a good indication about the rest of its contents.
Loughry pulls no punches. He spots the guilty in liberals, conservatives, Democrats and Republicans.
"I feel equally frustrated with both parties," said Loughry, a Democrat. "Neither party holds their own accountable."
He pointed out the recent sentencing of Glen Dale "Hound Dog" Adkins, a Logan County clerk of 18 years, who received five years probation, six months of home confinement and a $20,000 fine for selling his vote in the 1996 Democratic primary.
"People steer state and federal dollars, yet we give them probation and a minimal fine," Loughry said. "It seems like a pretty good tradeoff."
Loughry discovered there were 77 convictions for election fraud in southern West Virginia from 1984 to 1991.
He dedicates an entire chapter to the legacy of vote-buying in that part of the state, as well as chapters depicting Mother Jones and the bloody coalfield wars in West Virginia, and a scrutinizing look at the legislators who pushed to legalize the grey machines.
Loughry even throws brothers Warren and Darrell McGraw into the fire -- and Loughry has worked under Attorney General Darrell McGraw as a senior assistant attorney general.
In the book, he spotlights the brothers' campaign spending and the embarrassing revelation that Darrell McGraw's office purchased $142,000 of trinkets including key chains, pill boxes, whistles, coloring books and crayons bearing the attorney general's name.
"I believe both men are genuinely concerned for poor people and believe that the government should act to improve people's lives," Loughry writes in chapter 10, "The McGraw Brothers." "Both of them, however, just as so many other politicians do, live with the same obsessions and fears surrounding reelection resulting in Darrell, more so than Warren, spending millions of state dollars through various avenues to keep their family in political office and their names on every refrigerator."
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06/20/2006 Hoppy's CommentaryFor Tuesday Talkline Host Hoppy Kercheval
Doctor Allen Loughry’s just published book about political corruption in West Virginia runs a hefty 539 pages. The footnotes push the tome to 609 pages. Even the title is long: “Don’t Buy Another Vote. I Won’t Pay For A Landslide; The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia.”
No, Loughry’s book is not your escapist read for that summer beach trip. But when you set out to chronicle the state’s extensive history of political corruption, well, you’ve got some ground to cover.
Loughry’s book starts with the infamous voting buying by the Kennedy Campaign in 1960, flashes back to the controversial formation of the state, and then take us through the modern day litany of bribes, payoffs and scandals. Even readers familiar with the misdeeds will find themselves reminded of long-forgotten wrongdoings that over time have blended into the nefarious political fabric of our state.
One could argue that many of the stories have been told before, and they have, but Loughry provides a fresh look at the scandals, complete with his personal outrage. He says of former Governor Arch Moore: “I was warned by several of my friends not to write about Governor Moore due to his continued popularity with many groups around the state. However, his actions have been unbelievably corrupt and absolutely inexcusable, and people should no longer be afraid to openly say it’s wrong.”
Therein Loughry has touched on the Holy Grail of the state’s future. It doesn’t have to be this way. In Loughry’s world political corruption—no matter how charming the characters or how laughable the shenanigans—is unacceptable. He holds no hope for a clean sweep from the state Ethics Commission calling it “a joke.”
Loughry instead puts his faith in a 50 point plan for reforming the state, included among the proposals a law requiring “’None of the Above’ to be included as a choice for every office on every West Virginia General Election Ballot.” He asks candidates to sign a contract with voters specifying which of the 50 proposals the candidate will support.
Often in West Virginia we wonder how we got here, how our state ended up with the multiple problems we have. After reading “Don’t Buy Another Vote” you’ll realize that it was not simply bad luck or a couple of poor decisions, but rather a perverse philosophy by many in a position of public trust who have put personal gain and perpetuation of their position above the greater good or even basic competence.
Loughry, a serious and idealistic man, hopes his book will inspire change. Rarely does a single book do that. But I admire his dedication and optimism. In his proposed contract between politician and voter, he calls on the candidate to “recognize that West Virginia has had an unseemly history of political corruption and I promise to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.”
Loughry’s book may not be THE solution, but it’s a good start.
Book details corruption in W.Va. politics By Bryan Chambers The Putnam Herald
A new book that chronicles the history of political corruption in West Virginia could be used as a conduit for wide-sweeping reform, its author says.
Last month, Tucker County native Dr. Allen H. Loughry II published his first book, "Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide."
The 539-page book is a comprehensive, no-holds-barred look at vote buying, campaign funding, sex scandals and other tales of wrongdoing that have hovered over the state's political arena for decades.
It contains several historical chapters, including the controversial birth of West Virginia in the early 1860s, the Hatfield-McCoy disputes and the mine wars of the early 1920s. It focuses on the 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy and the rise of other political figures such as Arch Moore, Jay Rockefeller and Warren and Darrell McGraw. One chapter of the book also provides a detailed account of election fraud in southern West Virginia.
Loughry, who has four law degrees and is currently a law clerk for West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard, said the book has been about 10 years in the making. A close follower of politics since an early age, Loughry said the more he learned about corruption growing up, the more he realized that he had to do something about it.
"This is the most nonpartisan political book anyone will ever read," said Loughry, whose book includes forewords from political heavyweights Robert C. Byrd and John McCain. "I wanted to show that the left wing, the right wing and the middle of the road have all engaged in political corruption. It hurts all parties, and it's their responsibility to step up and change things in this state."
In several sections of the book, Loughry offers his personal outrage.
"How many West Virginia governors, attorneys general, state senators or any elected officials have been elected because of bought votes?" he writes. "It absolutely makes me sick to know that every election I have voted in during my entire lifetime has been tainted by vote-buying.
"Corruption has an impact well beyond the amount of money that may have been stolen or the decisions influenced by bribery. The real costs come in the form of a breakdown in societal morality caused by prominent examples of corrupt behavior."
Loughry's solution, which he discusses extensively in the last section of the book, is a 50-point plan for reforming the state. It includes proposals such as requiring that "None of the Above" be included as a voting choice on every general election ballot, taking away state pension benefits from any politician who is convicted of corruption and banning the purchase and distribution of state-paid trinkets.
He suggests that politicians sign a contract with voters that outlines which of the 50 proposals they support.
"Politicians think people don't care about these issues, but they do. They've just become complacent and have come to expect this behavior," Loughry said. "After years of political corruption, they don't know where to begin to change things, so that's why I put this contract together."
Parallel Universe: Allen Loughry Has Plan to Clean Out Stables of Mountain State Politics: Good Luck! 24th July 2006 By David M. Kinchen
Hinton, WV – Allen H. Loughry II is a heck of a lot more optimistic about reforming one of the most politically corrupt states – West Virginia – than I am. I think bringing peace to the Middle East will happen before the rotten-to-the-core structure of West Virginia politics is cleaned up
I’ve just reviewed his marvelous book, “Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide” (check the archives for my review; it’s also posted on www.amazon.com) and it makes me even more pessimistic.
As I said in the review, the book destroyed my belief that my home state of Illinois was the most corrupt in the nation. West Virginia and Louisiana take the top prizes; it may even be a dead heat between the Mountain State and the Bayou State.
Loughry, 35, explained his reasons for spending about 10 years researching and writing the comprehensive — 658 pages, extensive notes and documentation, plenty of photographs and an index that will be the first thing many readers will turn to — history of vote buying and corruption in the Mountain State in a long telephone conversation with me. Basically, he wants true reform in the state, through The Loughry Plan to Reform West Virginia Politics. A free printable copy of the entire contract can be obtained through Loughry’s web site: www.ReformWV.com
Here’s a quick look at the Loughry Plan, which consists of 50 specific ways to make WV’s political system better (we certainly can’t get any worse, can we?). Loughry, currently a law clerk to West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Spike Maynard, will be spending much of his time during this campaign season asking candidates to agree – by signing a contract – to his reform plan, which includes, but isn’t limited to the following:
* Support Legislation requiring that “None of the Above” be included as a voting choice on every West Virginia General Election Ballot.
* Support legislation that takes away State pension benefits from any politician who is convicted of corruption.
* Ban the purchase and distribution of state-paid trinkets.
* Support legislation placing restrictions on the Governor’s Contingency Fund.
* A lifetime ban on running for office for individuals who have been convicted of a felony.
* Reform of the state’s ethics laws.
* Outlaw the practice of paying money to be placed on political slates used to buy votes.
As I said, check his web site – www.ReformWV.com – for the complete contract.
In our conversation, which was interrupted briefly by a helicopter flying over his Charleston house (I asked him if it belonged to Mark Hrutkay!) I argued that the problem of corruption is deeply embedded in the state and suggested term limits for state legislators – I would also like them for members of Congress – and a ban on lawyers and teachers serving in the State Senate or House of Delegates. Teachers are essentially state employees, who are banned from serving in the Legislature. Lawyers are officers of the court – the Judicial branch – and should be banned from serving in the Legislature on the grounds of conflict of interest. Plus I don’t care much for lawyers!
Many of the felons cited in Loughry’s book are members of the legal profession. Quite a few of them have petitioned to get their law licenses back, most notably convicted and imprisoned felon Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., whose petition was rejected by the State Supreme Court of Appeals. Many of the other petitioners – check Loughry’s book for details – were successful, indicating that corruption is prevalent in all three branches of West Virginia government. The judicial branch has really flagrant examples, including a judge who bit off part of the nose of a defendant and another one who was a major league sexual harasser of women.
I also suggested the appointment of otherwise qualified and experienced non lawyers to the judicial branch; after all, they could hire lawyers like Loughry to help them with the legal issues. I don’t really expect this to happen, but I threw it out for comment.
Allen Loughry’s an idealistic, dedicated man and I wish him luck in his quest for reform. I would also suggest that his book be required reading for every high school and college student in West Virginia.
Summer reading choices vary this year by Colleen Wright Daily Mail staff July 12, 2006
It's that time of the year when a comfortable lawn chair and summer vacation give people the time and desire to get lost in a good book.
Sometimes, deciding what to read can be difficult.
But area bookstore workers say they have a pretty good idea of what people are reading based on popular sellers.
At Taylor Books on Capitol Street and Waldenbooks at Charleston Town Center, employees said one of the most popular books of the summer is "The Devil Wears Prada" by Lauren Weisberger.
"It is definitely a hot book to buy now because the movie just came out," said Kristin Reise of Taylor Books. "I like it because it is funny and new."
The book tells the tale of a fictional New York fashion magazine editor who is feared by both her underlings and those in the fashion world.
It is described on the front flap as "a delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses."
Not all popular books are necessarily light reading. Among other popular titles recommended by Taylor Books' employees is "Don't Buy Another Vote. I Won't Pay for a Landslide," by Dr. Allen Loughry II. The book takes an intense look at political corruption in West Virginia.
"I have read three chapters of it so far and I think it is fascinating," said Jesse Lyons of Taylor Books.
July 23, 2006
BOOK REVIEW:‘Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide’ Chronicles WV’s History of Political Corruption
The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past.
William Faulkner
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Huntington News Network Book Critic
Hinton, WV (HNN) – The history of West Virginia is more or less a sordid history of political corruption, with the entire state a rotten borough. That’s the impression this constant reader comes away with after reading “Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide” by Allen H. Loughry II (McClain Printing Co., Parsons, WV, 658 pages, illustrated, annotated, indexed, with forewards by Robert C. Byrd and John McCain, $34.95)
The “rotten borough” reference comes from Carey McWilliams, the legendary editor of The Nation magazine, and was made in 1946. A rotten borough in England was one that was thoroughly corrupt. It certainly makes Faulkner’s comment about the past appropriate, because not long ago I did a story about more than 6,000 dead voters – or at least dead people who are still on the state’s voting rolls – in West Virginia. I’ve got to say this for the Mountain State: I feel at home here, having spent much of my childhood and early adulthood in Illinois. There’s a saying that if you’re dead, you should move to Chicago because the dead can still vote in the Windy City.
The book’s catchy title comes from a comment attributed to Joe Kennedy during the 1960 presidential primary in West Virginia that pitted John F. Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, against Hubert H. Humphrey, a Protestant. Sensing that a state where 95 percent of the residents are Protestants of varying sects, the JFK campaign, masterminded by his father Joseph Kennedy, decided to play by WV Rules and buy the votes necessary for the charismatic young senator from Massachusetts to win the state on May 10, 1960 and the Democratic Presidential nomination at the convention in Los Angeles later that summer.
No less an authority than President Harry S. Truman believed this story and is quoted by Loughry, a law clerk to WV Supreme Court Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard: “He [Joe Kennedy] bought West Virginia,” Truman said. “I don’t know how much it cost him; he’s a tightfisted old son of a bitch; so he didn’t [spend] any more than he had to, but he bought West Virginia, and that’s how his boy won the Primary over Humphrey.”
Kennedy won the state by an 84,000 vote margin and was particularly strong in the state’s southern coal counties, where Catholics aren’t particularly thick on the ground. Throughout the book, Loughry states that while political corruption and vote buying is evident in all 55 counties, it’s particularly strong in coal counties including – but not limited to Logan – probably the champion – Mingo, Wayne, Lincoln, McDowell and Boone – “all of which were dominated by political factions.”
“Factions” isn’t a word I would use to describe Logan Sheriff Don Chafin or one of two nose-biters cited by Loughry in his tome. A particularly “cornpone” one – who could have been created for Al Capp’s “L’ll Abner” -- came from the southern part of the state and was a Democratic Party worker named Harry “Geets” Johnson who was caught by a revenue officer in “Coal Branch Creek with a load of moonshine. Geets was arrested and sent to jail, although not before he had bitten off most of the revenuer’s nose.”
I remember stories about the other nose-bitter while on the staff of The Register-Herald in Beckley. This dude was called Joseph Troisi and he was a circuit judge in Pleasants County in 1997 when he stepped down from the bench and bit off a piece of the nose of 29-year-old defendant William Witten (Page 291). I’ll grant him this: He was a considerate nose-biter: “After biting Witten, Troisi ordered him to be sent for medical attention and began to adjudicate the next case…” A very un-Pleasants County for Witten and others who faced the judge, a prime candidate for anger management.
Some of the book’s material would seem to be unrelated to the subtitle’s thrust: “The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia.” I particularly point out the very entertaining material on the Hatfield-McCoy feud and the Matewan Massacre of 1920, immortalized in John Sayles’ magnificent film “Matewan” which had in its cast a friend and colleague at the R-H, the late, great Neale Clark.
I think Loughry is trying to make the point that the ethnic makeup of West Virginia – predominantly people from the largest and poorest of four migrations of “Albion’s Seed” – contributed to the violence and corruption of what was less than a state and more of a chattel colony of Big Coal, Big Steel, the railroad and other outside interests.
(“Albion’s Seed” is a seminal 1991 book by David Hackett Fischer that explains the European settlement of the United States as voluntary migrations from four English cultural centers. Families of zealous, literate Puritan yeomen and artisans from urbanized East Anglia established a religious community in Massachusetts (1629-40); royalist cavaliers headed by Sir William Berkeley and young, male indentured servants from the south and west of England built a highly stratified agrarian way of life in Virginia (1640-70); egalitarian Quakers of modest social standing from the North Midlands resettled in the Delaware Valley and promoted a social pluralism (1675-1715); and, in by far the largest migration (1717-75), poor borderland families of English, Scots, and Irish fled a violent environment to seek a better life in a similarly uncertain American backcountry. West Virginia represents the latter. This summary draws on the Library Journal description of the book.)
Too, the companies of Big Coal to this day continue to control the votes of the residents. Today, Don Blankenship of Massey Energy (Pages 202ff) represents this effort, Loughry cites. In fact, in my old paper – The Register-Herald – on Friday, July 21, 2006, there’s a story by ace political writer Mannix Porterfield headlined “Casey Accuses Blankenship, GOP of Collusion in House.” The Casey in question is WV Democratic Chairman Nick Casey.
In Chapter 8, Loughry discusses the strange case of Arch A. Moore Jr., a member of the “Greatest Generation,” a WW II war hero and probably the most corrupt figure in the state’s history. He’s one of two governors to have served time in prison – the other was Wally Barron. (I’ll have to look this up, but I think Illinois leads in the category of governors going to prison.).
As described by Loughry, Moore, of Glen Dale, Marshall County, was a six-term congressman from 1957 to 1968 when the state had five members of Congress (we’re down to three now, including Moore’s daughter, Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd District). At the start of his first term in 1969, Moore promised to clean up the corruption that had pervaded the state almost from its inception in 1863. This obviously was an empty promise as Moore went on to be convicted in 1990 “of numerous criminal charges and convicted in federal court in 1996 of additional civil charges.” Loughry is particularly scathing in his account of Moore’s attempt to regain his law license.
After covering several election cycles in the state, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Mountain State’s poor voter turnout – especially for primary elections and off year municipal ones – comes from a sense of cynicism from the voting – or rather, nonvoting – public. The argument is “what good does it do: the election is bought and paid for.” All too often, as Loughry cites in this well-document book, this is the case. Some of the southern coal counties have more registered voters than people and a few dollars and a half pint of whiskey is all that’s necessary to buy a vote.
Loughry covers recent corruption in the state, including disgraced Del. Jerry Mezzatesta from the Eastern Panhandle and Bob Graham, who parlayed a senior citizens center in Wyoming County into a job that paid four times what the governor is paid. Mezzatesta has finally (according to news reports on July 22, 2006, paid his $2,000 fine) and Graham was indicted on Jan. 26, 2006 on 21 counts of embezzling, illegally transferring money and filing false tax returns.
The husband and wife lawyer team of Mark Hrutkay and his wife (now ex-wife) Lidella Wilson Hrutkay is discussed in detail. She’s still in the legislature, representing the 19th District, which includes Logan County and she attributes her lack of knowledge of her multimillionaire husband Mark Hrutkay’s vote buying involving Logan Sheriff “Big John” Mendez to Mark’s not including her in his life (Page 117). Lawyers like the Hrutkays, Lidella’s disbarred father Amos C. Wilson, Moore and many others do not come across as shining examples of probity in Loughry’s volume.
The author himself has four (!!) law degrees, in addition to his bachelor’s in journalism from West Virginia University. He’s in his mid 30s and grew up in Parsons, Tucker County, and includes a great deal of his own background. While some might object to all the photos he includes of himself with numerous political figures, including Bill Clinton, Robert C. Byrd and Gaston Caperton, I found it charming, including the story of how he met his attractive wife Kelly. To sum up, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn of West Virginia’s trail of corruption that led to one tongue-in-cheek commentator suggesting a “West Virginia Politics Hall of Shame” recognizing the state’s convicted political felon.
Editorial - The Huntington Herald-Dispatch
July, 20, 2006
Book highlights shameful side of W.Va. politics
West Virginia's history of political corruption could fill a book, and in fact, it has.
Lawyer, journalist and political insider Allen H. Loughry II has pulled together an exhaustive look at the state's legacy of vote buying, scandals and ethics problems -- from the 1860s to the present day.
It's called, "Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide," a title based on the comment Joe Kennedy Sr. was said to have made about his son's 1960 presidential primary campaign in West Virginia.
There are revealing chapters on that legendary campaign and other tales of bribery gone by, but the analysis of the state's more recent scandals is even more troubling.
Looking back over almost 50 years, the antics of the Kennedy campaign can be viewed as colorful political lore. But the culture of vote-buying that culminated in convictions just this spring is more likely to make us squirm. And making us squirm is what Loughry is all about.
The release of the book is accompanied by a new Web site, www.ReformWV.com, aimed at broad-based campaign and ethics reform in the Mountain State. Moreover, he details 50 specific recommendations to improve the process.
Those include broad suggestions such as a complete overhaul of the State Ethic's Commission and specific ideas such as prohibiting elected officials from using state money to buy and distribute "thinly veiled re-election trinkets."
"Politicians think people don't care about these issues, but they do. They've just become complacent and have come to expect this behavior," Loughry told The Herald-Dispatch.
We agree.
The Morgan Messenger - Berkeley Springs, WVA saga of dirty politics in West Virginia - by John Douglas - 8/2/2006
You’d have thought Allen H. Loughry would have known better. He said he was warned by some in Charleston political circles that his government career would be over if he published his book on political corruption in West Virginia. But he did it, anyway.
Loughry’s Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide was published this summer by McClain Printing Company and, so far, he’s still working as a law clerk for Justice Elliott Maynard of the West Virginia Supreme Court.
An attorney who has been around politics all of his life, Loughry grew up in Tucker County, where his father was assessor. He later worked as an aide to Governor Gaston Caperton and Congressman Harley Staggers, Jr.
Loughry is married to the former Kelly Swaim, a 1989 graduate of Berkeley Springs High School, and is the son-in-law of Sam and Thelma Ann Swaim of Morgan County.
Though politics is in his blood, Loughry found that the more he learned about the system, the more frustrated he was. “Finally, my confidence became completely shattered,” he said.
Deeper than money
The problem was deeper than money flowing through politicians’ hands, and it was not about Democrats or Republicans.
While Arch Moore is the poster child for political corruption in the Mountain State, at least 76 other elected officials were indicted in southern West Virginia between 1984 and 1991 alone.
“We can no longer continue to put Bandaids on gaping wounds. The problem is our system,” said Loughry.
All that buying and selling of votes in southern West Virginia affects faraway Berkeley Springs because those votes elect the people who run the state, Loughry said.
Politicians, and sometimes the media, often take corruption for granted and figure ordinary people don’t care. The guys who are indicted are the rare ones. Usually it boils down to one or two “negative” stories and then the scandal is past and the politicians are home free, Loughry said.
As an example, he cited a story that held Charleston’s attention for a few days during this year’s legislative session.
A State Capitol supervisor was found to have purchased $100,000 worth of electronic equipment and was pirating DVDs during his work hours right next to the Capitol dining room, right beneath the Governor’s Office.
It was in the headlines briefly and then it was gone. Maybe this was too small fish for anyone to care about for long. After all, as Loughry tells it, the State of West Virginia began in turmoil and often seems to be in turmoil still.
For instance, the original state treasury included thousands of dollars in gold that was stolen from a bank in Weston. Today, the story is too often reversed, with money being stolen from the state treasury.
A sad history
Loughry’s saga of political corruption follows the history of the state. Early chapters include a discussion of how Coal became King in southern West Virginia, and the mechanics of buying and selling votes there. Some of the allegations continue through the governor’s race of 2004.
The book’s title comes from something that John F. Kennedy said after the Kennedy campaign spent thousands of dollars buying votes in southern West Virginia in the 1960 Primary Election.
Old Joe Kennedy, no stranger to racketeers, was tired of how much money he was pouring into the state. According to JFK, his father sent a telegram saying, “Don‘t buy another vote, I won’t pay for a landslide.”
Before long, some of those good old boys who campaigned with Kennedy, like Governor Wally Barron, were being indicted for other acts of corruption.
Things got pretty nasty in the 1970s when Arch Moore was governor and Jay Rockefeller entered Mountain State politics. The dislike between the two was so deep that Moore’s staff trashed the governor’s office before Rockefeller moved in, even ripping out the phone lines and clogging the toilets.
Though he was spending his own millions, it was Rockefeller who kicked political spending into high gear. In 1980, he spent nearly half as much to be elected governor of West Virginia as Jimmy Carter spent in his bid for reelection as president, Loughry said.
But most of Loughry’s book isn’t about political titans battling. It’s about day-to-day stuff, like the taxpayer dollars that McGraws and Manchins spend on self-promotion and trinkets to hand out to voters. It seems to be catching. Even Secretary of State Betty Ireland, who once criticized Ken Hechler for wasting tax dollars, was accused of doing the same thing herself earlier this year.
And, don’t forget, these people all know each other and have their own connections, regardless of political party.
Loughry includes a weird tale about a yacht that Governor Joe Manchin and three others bought from a bankrupt family in Massachusetts in 2003. One of Manchin’s partners in the deal was Richard Barber, who went to prison for racketeering and extortion when he was Moore’s liquor commissioner in the 1970s, according to Loughry.
Hopes for change
Loughry spent three years researching and writing Don’t Buy Another Vote. “This stuff is just enormously important to me. It was either me trying to do something about it, or walking away from politics and maybe not even voting again,” he said.
As he toured West Virginia to promote his book in July, he found it was important to others as well, though politicians believe the people don’t care.
As a step toward fixing the state’s political system, Loughry ends his book with ideas about how to reform things.
His plan is on his internet site, www.ReformWV.com, which also has information about buying Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide.
Loughry’s 50 suggestions include impeachment and a lifetime ban from office for anyone convicted of a felony, restrictions on public officials’ self-promotion and stricter government ethics laws.
He also calls for more citizen access to government, stronger open government laws, and a ban on wining and dining legislators at receptions given by special interest groups.
While he knows it’s an uphill struggle, he’s heartened by the reception that his book has gotten from West Virginia’s residents.
“I think there’s something going on out there,” Loughry said.