September 20, 2010

If you care about Mountains...



Okay, so this race in WV is crazy.

The Governor of WV, Joe Manchin, is this huge pro-MTR jerkwad, totally in bed with the industry, and he’s just got this megalomaniacal drive to seek even more power. Now, when Robert Byrd died, Manchin had the power to appoint whomever he wanted. He really wanted to appoint himself, but his PR sense wouldn’t let him do that. It would be too obvious of a power grab, plus he’d only serve a partial term, and then likely get voted out for being a power-hungry monster.

So what he did instead was this: he appointed somebody else to fill Byrds spot, but then after appointing them, he wanted to hold a special election so that he could “legitimately” run for office. Now, this is costing WV a lot of money. Elections cost money for governments to hold in terms of manpower, printing ballots, running voting machines, etc, especially when they are held on the whim of the Governor. But there was a catch, he had to change the law in order to hold this special election. So he mucked around in the state congress until he had enough votes to change the law to create a special election so he could run for office. Oh yeah, and he’s a Democrat.

A Democratic Party elder in WV politics, Ken Hechler came forward to run in the primary to challenge Manchin. Ken Hechler is on hell of a dude. He served in WWII, he advised Harry Truman, marched with MLK jr, and served 9 terms as WV Sec of State.
But, Since he didn’t have the coal industry backing him (because he wasn’t a pro-MTR candidate) and Manchin DOES have the coal industry backing him, Manchin flooded the media market with adverts and won handily.

So now, there’s a Republican who is in the back pocket of the Coal Industry, there is a Democrat who is in the other backpocket of the coal industry, but there is only ONE candidate running who is against MTR coal mining-- Jesse Johnson of the Green affiliated party, the Mtn Party. Jesse Johnson makes a cameo appearance in the film “Coal Country” has run for Governor of WV, and is a tireless activist. He has been working on this issue for years.
Ken Hechler ENDORSED Jesse Johnson over Joe Manchin. It’s kind of a huge fucking deal for an institution of the DNC to throw aside party alleigance for an issue like this. It would be like Dennis Kucinich endorsing Ralph Nader after losing the DNC primary for president. (Come to think about it, why didn’t that happen?)

But that’s not enough to win. This race is still David vs Coaliath (get it? Coal-liath? Nailed it! I am hilarious!)
Now, what can you do to help out?

Well, Jesse doesn’t have a fancy website. The campaign he is running is mostly on the ground, talking to people face to face, traveling long distances through largely rural areas. If you go to the following link http://www.jesse4ussenate.org/ (link also in the vid description) you can donate to his campaign and help cover his campaign costs. You can also write a check payable to Jesse Johnson for US Senate and send it to:
Jesse 4 US Senate
PO Box 446
Pinch, WV 25156-0446

What else can you do? If you’ve got free time, head to West Virginia, and volunteer on his campaign! Send an email to info@jessejohnson.org or try calling 304-581-3005

This message was not endorsed or paid for by Jesse Johnson or Jesse Johnson for US Senate.
I am the Punk Patriot and I am on YouTube. And blip.tv. And facebook. And I have a blog. And I sell t-shirts on etsy.com But nothing to do with Jesse Johnson.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks Punk Patriot! Great piece about one of the most important fighters in one of the most important Senate races in this country. Why is this so important? Because in a "business as usual" environment in WV, there is little difference whether or not the Democrat or Republican wins. In that scenario mountains would continue to be destroyed, history erased (Blair Mountain, anyone?), unions diminished, and money would continue to rule.

    Or, WV voters could elect someone who actually cares for their best intersts, Jesse Johnson of the Mountain Party.

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  2. I hate to correct you, but there's no such term as "state congress." It's the state legislature.

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  3. "Dirty mouthed" but truthful and honest. Those are traits not usually seen or heard together. Lots of ears are turned off by "dirty- mouths"-lets hear the truthfulness.
    Please understand, Mr. Manchin has gained his offices and power by glib talk without heart, honesty or sincere components. If I have to choose between these traits , give me honesty, truthful, and sincere components.

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  4. Anonymous, thank you for pointing out to 'Punk' the error of his ways in choice of language. Even though THAT was, truthfully your opinion, try not to be so judgmental next time and not throw the baby out with the tremendous message and spoil the encouragement for the rest of us?

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  5. To Rebecca of SunnyBrook Farm 9/21/2010..2pm-
    If you could only "see the error of your ways, before the Holy God that you claim to serve..you would not be so judgemental towards another person's view point!
    I find that your "baby in the bath water" message is out of line! and you need to understand "this message is not about you, specifically!" But, if the shoe fits, by all means "wear it!"

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