STEVEN ALLEN ADAMS for The Inter-Mountain
CHARLESTON — A bill that would place elected legislators automatically on political party executive committees faced vocal opposition Wednesday.
The House Judiciary Committee held a virtual public hearing Tuesday morning on House Bill 2354, relating to political party committees. The bill was introduced by Del. Joshua Higginbotham, R-Putnam, and included House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, as a co-sponsor.
HB 2354 would permit any elected or appointed member of the House of Delegates and the state Senate to automatically be a member of the state party executive committee of the party they are registered with.
The bill would also allow lawmakers to have multiple votes on the committee depending on if the lawmaker is also a county political party chair, an officer of the state party, or an elected member of the party executive committee.
“I believe it is unlawful, unethical, and unwise,” said Ben Anderson, chairman of the Greenbrier County REC. “A political party’s choice among the various ways of determining the makeup of a state’s voting body is protected by the Constitution. This would be government overreach at its finest.”
State code spells out specific provisions for political party committees, their composition, and organization, with elections held every four years during a political party primary. Voters choose one man and one woman to represent the state’s state senatorial districts, delegate districts and congressional districts. State code also allows state party executive committees to expand voting members of the committees through bylaws.
“If legislators want to have a say in the party executive committee, they should run for the position in the already defined procedure by law,” Anderson said. “I have no problem with legislators being on their state political party executive committee, but I do have a problem with legislators going on a hostile takeover of semi-private organizations.”
One concern raised by opponents of the bill was that adding lawmakers to the state executive committees would dilute the voices of traditional grassroots volunteers and activists who are active with the party and during election seasons.
“During the last election, Republican state executive committee members worked tirelessly without pay to help elect a supermajority in the House, the Senate, and the Governor’s race,” said state executive committee member Donna Holstine. “That would be thrown aside as the people they helped elected take control.”
Jay Taylor, chairman of the Taylor County REC, disagreed with the opponents of the bill. Taylor said having lawmakers on the committee would help both groups communicate better and coordinate messaging on public policy.
“Opposition to this bill confuses me greatly. It’s almost stunning that elected officials aren’t members of the executive committee,” Taylor said. “When county chairs were made part of the executive committee, opponents voiced similar arguments against the proposal that you’ve heard today. But after several years of the chairs being on the committee, communication has improved, and the outreach is better.”
While the bill was introduced on Feb 12, the bill could be moving after Saturday’s contentious vote for chairman of the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee. Raleigh County Republican Executive Committee Chairman Mark Harris was elected as the next chair in a second vote Saturday afternoon after issues were raised about the first vote.
Harris, the disgraced former chief of staff at the Beckley VA Medical Center who was dismissed after a former doctor at the facility was convicted on sexual assault charges, was challenged by former state party chairman Conrad Lucas. Harris won the first vote 57-55, but the vote count was challenged by Senate President and Berkeley County REC Chairman Craig Blair.
“All I can tell you is that I kept track of the count over here and the count you have is different than my count,” Blair said during Saturday’s meeting.
“Since it was not on the record who voted for who, I would like a recount,” said Higginbotham, also an elected committee member. “I’d also like to point out that virtually every elected official in this room voted for Conrad Lucas.”
After a motion for a new vote, Harris defeated Lucas 56-53. Lawmakers who voted for Lucas included Blair; Higginbotham; state senators Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, and Mark Maynard, Wayne; and delegates Diana Graves, R-Kanawha, Gary Howell, R-Mineral, Phil Mallow, R-Marion, Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock (by proxy), and Amy Summers, R-Taylor.
Harris was supported by Del. Roger Conley, R-Wood. Del. Marty Gearhart, R-Mercer, was a proxy vote for Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer. Though Ellington had texted his support for Conrad to Graves and tried to participate by phone for the second vote, Gearhart’s proxy vote for Harris was allowed to stand. Del. Larry Pack, R-Kanawha, voted for Lucas on the first vote, but switched his vote to Harris on the second vote.
While Republicans dominated the virtual public hearing, some Democrats were opposed to the bill as well. Ryan Frankenberry with West Virginia Working Families Party, and activist Selena Vickers have been working with the state Democratic Party Executive Committee to include more voices from grassroots activists, people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community. They both said HB 2354 could hinder those efforts.
“The party structures in this state that have been around for quite some time are designed to allow people in from the grassroots,” Frankenberry said. “For years we’ve heard one party in this state cry that another party controlled everything for 80 years and I’m really shocked to see the party in control now rushing to create an atmosphere that is equally as bad.”
“This is nothing more than a blatant power grab,” Vickers said. “If all of the House delegates and state senators of their party are automatically members, it would drown out the voices and — more importantly — the votes of other committee members and I suspect that is the point.”