No one knows more than Delegate Danny Wells that he cannot run for reelection on his record. After all, how does he explain that he voted to put drunks on the road, increase taxes and reduce funding for Kanawha County’s 911 services?

I admit I would be desperate if I were in his shoes. But I wouldn’t go crazy like he did last week.

Delegate Danny Wells purchased an expensive advertisement in the A Section of the Daily Mail that merely said, “I will continue to work with Governor Joe Manchin for all of West Virginia!” Yes, the exclamation point was there too.

There is no doubt that Manchin is enjoying high popularity right now, but let’s not get fanatical, Danny. West Virginians still want three separate branches of government, not “rubber stamps” as Mike Callaghan is apt to say. The last thing the legislature needs is goose-stepping automatons that synchronously push the “aye” button on all of Manchin’s legislation.

The House and Senate Democrats have done everything Manchin has told them for the last two years and what did we have to show for it? Your toll fees on the West Virginia turnpike rose to an obscene figure, the food tax only went down a penny, and the legislature voted against protecting children from sex predators — to name a few — while ignoring the deep and growing problems with our job climate (2nd worst), taxes (12th highest), and median income rates (50th).

The irony of all this is that Wells labeled Republicans who received aid from Blankenship as “Blankenship’s puppets.” When Well’s summation of why you should vote for him is that he will be the Governor’s lapdog, one has to wonder if Wells spoke disparagingly of Republicans because Manchin told him to.

Delegate Danny Wells, Kanawha County needs many things. A bobble-head is not one of them.