Hang on to your hats; this session will be one of the most unpredictable. For years things have stayed pretty much the same. Legislators have come and gone, but the leadership has remained. Last year the House bid adieu to Speaker Bob Kiss and Minority Leader Trump, while Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse decided to retire to a cozy — and quiet — corner of the West Wing.

Switching three of the five key leadership positions in the legislature could be enough to make everyone uneasy, but newly elected Speaker Thompson appointed the crazies to chair key committees. Now we have a House Judiciary Chair, Delegate Carrie Webster, who in a bill she sponsored last year called church outreach ministries that counsel pregnant unwed mothers, “anti-choice.” Such inflammatory language should be reserved for blogs, not potential laws and such inflammatory legislators should be reserved the back seat to any mature discussion.

As Delegate Brady Paxton (D-Putnam) observed after the house vote, the inmates have taken over.

Not only is there a new, rabid leadership in the house (House Minority Leader Armstead excepted), West Virginians replaced two of its most conservative Senators with two decidedly liberal ones. California liberal Erik Wells now reigns in Senator Steve Harrison’s stead as former gambling lobbyist Mike Green replaces Russ Weeks.

We already know from Wells’ stump speeches that he plans to create universal healthcare for all West Virginians. It sounds good on the stump, but even Wells admits he doesn’t know how to fund it and no one else does either.

Green, who spent over $300,000 in his campaign for a $15,000 a year job, is on a mission to help out his gambling buddies. Not only will he be fighting for them, he’ll be their own personal Rob Roy and lead the charge.

And if it couldn’t get any nuttier, while most sessions have a driving mission everyone is discussing, this session is unusually aimless.

A lack of a central issue may open the door for the crazies — you know, the people Speaker Thompson chose to run his committees — to introduce and pass all kinds of “creative” legislation. Once again the Senate will have to be the deliberate body and kill it.

With a House gone wild and no central reason for meeting, the legislature may very well be as productive as fighting Siamese twins. There’s nothing to do except pop popcorn and see who is on top when the dust settles.