Most know by now that Senator Vic Sprouse has made his decision public that he will not be running again in 2008. After a 14-year career, Sprouse steps out of the ring just 5 years short of being in office for half of his life. That is quite an accomplishment for a 38-year-old.
After working for him for nearly three years I have nothing but the greatest respect for Senator Sprouse. He has been a stalwart Republican and conservative and was never afraid of a fight. How many legislators do you know who have filibustered the Senate and sued the Governor? I wish we had a half-dozen more just like him.
One of the greatest traits Senator Sprouse has is honesty. During the 2007 session a gaggle of constituents entered his office to ask for his vote for the prescription bill — the very one he was denouncing every other day in his blog. Most legislators would have pretended they were for the bill or at least not make their real feelings known; but not Sprouse.
He told them he would do everything in his power to defeat the bill, but he was open to their arguments. And for the next thirty minutes, they had a civil debate on the subject.
Now Sprouse will be focusing on his businesses; one of which is a consulting firm that I will be doing the design work for through my graphics design business.
Democrats should not breathe easy just yet. I think Sprouse will do more damage to the bureaucrats as a consultant than a Senator. He has an uncanny way of raising money and churning up press. Now he will be lending his talents to dozens of Republican races across the state.
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One cannot help but wonder if I am bad luck. I have worked for two Senators in the last five years and both have decided not to run again during the term I served.
Any Democrats want to hire me?
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© Copyright 1999-2007 William Stewart. All rights reserved.
Comments
William,
Very well said, I am very saddened by his decision not to seek another term, and yes I wish we had half a dozen more like him! Thanks for your post…
Take care & God Bless,
Tommy Phillips
Add Vic Sprouse to a growing list - Charle Trump, Steve Harrison, Rob Capehart… What happened to the enthusiasm, the vision of just a few years back?
In 2004, our plan was to take over the legislature by the end of the decade. What is the plan now? Hold onto 25 seats in the house, 10 in the Senate? Good grief what a mess.
Thanks to poor leadership, constant infighting and Don Blankenship, we are poised to remain in the minority for at least another decade.
Deciding not to run for re-election is often keeping with the Republican spirit. We have been the party that has pushed for term limits. It has been the Democrat office holders that think only of winning the next election. Give Capehart, Harrison, Sprouse and Trump credit for being open to try new ways to make a positive difference for West Virgnina.
Such decisions can make it very difficult for the Republican Party to find candidates and win elections, but the above changes could help voters see that Republicans are not making elected office their only job and/or career. Virtually every county in West Virginia has at least one Democrat office holder that has never had a real job outside of political office. When Republican office holders seek other means of making a difference for West Virginia it helps highlight the difference between Republicans and the folks that can’t bring themsleves to leave office no matter what.
“Such decisions can make it very difficult for the Republican Party to find candidates and win elections, but the above changes could help voters see that Republicans are not making elected office their only job and/or career.” You have to be kidding!!!
And when are the voters likely to have this epiphany? In another 70 years? Political parties are supposed field canididates and win elections. That’s what they do…that’s all they do. Political parties don’t score points with voters by exhibiting idealistic behavior. They win by fielding strong candidates (like Vic Sprouse) who can connect with voters.
Besides you can find plenty of Republican politicians for life serving in Washington (and even a few in Charleston). Forget the sanctimony - what we need are candidates who know how run and get elected (e.g. Harrison, Trump, Sprouse).
I returned to this site because I left off an important qualifier to my first statement. I meant to write: “It sometimes seem like virtually every county in West Virginia… Without that my comment is an overstatement.
The following is in response to Dave’s remarks:
Political Parties do more than field candidates and win elections. If that’s all they do, then they eventually lose their connection with voters or even resort to a one party state type government. The Democrats in West Virginia are engaged in the first, Mugabe of Rodesia is engaged in the second.
To end 70 years of Democratic rule in West Virginia we have to do more than field candidates and win elections. Without a change in voter peceptions, our victories will prove to be too ephemeral.
One of the important steps the Republican Party takes is its process for the party platform: It goes through a very public hearing process every four years that sets the party platform for West Virginia.
Another kind of example is that the Republican Executive Committee of each county in West Virginia must by law nominate poll workers for each election, even non partisan elections, such as school levies.
In some states new residents are contacted as soon as they moved in. They are welcomed, given opportunities to participate and so on. WV Republicans do not have anything like that, which is part of why Republicans have so much trouble fielding candidates and winnning elections.
While I can understand why Dave opposes the concept of term limits or anything similar to that, I do not understand why he has such a limited view of what the Republican Party does or should do.
At the risk of wasting my time, I will point out that Lawrence’s less than weighty examples of other political party reponsibilities proves my original point. Parties exist to contest and win elections, punto.
As for the party platform, not one voter in a thousand could tell you what is in it (and neither could many candidates of either party, for that matter). The more successful a party, the less unaminity you will see in terms of adherence to party platforms. Check out the majority party in WV or any other state. Even among the minority Republicans in the WV legislature, you’ll find a range of views on almost every plank in the platform. The bottom line - party platforms have very little to do with winning elections.
Regarding the selection of poll workers, now that is a truly minor function if I ever heard of one. Have you ever heard of a local party winning an election because of its incisive selection of poll workers? Yeah, it’s a necessary function - someone has to do it. (At least most of the time - in my county they have to ask Democrats to switch parties because they can’t find enough Republcans.)
As for term limits, I support the idea in theory, but the issue really has no practical effect on politics/elections. Moreover, the somewhat vague support of term limits by a few Republicans (even if I am included) should not be used as a rationalization when key Republican leaders choose to retire from politics. Unless the the WV Republican party does something to recover the momentum of a few years ago, we are going to lose more legislative seats in 2008, even if we have a great platform and the best poll workers in the country!
Nobody’s fooling anyone. Capehart ducked out because of the mess he was left in, and Sprouse has been anything but honest with his wife — this trifecta that led to two children at the same time is arguably the biggest reason he’s stepping down. Certainly it’s not in the spirit of term limits, or to give other Republicans a shot at his seat. The entire party is far enough behind the Democrats at this point that it needs everyone they can get. Consulting won’t damage the opposition if there’s no quality officials actually in office. This is a huge step back.
Looking over some of the prior messages on this topic, it strikes me that Lawrence must be a college professor - he doesn’t seem to ive in the real world. As for Dave, he must be a NASCAR driver (or perhaps a professional poker player), given his focus on winning.
Political Parties are founded on ideas. When those ideas become too muddied. people go to the party with which they can identify. The Republican Party in West Virginia has been weak on stating its vision. Thus most voters either believe what the Democrat Party tells them or they don’t see enough diferrence to make a change.
Success on the national level came when newt Gingrich and other Congressional Republicans gave a clear idea of what they would do for the voters. The Republicans lost control of Congress when they forgot many of those promises and made other mistakes.
With little more than “I’m a Democrat.” and backing from the Democrat Party a candidate from Raleigh County was elected to the House of Delegates and Randy C. White was re-elected to the state Senate in the 11th senatorial district.
According to the newspapers a Mr Thompson did no campaiging and was re-elected to the House of Delegates. Though he reportedly only showed to be sworn in and then left without attending any sessions, he will reportedly not only keep his position but also be paid his full salary.
Consider the amount of straight ticket voting for the Democrat Party. In the 11th senatorial district race Fayette County contributes at least 40% of the total vote. Randy C. White’s biggest win was in Fayette County. According to the figures I received from the County Clerk 65% of the vote he got in Fayette County was due to straight ticket voting. He also won Clay and Webster Counties. He lost Nicholas and Upshur counties. I’m lacking some figures for Clay and Upshur Counties. For Nicholas and Webster counties 60% of his vote was due to straight ticket voting for the Democrat Party.
On the Republican ticket in Nicholas County the ballot was full and the candidates were as good as any party could hope far. Yet none were elected due to the lopsided registration and more importantly the straight ticket voting for the Democrat party.
Dave has some good comments. I agree with much of what he says. However I think the history of prior wins and losses tells us that the Repbulican Party in West Virginia must take a broader path than a “field candidates and win” philosophy.
Actually I work for the State of WV, which is why I do not reveal my last name. Exhibiting Republican leanings is not
career enhancing when you work for the State of WV.(In case you are wondering, I do not use my state computer to send these e-mails.)
Regarding the straight ticket voting, you can thank Don Blankenship for that. Many Democrats told me they were voing a straight ticket for the first time in years and they did so in response to Blankenship’s negative campaign. Add to that the war in Iraq and you had many former ticket splitters moving back to a straight party vote.
I don’t know much about the 11th Senatorial District, but in the 27th Delegate District we only had two serious candidates (out of five). If we had better candidates, we would win more races.
I have been taking note of straight ticket voting in Nicholas County beginning about the time Jay Wolfe ran for state senate and Sam Cravotta first ran against Bob Wise.
In Nicholas County straight ticket voting was higher in 2006 than in 2004 and 2002. But less than in years prior to 2000. I agree that the war and Don’s effort hurt the Republicans, but it is also true that people use whatever excuse sounds good to justify a straight ticket vote.
In the first year that I handed out literature for Sam Cravotta there were a number of people who seemed interested in learning more, but when they saw Republican they would throw the paper on the ground and stomp it into the dirt.
You should thank the candidates even the ones that you didn’t consider to be “serious”. I can assure you that they spent far more time and money than you realize. Many of the contacts they made will be more open to Repbulican candidates in the future. If they ran against an incumbent with a high number of negatives they probalbly helped to break up some of the straight ticket voting. If that’s all they accomplish, it’s a huge service to West Virginia. What isn’t helpful, is for people to put down their efforts.
The comments of Chris Thomas certainly won’t help to encourage people to run for office. Even if what he said about Vic Sprouse is true, why did he make the comment? Why did he slam Rob Capehart?
From the conversations I had with Rob Capehart, he knew only too well what he was getting into, but was willing nevertheless to step forward and serve when the Party very much needed him. That he later took what were once-in-a-lifetime opportunities is no reason to claim that he “ducked out”.
I think Chris Thomas owes an apology or two.