Greg Stowers: Vote buying turncoat extraordinaire.

In previous posts (here, here and here), I had mentioned the vote buying scandals in southern West Virginia. One of many defendants (like Mark Hrutkay, "Hound Dog" Adkins, Tom Esposito, and probably a couple of dozen more I'm forgetting, and all of who, should be summarily hung from the highest tree we can find) entangled in the sordid pathetic excuse for legitmate government found in southern WV, was Greg Stowers, of the Lincoln County Stowers clan. He was the Lincoln County Clerk. Evidently he was involved in buying votes. In the comments section of the above mentioned posts, I had all sorts of comments by Stowers' supporters defending him, calling the government crooked, the prosecution politically motivated, etc. One even said we'd be surprised by the outcome of the investigation. Oh, we had all kinds of protestations of his innocence. Nick Casey was out immediately after this story broke back in the spring lambasting everyone for these trumped up charges. Stowers' supporters were calling everyone (including me) some sort disgruntled Stowers' hater (I've never even met the man, and probably won't ever, seeing as how I don't hang out in prisons, and that'll be about the only way I'll get to meet him in the future).

Well, evidently Stowers' fans meant we'd be surprised how fast Stowers would turn snitch on his scumbag friends, when he is looking at some prison time. Evidently, Stowers, and Lincoln County Assessor Jerry Weaver (and two others) are all now going to plead guilty, presumably in exchange for their cooperation (ie, testimony) in ongoing investigations.

Not only did Stowers basically spit in every West Virginian's face by purposefully corrupting the one supposed thing Americans do right, namely govern ourselves freely and lawfully, he's too much of a sissyboy to actually own up to what he did and take the punishment. Given the chance to rat someone out to save his worthless hide a couple more years of being some drug dealer's pin cushion in the slammer, he can't sign himself up quickly enough. And the same goes for Weaver and all the other defendants who've cut plea deals. Evidently, the government's evidence is pretty strong, if all these guys are copping pleas on the eve of their trials. Maybe it wasn't such a politically motivated witch hunt, as some of the comment posters on the above entries suggested. Maybe, these guys are just exactly what everyone thinks of them. Lying, thieving, scumbags, who had and continue to have, absolutely, positively, not one single iota of integrity in their entire cheat-filled existence.

And yet somehow, they keep getting elected.

I put people who violate the public trust, only marginally above child molesters. Only because technically, we can throw the bums out in 2, 4, 6 or however many years their terms are. The public trust, and public office gained by free and fair elections is something that wasn't simply given to the American (and West Virginian) public. Blood had to be shed to be able to engage in this exercise of self governance. And for greedy little punks like Stowers and the others mentioned above to insult those who fought and gave their lives for the chance for this nation to be truly governed by the people, by something as pedestrian and cheap as buying votes, is just this side of a capital offense, in my opinion. And I hope to God, that the next time someone runs for office, and their last name is Stowers, or Esposito, or Moore, or Weaver or whoever, the public remembers how that name, tried to subvert and negate the legitimate right of every citizen to pick their elected officials. And these jackasses did it for just a few dollars, and solely because of their own disgusting greed and primal lust for power.

If these jokers think someone's vote and therefore by extension, the entire free and fair democratic process along with the millions of Americans who've died protecting that process, is priced at just a few dollars, and they are motivated to subvert the process for something as primitive as their own greed, how in the hell can you expect them to respect anything, let alone the public's trust?