Bill Charnock, and his interesting campaign donors.

Well well well. Look at these strange bedfellows.

Carter Zerbe evidently gave money to Bill Charnock in his run for Prosecutor.

November 19, 2004

Mr. Carter Zerbe
16 Arlington Ct
Charleston,WV 25301

Dear Mr. Zerbe

The 2004 election is past and, thanks to the help of you and
others, I am the·prosecutor-elect of Kanawha County.··This
is, of course, an exciting time for my family and me. We offer
you·sincere thanks for the confidence you placed in me. Your
trust and support·were key components of my victory.··On
December 3, 2004, I will participate in a ceremonial
swearing-in ceremony.·The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. in
Courtroom Number 4 at the Kanawha County·Courthouse.
Refreshments will be available after the event.··As one of my
supporters, I ask that you join my family and me for
this·occasion. It will be a great opportunity to renew our
friendship and look·forward to 2005.··Again, thank you for
your past support. I hope you can join my family and me·on
December 3. I look forward to seeing you again.·

Sincerely,

Bill Charnock

Carter Zerbe just also happens to be the same exact guy who defended Jack Whittaker in his DUI case here in Kanawha County (you know, the one where all the evidence against Whitaker was thrown out). And after all the evidence against Whittaker was thrown out by some podunk magistrate (who doesn't even have to be an attorney), Charnock said he couldn't believe the magistrate threw out the evidence. According to him, it was an extremely odd ruling, and he couldn't see how the magistrate came to that conclusion. However, in all of Charnock's outrage (feigned?) he never even mentioned the word "appeal." I'm pretty damn sure, that the prosecutor's office could have appealed the magistrate's ruling zapping all the evidence to Kanawha County Circuit Court. I don't really see how an evidentiary ruling by a lowly magistrate in WV that could trigger double jeopardy, couldn't be appealed to Circuit Court. But Charnock never even mentioned it. And Whittaker's attorney just happens to be a Charnock "supporter?"

My, my, my. How the same peoples' names keep showing up over and over in this whole mess is just plain mystifying.




Or is it?

Here's something for everyone.

There should be something for everyone in this post. Republicans, I take shots at some democrats, and democrats, I take shots at republicans. I'll probably end up making both sides at least a little mad. If so, I'll feel just like Bush landing on an aircraft carrier, with a nice big "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" sign in the background.

Well, well well. Mr. Bill Charnock seems to have gotten tripped up by all those confounded laws against political corruption. I guess, running your campaign, your sister's, and your brother's, all out of a state office, using state equipment and money, is a no-no. Is anyone really surprised? I know I'm not. However, the old Binger will admit, that he did prefer Charnock over whomever the Cult of Kent Carper would have pulled out of their ass, had the dead guy won the election. And even the dead guy, in his current state, would have been an improvement over the previous incompetent to hold that office, Mike Clifford.

But, let's get back to Billy Boy. The legislative auditors found some improprieties. Evidently, he was using his state computer to send campaign emails. Evidently, he was using the printer and other equipment at the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorney's Institute to help run his campaign. Evidently, he was using the web designer/computer guy for the Institute to create his website (and it was also used for his brother's and sister's campaigns). Evidently, he tried to do his best Tom Delay imitation with campaign contributions from Kasey Warner. I'll even give a shout out to the crew over at the Fifth Column for getting on the "Charnock is a crook" bandwagon long before it was fashionable (looking back, there's some pretty accurate comments posted on that blog entry).

Billy Boy was also involved with a little problem with his state issued cell phone. This came to light shortly after he took office last year. I guess Billy Boy racked up about a grand's worth of cell phone charges. I guess he gets a pass on that, because he paid them back. Of course, he only paid the state back, AFTER someone blew the whistle on him. But still, there appears to be a pattern here. Billy Boy seems to think the state coffers are his own personal cash reservoir, to use as he sees fit, federal and state law, be damned. I hope they come down on him like a ton of bricks.

Well, Billy Boy's response to this was originally, "I didn't do anything wrong." Of course, he later waffled and went on every radio station he could find to plead his case. He even went on Jerry Waters' show. You know a politician's nuts are really in a vice when they even go on Jerry Waters' show to plead their case. He then issued a statement, and had a press conference (with the now mandatory at a political scandal press conferences, his supporting wife standing at his side). He then backtracked and said, "Oh, well the CRIMINAL charges are without merit." I guess he's asserting that he did in fact violate state ethics commission laws, but nothing criminal. Which, is still a big step backward from what he initially said. Now, he's just an unethical prosecutor. He's not a criminal, but he admits he's unethical. Great.

Another thing. This crap about politicians holding press conferences to "own up" to what they did. Just once, I'd love to see one say, "Hey, you know what? I screwed up. It was my fault. I knew what I was doing was wrong, and did it anyway." Hell, if they had the balls to do that, they'd at least get my respect for being honest. But no, Billy Boy said he used "bad judgment" interspersed with lots of "it's just a political witch hunt" crap. Bad judgment? So, he knew what he was doing was wrong, WHEN he did it. He KNEW the law, and broke it anyway? This isn't stuff that is in any gray area. Using the state pc and the state copier and the state printer and state work time to run not only your campaign, but that of your two siblings as well, is CLEARLY stuff you know is not only unethical, but illegal as well. To argue that he thought it was some sort of gray area, is just nonsense. It wasn't bad judgment at all. It was just plain greedy, slimy, backroom dealing, blatantly unethical, political activity.

Then the saga continues. He claims that people looking at his emails at work (you know, his STATE ISSUED computer) is like someone putting a listening device in his bedroom, and that someone looking at his work emails is "creepy?" WHAT? Is he engaging in cybersex or something at the office? This guy is beyond being an idiot, or he's just feigning outrage. He knew damn well, that his work emails would be fair game for the State to uncover. Hell, why'd he ask his computer guy if he could delete them, if he didn't already know this?

Then, he says they didn't have subpoenas for the stuff they took. Again, WHAT? The state has to subpoena its OWN records and equipment? This guy thinks you have to subpoena your OWN records? And he's the chief law enforcement officer in Kanawha County? You have GOT to be kidding me.

But, in my opinion, the WORST part of this whole deal is that he apparently was absent from work for months prior to the election, and didn't take vacation time, and ostensibly, still collecting a state paycheck.

Well, now it looks like the Secretary of State, AND the State Police are investigating his sorry ass, and I hope they drop the hammer on this jackass. Drop it on him hard.

But, the BEST part of this, is the howls of pain emitted by Slick Vic Sprouse, and the other republican mouthpieces, like our very own Chicago Furlip (Mike Agnello). Of course, Slick Vic claims it's all political, and that everyone does it, and the legislature is just picking on Charnock because he's a republican, and he openly challenged them on some worker comp legislation a couple years ago. These howls of pain are worth the price of admission to this sideshow, alone. They argue that Darrell McGraw (and every other democrat) is "more guilty" of this than Charnock. Well, this is garbage for this reason. McGraw (and any public office holder) has a certain amount of duty to inform the public. Sure, Darrell drives around those vans with his name on them and the consumer protection division. Sure, he probably hands out trinkets with the phone number (and his name) on them. But, the thing here, is that there IS a purpose OTHER than politicking to this. It's not PURE campaigning. You can at LEAST make that argument with a straight face. It's clearly a damn weak argument, but, an argument that you can at least make legitimately. Charnock can't argue the email to Kasey Warner asking for $, was anything other than pure campaigning. Charnock doesn't need to advertise that he's the Executive Director of the WVPIA. The only people, who need to deal with him, are the local prosecutors. Joe Blow citizen has no need for the WVPIA. Joe Blow citizen DOES need to know who the Secretary of State is, or the AG, or the Treasurer, or whatever.

So Charnock, spare us your sob story. You got caught, being a scumbag. Admit it, don't push the blame on someone else, don't complain, "Everyone else does it," and tell your buddies like Slick Vic to shut the hell up about it being "political." Quit being a scumbag, keep your mouth shut, play the game correctly and by the rules, and don't trot out your wife at the press conferences to try and curry favor with the public. In short, be a man, and accept responsibility for your scumbagginess.

Whew. That ended up being longer than I planned. I actually had part of that written the day the story broke, but decided to wait and see some of the fallout before finishing it. Then the story dragged on for a couple of days, and I kept thinking I should just wait until I see what shows up tomorrow, and hence, here it is Sunday, and I'm just finishing it.

Anyway, on to slapping around the Democrats.

Robert Byrd hates West Virginia. He wants to bankrupt the state. That's right. He wants to take a gigantic size bite out of the state budget. You see, this whole severance tax case that is in front of the WV Supreme Court (US Steel, et. al v. Craig) that is worth about half a billion (yes, I said billion) dollars is being brought by Byrd's Campaign Manager, Herschel H. "Ned" Rose. Rose is doing this for his own, pecuniary, personal gain. He wants to take about 500 million dollars out of the state budget, immediately, and give it back to the coal companies. Of course, Rose will take a cut and put it in his pocket. If Rose takes the "standard" lawyer's cut of 30%, that'd be 150 million dollars. Right into his pocket. This 500 million is what the state would have to pay immediately, on the refund claims the state is holding. That also doesn't even count the money the state would lose each successive year (probably in the order of 120 million dollars or more, per year) in lost severance tax revenue. A loss in this case will create a financial crisis, practically unheard of in this state (and we've had MANY big financial crises). This would be even bigger than A. James Manchin's little stock market fiasco 15 years ago.

This dovetails nicely with the issue of the state having to already pay back about 20 million dollars because one of its lawyers missed a filing deadline. Evidently, this lawyer no longer works for state government, but from the way I read it, the REAL culprit here is the Judge who greenlit the refund request in the first place. I've read the briefs at the WV Supreme Court's website, and I can say with certainty, that the legal argument behind Rose's theory, is in a word, pure bullshit. But some dumbass administrative law judge originally greenlit the refund of 20 million dollars to some of Rose's clients. The state lawyer evidently missed the appeal time limit for filing the state's appeal. If the lawyer who missed the deadline got canned (as was implied in the news), the administrative law judge should get his ass fired also, for being completely incompetent, especially, when it comes to dealing with a refund request of 20 million (plus untold millions in the future) dollars that is based on a completely bogus reading of the Constitution and the subsequent case law. So, the reality is, Byrd's campaign manager has already gotten around 6 million (if he takes roughly 30%), simply because the state missed a deadline. He didn't even win that 6 million on the ultimate issue, he won it because of a procedural deadline was missed.

[And I heard Vic Sprouse say later on the radio "well, we would have lost that case anyway," which is also wrong - Sprouse doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. The 20 million dollar case is identical on the underlying issue of severance tax, to the 500 million dollar case.]

The only real saving grace in this whole mess is, as much as I think the WVSC is a bunch of idiots sometimes, I honestly *think* they understand this issue (having heard the oral arguments a month or so ago - that webcast thing at the WVSC is awesome), and will ultimately rule for the State (though, nothing is a given). You know this is case is a big deal, when Papa Joe had all the government officials in the audience during this oral argument.

But if they rule against the state, all this potential money (along with the 20 million already given back to the coal companies and Rose because of a late filing) that is going to have to be made up in the state budget somewhere (either massive spending cuts, or massive tax increases, take your pick), is all because Robert Byrd's campaign manager wants a few extra dollars. I find it extremely hard to believe, someone who owns as many buildings in WV as Byrd does (I see his name on about every third building in this State) would not be able to reign in his campaign manager from trying to bankrupt the state. I find it hard to believe, someone who is constantly, publicly professing his love for the great State of West Virginia, and all its good, honest, hard working people, as Robert Byrd does every chance he gets, would want to subject those same, good, honest, hard working people, to a tax bill of an additional 500+ million dollars, just so his campaign manager could make a few bucks.

Unless Robert Byrd wants to see the State of West Virginia go bankrupt.