Oct. 24, 2010
Is Election Fraud a Thing of the Past in West Virginia?
Campaign 2010 Analysis: The Raese/Manchin U.S. Senate Race
By Huntingtonnews.net Staff
Former Delegate Joe C. Ferrell (D-Logan) has been in the news again
lately, following a federal investigation into his gambling business,
Southern Amusement, purchased in 1995 from the family of State Senate
President Earl Ray Tomblin.
Ferrell's combination of corrupt politics and illegal gambling has been a well-known problem, both in Southern West Virginia and at the statehouse in recent years. Ferrell had previously been convicted of illegal campaign spending in the 1990s
This indictment alleged bribery, vote buying, and running illegal gambling rings in West Virginia and Kentucky. This month, Ferrell pleaded guilty to two counts of racketeering and tax fraud, allowing the other counts to be dropped. On January 5, Ferrell will be sentenced, possibly up to 25 years. The former Delegate is 63 years old.
As corrupt as Ferrell's career in politics and illegal gambling activities were, they did not occur in a vacuum. Nor can it be said that "everybody played the game" that way down in the Third Congressional District. But many did, and one of them was the former Sheriff of Logan County, Big John Mendez.
According to this latest indictment, Ferrell bribed former Logan County Sheriff Big John Mendez with cash when Mendez was sheriff-elect in 2000. Mendez served one term of office but dropped out of a race for re-election in 2004 when he was indicted for election fraud. He pleaded guilty to the charges.
Why is any of this relevant in this election year, particularly in the U.S. Senate race?
Because one of the candidates running for the highest office on the ballot this year
was squired around Logan County by Sheriff Big John Mendez, during the all-important
Democratic Primary contest. That candidate was Joe Manchin, who at the time could
not have known exactly how his race against his chief rival, State Senator Lloyd
Jackson (D-Lincoln) was going to go.
As it turned out, Manchin won easily, but in those early months, Manchin was determined to leave no stone unturned to defeat Jackson, who as a Southern Democrat looked formidable. So Manchin made friends with Logan politicos like Sheriff Mendez, who showed him around his county.
"It was a political partnership," said Jack Ellis, HNN's Senior Political Analyst. "And we have to say up front that we don't know how far it went between Joe Manchin and Big John Mendez. But it was certainly a source of embarassment to the Manchin supporters when Mendez had to drop out of his own re-election race that very year over elections fraud charges. This occurred shortly after he had been showing Manchin around Logan County, so the timing was interesting."
"But the main point here is that some people are so thirsty for power that they will do anything, even illegal vote-buying, to get what they want," said Ellis. "We've seen plenty of examples of that in our elections, particularly in the southern counties. That's a real perversion of democracy and an attempt to deny the people of their choice, as if we lived in some totalitarian banana republic. There's less and less tolerance for it."
"However, because of our reputation for corrupt politics, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the feds send down plenty of observers this time around," said Ellis. "Only a fool would try to pull something this year, especially with the Feds already aggressively looking into the Manchin Administration lately. This state is probably crawling with feds right now."
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Is Election Fraud a Thing of the Past in West Virginia?
Campaign 2010 Analysis: The Raese/Manchin U.S. Senate Race
By Huntingtonnews.net Staff
Former Delegate Joe C. Ferrell (D-Logan) has been in the news again
lately, following a federal investigation into his gambling business,
Southern Amusement, purchased in 1995 from the family of State Senate
President Earl Ray Tomblin.
Ferrell's combination of corrupt politics and illegal gambling has been a well-known problem, both in Southern West Virginia and at the statehouse in recent years. Ferrell had previously been convicted of illegal campaign spending in the 1990s
This indictment alleged bribery, vote buying, and running illegal gambling rings in West Virginia and Kentucky. This month, Ferrell pleaded guilty to two counts of racketeering and tax fraud, allowing the other counts to be dropped. On January 5, Ferrell will be sentenced, possibly up to 25 years. The former Delegate is 63 years old.
As corrupt as Ferrell's career in politics and illegal gambling activities were, they did not occur in a vacuum. Nor can it be said that "everybody played the game" that way down in the Third Congressional District. But many did, and one of them was the former Sheriff of Logan County, Big John Mendez.
According to this latest indictment, Ferrell bribed former Logan County Sheriff Big John Mendez with cash when Mendez was sheriff-elect in 2000. Mendez served one term of office but dropped out of a race for re-election in 2004 when he was indicted for election fraud. He pleaded guilty to the charges.
Why is any of this relevant in this election year, particularly in the U.S. Senate race?
Because one of the candidates running for the highest office on the ballot this year
was squired around Logan County by Sheriff Big John Mendez, during the all-important
Democratic Primary contest. That candidate was Joe Manchin, who at the time could
not have known exactly how his race against his chief rival, State Senator Lloyd
Jackson (D-Lincoln) was going to go.
As it turned out, Manchin won easily, but in those early months, Manchin was determined to leave no stone unturned to defeat Jackson, who as a Southern Democrat looked formidable. So Manchin made friends with Logan politicos like Sheriff Mendez, who showed him around his county.
"It was a political partnership," said Jack Ellis, HNN's Senior Political Analyst. "And we have to say up front that we don't know how far it went between Joe Manchin and Big John Mendez. But it was certainly a source of embarassment to the Manchin supporters when Mendez had to drop out of his own re-election race that very year over elections fraud charges. This occurred shortly after he had been showing Manchin around Logan County, so the timing was interesting."
"But the main point here is that some people are so thirsty for power that they will do anything, even illegal vote-buying, to get what they want," said Ellis. "We've seen plenty of examples of that in our elections, particularly in the southern counties. That's a real perversion of democracy and an attempt to deny the people of their choice, as if we lived in some totalitarian banana republic. There's less and less tolerance for it."
"However, because of our reputation for corrupt politics, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the feds send down plenty of observers this time around," said Ellis. "Only a fool would try to pull something this year, especially with the Feds already aggressively looking into the Manchin Administration lately. This state is probably crawling with feds right now."
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Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
