What Happened to Candidates for the People, not Political Hacks? The Second Congressional District of West Virginia - a hypothetical case study!

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As we prepare to enter the "silly season" of politics and brace ourselves for the onslaught of up to $5 billion in political spending, mostly political ads, did you ever wonder how people are selected to run for office.

There are a variety of ways one used to be a candidate for office, particularly federal office, but the collapse of federal campaign finance laws and the failure of any candidate for president to propose new laws will insure the path to election is lined with cash.

What a pity.  Once upon a time, the two political parties reached out to people who were not career politicians to bring new life to political office and new ideas for people to consider.

Once upon a time, when people were running for office, whether Democrats or Republicans, once elected they actually worked to serve all the people in their state or district.  In fact, they even worked with members of the opposite party to help all people.

Unfortunately, that practice seems dead.  It is the political parties and the professional politicians they support who have fostered the bitter partisanship, the character assassination, and the smear campaigns to keep people out of office.

The result, many good people, and many deserving people who really care about all people get denied the chance to hold public office.  When this happens, people get cheated out of the caring, compassionate, and understanding leaders we deserve and need.

Where are the people's politicians who put the needs of the people first and who never lose sight of the sacred trust between an elected official and all the people they serve?

Let me give you a hypothetical example so you can see what I mean.  Let us take the Second Congressional District of West Virginia.  The Second District is one of the strangest in the nation as it extends from the Washington suburbs in the Northeast part of the state all the way through Charleston almost to Kentucky.

During the most recent election in 2014, the party candidates for Congress included the former chairman of the West Virginia Democrat Party running against the former chairman of the Maryland Republican party.  Democrat Nick Casey and Republican Alex Mooney squared off.

 

As whacky as it sounds that is what happened.  Professional politicians from both political parties squared off to represent the Mountaineers.  Mooney, who did not even live in West Virginia when he started his campaign, was running for public office in his third different state: New Hampshire, Maryland, and West Virginia.^[

Casey, the prohibitive favorite as former state Democrat party chairman, president of the ABA, prominent Catholic, Charleston resident, person with exceptional charitable credentials, and candidate with by far the highest public recognition, got just 60% of the vote in the primary and 43.9% in the general election.

Mooney pulled off a major upset.

As we approach the 2016 election cycle, what do you suppose is happening in the now GOP Second District.  Mooney is preparing for the re-election campaign although there is some speculation that if a Republican became president Mooney would be in line for a major position in the new administration.

On the Democrat side the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, DCCC, is encouraging Nick Casey to run again for the Second District WV Congressional seat.  The fact such action is being reported in the news media suggests the DCCC has decided to push Casey and discourage any other candidates from running, much like is being done with Hillary Clinton at the presidential level.

As for Casey vulnerability, I believe Casey could lose the race by even more votes than the last election.  Several issues could cause serious damage to his efforts. Casey is vulnerable for two reasons, his time as Democratic State party leader in West Virginia, and his statements in the last campaign.

While I have only completed a cursory review of the actual voting breakdown, certain things are quite clear.  First, in 2016, there will be massive GOP spending for president and the message will be targeted at two potential Achilles heels for Casey, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Like it or not Casey is linked to Obama, to DNC leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and to key elements of the Obama program.  As a result, the GOP will portray him as just another party hack doing the bidding of the professional politicians.

His super-delegate and party spokesperson role put him on record supporting what Obama, Pelosi, and Schultz told people to say.  The fact he had to say he was going to vote against Pelosi in the last campaign, if elected, showed his party vulnerability.

His strong support for Obama on Obamacare and energy policy both became campaign issues used against him, and will be larger issues in the next campaign because of the spending in the presidential election.

That same party loyalty over what is good for the people of West Virginia will include his relationship to Hillary who already has her highest negatives recorded and the campaign has barely begun.

Since Casey was on record saying he wanted the Clintons help in his campaign, and he supported her during her State department days, it links him to her and her standing in the polls.

However, from a hypothetical standpoint there may be a far better candidate than either Mooney or Casey.  One who will never get to serve the people of West Virginia because the professional politicians want to keep the seat in the control of professional politicians.

     

My hypothetical candidate is a real person, Clarence E. Martin, III of Martinsburg.  "CEM" Martin possesses about every quality known to elevate politicians to friends and advocates for all the people.

Since this is a key swing district in a key swing state, it would seem one grounded in serving people like Martin rather than parties, is an ideal candidate.  He is homegrown from West Virginia with three generations of prominent family in public service serving the citizens of West Virginia.

Why CEM Martin should be the Congressman, hypothetically speaking that is.

He is homegrown with a statewide network of friends and long go demonstrated a commitment to family, faith, and loyalty.  CEM Martin was a past president of the State Bar Association.  His grandfather was past president of the American Bar Association.  CEM would garner support from a variety of local networks like lawyers, the Chamber of Commerce, religious groups, non-profits, and the business community.

Throughout his career he demonstrated how to serve people and put their interests first.  With Congressional committee staff experience, international experience through think tanks, and his standing as one of the highest-ranking members of the Papal backed Knights of Malta in the USA, he is free of partisan political association.  When you add his family legacy and a charming wife and daughters, he could make a formidable candidate.

Most important is the legacy issue.  West Virginians seem to like authentic, homegrown candidates and if ever there was a race when it should have been evident, it was last year.

Clarence E. "CEM" Martin, III is a Shareholder at Martin & Seibert, L.C. and is the third generation of his family to be a member of the firm. His Grandfather, Clarence E. Martin, President of the American Bar Association in 1932-1933 founded the firm over 100 years ago, in 1908, in Martinsburg.

CEM's parents

CEM is a former Assistant Counsel to the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives (now Energy and Commerce) and Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He was a Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1976 – 1982 and held various leadership positions.

In May of 2012, Martin was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to chair a select committee to review and revise the Constitution, Bylaws, Rules, and Regulations of the West Virginia State Bar. Mr. Martin has taken leadership roles in a number of professional and business organizations in West Virginia and beyond. He recently served as Chair for the West Virginia State Chamber of Commerce.

He has also served his communities in the following practices:

President of the West Virginia Bar Association in 1991-92

Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Agricultural Workers from 1988-92

National Board of the American Board of Trial Advocates from 1986-94

Fellow, West Virginia Bar Foundation

Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America

Fellow of the American Bar Foundation

Board of Directors of the Defense Trial

Board of Directors of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, serving as Chair 2007-2008

Board of Advisors for Shepherd University serving as its Chair from 1990-92 and 1995-97

Board of Advisors for the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law

Board of Directors of Catholic Charities of West Virginia

Board of Directors for Vision Shared

Board of Directors for the West Virginia Education Alliance

Board of Directors for the International Partnership for Human Development

Board of Directors for West Virginia Council for Community and Economic Development

Board of Directors for the Holy Family Hospital Foundation

Board of Directors for the Federal Association of the Order of Malta

Member of the West Virginia Law Institute

Member of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel

Who's Who in America

Who's Who in American Law

Honorary Doctorate degree by Shepherd University

Honors

He was named a Super Lawyer in West Virginia in 2008 through 2011,which recognizes the top five percent of lawyers in the state, and named a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America in 2007, which recognizes the top two percent of litigators in the U.S.  In 2011, he was named to Best Lawyers in America, which is a peer rated listing recognizing the top lawyers in the U.S.

Also in 2011 he was elected to the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance. The Alliance is a nonpartisan group made up of insurance companies, corporations, law firms, and service providers committed to furthering the highest standards of litigation management.  In 2012 he graduated from the Alliance's first certification program in litigation management held at the Columbia Law School and is a Certified Litigation Management Professional.

In 1992 he was appointed to serve on the West Virginia Council for Community and Economic Development, which developed and directed the State's economic development programs and he  elected its Secretary and served until 1995. CEM also chaired the West Virginia Economic Development Foundation and the West Virginia Economic Development Corporation, which are authorized by the Council as private funding corporations for the State's economic development programs.

He now serves on the board of Vision Shared which works with the State's development office on economic development. He served as President of the Discover the REAL West Virginia Foundation from its founding in 1993 through 2004, focusing on economic development and international trade issues with U.S. Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV.

He is also Chairman of the Berkeley County Roundhouse Authority, which is restoring a historic railroad property. In 2003, Mr. Martin was elected a Fellow in the West Virginia Bar Foundation.

CEM is a member of the Board of Directors for the Holy Family Hospital Foundation which supports the Holy Family Hospital. The Hospital is the only hospital that provides critical, neo-natal care in Bethlehem, in the Palestinian Territories. He is also president of the Washington-Baltimore Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums.

In 2000, Mr. Martin was invested in the Order of Malta as a Knight of Magisterial Grace. In 2003, he was elected to the Federal Association's Board of Directors. In 2004 he was invested as a member of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Constantinian Order of St. George. In 2007 he was awarded the Cross of Merit by the Order for service to the Order and Church. In 2009 he was advanced in rank in the Order of Malta to the second class in Obedience.

In 2013 when he was named to the Order of St Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict XVI, an honor that was personally presented by the Pope.  It represents the highest award bestowed on a Catholic layperson.  More recently, he has had several private audiences with Pope Francis.

CEM is qualified to practice law before the following courts.  The U.S. Supreme Court, the West Virginia Supreme Court, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of the Third and Fourth Circuits, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia, District of Columbia and Eastern District of Virginia, The Court of Appeals for Maryland, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Whew...

Can you imagine that hypothetical candidates like CEM Martin will never get a chance to represent the people of West Virginia when they are exactly what the people of West Virginia need and deserve.

[Note - In the interest of transparency I was a classmate with CEM at the University of Arizona and he has consistently told me he is not a candidate for Congress in West Virginia, though he should be.]

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ObamaCare hits milestone - or does it?

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By the end of March the Obamacare website had registered 7.1 million people, which was the initial goal of the roll out.  However, in order to be successful there has to be a minimum number of  young people to achieve actuarial solvency, the new members cannot be on Medicare or Medicaid since they were already eligible for existing programs, and we have to get the 48.6 million Americans with no health insurance (Census Bureau est. 2009) put on insurance.

So early estimates are that the youth factor failed to reach the Obama goals, meaning, if true, next year the rate base will have to be readjusted by potentially substantial health insurance premium rate increases for everyone.

It seems new members for Medicare and Medicaid would be easy to report so the only reason for not telling us the total new members in those entitlement programs, which the Administration and Lame Street media failed to do, then the real numbers must make the program look bad.

In light of the possibility of the previously discussed adjustments, it is not unreasonable to assume maybe 3-5 million of the 7.1 million need to be accounted for which brings up the next adjustment.  How many enrollees were people who lost their health insurance when ObamaCare was implemented and were buying replacement policies?

Finally we get to the people expected by the Obama Administration to benefit the most, the 48.6 million uninsured Americans.  How many of the 7.1 million enrollees came from the group the bill was passed to serve?

If we deduct the Baby Boomer enrollees sent to Medicare and Medicaid, say 2 million but it could be a lot more, then deduct those who lost their insurance because of ObamaCare, we might have 2-3 million who actually did not have insurance and do now.  Of course that assumes all the new enrollees also paid for their new insurance.

So perhaps if all went well we now have 2-3 million people insured who were not insured before.

 

To listen to the Main Street media react to the news you might think reaching 7.1 million enrollees was the greatest event in the history of our fledgling nation.  Greater than almost anything else because it vindicated President Obama and his socialist ways.

Of course they didn't release any numbers, which they do have, which seems pretty strange if the numbers do what he said they do.

Think about it.

Obama and the Democrat politicians pass ObamaCare with NO Republican support.

ObamaCare is to extend health insurance to 48.6 million uninsured.

After spending around a billion dollars to launch the new program, about the cost of one Obama political campaign, maybe 3 million uninsured are now insured.

I think that means after three years and billions of dollars we have lowered the number of  uninsured by one half of one percent.  At this pace we might eliminate the uninsured by the year 2114.

Of course how many more uninsured are there since over 10 million American workers still can't find jobs and have given up looking?  There could be millions of more uninsured since Obama took office which means we might have lost ground thus extending my projected solution date for eliminating the uninsured to closer to 2500.

In basketball terms, which the Administration surely understands, not only are we not scoring points, but we are making shots in the other team's basket giving them the points.

Progressive socialism is most certainly a peculiar concept.

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Obamaville - February 24, 2014 - What Olympics?

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With the President disappearing from the eyes of the press and politicians one can only assume his golf game has drastically improved and private parties at the White House are dominating his agenda.  I mean, how else could White House expenses under our hip hop and bee bop president exceed $1.4 billion a year?

Finances

 

While saying he has done nothing in five years might be a slight exaggeration the fact we spent about $17.5 Trillion in that time seems almost magical.  Where in the world did it go when we are supposed to be cutting back on everything?  By the way, Obama's second $17 TRILLION act was setting new records for the National Debt, which also passed $17 trillion this year.

 

 

Defense

 

This will be the first year since Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize five years ago that we will have no troops at war, (although I suspect the American soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan might question the claim).

 

 

The 2014 budget includes $526.6 billion for the Department of Defense base budget, a figure that does not include war costs or nuclear weapon activities at the Department of Energy.  In other words, about half of the defense spending is not in the defense budget.  Real defense spending averages about $1 trillion a year.

 

 

Defense Secretary Hagel says he will cut back $1 trillion dollars over the next ten years.  So according to my math that means we will cut $100 billion a year from our trillion dollar a year spending.  And here I thought we had ended two very expensive wars under the president.  Where are all the savings?  Fuzzy math seems to dominate our nation's capitol.

 

Olympics

 

Of course our hip Obama family spends millions of dollars to bring their favorite musicians and celebrities to lavish White House parties, private parties I might add that we the people can't attend.  You can find Beyonce, Bieber, Swift, Jay Z and who knows who else prowling our White House and giving private performances for the Obama family, at taxpayers expense of course.

 

 

But do you think the President, the First Lady and family, or even a single soul from the 2 million civilian employees of the USA including over 3000 appointed by the President could travel to Russia to support our Olympic Team.  Not even smiling Joe Biden or a single cabinet member had time to go support the team.

 

 

President Putin of Russia was there a whole lot and so were representatives from over 100 countries competing in the winter Olympics.  As a nation we should be ashamed our first family was too busy to support the Olympic team or send anyone else.

 

 

NBC did it's best to trash the Russian Olympics, most likely to help Obama win the world popularity war with Putin.  NBC is the last major media outpost for Obama liberals and the person they helped put in office has collapsed in the polls so it is only logical they would help him.

 

 

Unfortunately for both NBC and Obama Putin delivered, the Russian Olympic team delivered, the people of Russia delivered and the nit picking Americans who tried to undermine the Russian production failed miserably.  The Russians did a great job under very difficult circumstances and terrorist threats.

 

By the way, in the process of staging the Olympics Putin managed to take a seriously deteriorating Stalinist Russian city and transform it into a world class resort on the Black Sea and the people of Sochi will benefit for years to come.

 

 

Mid-Term Elections

 

OMG, after two billion was spent in 2012 on political campaigns, here we are again in the middle of another election year.  I say everyone in America should cancel their television service, local, cable and satellite, and take a year off from the incessant and unintelligible campaign nonsense.

 

 

What would you miss?  Certainly nothing of any value to the future of the world.  No more super-hyped weather warnings to force you to race to the store and load up on pre-storm supplies that have been marked up because the advertisers need more sales, the TV stations need more ads, and no one cares about the lonely consumer who is the target of every crook and creep disguised as productive members of society.

 

As the political parties encourage you, vote early and vote often because it may be the last time you have anything to say about what happens in government.  Long ago our freedoms were hijacked and our rights were trampled.  We are spoon fed lies and falsehoods as if truth no longer counts.

 

 

Neither the news media nor political processes makes any effort to force politicians and political parties to tell the truth and the federal regulatory agencies like the Justice Department are hardly able to enforce fairness on politicians when they can't even send Wall Street crooks to jail.

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Obamaville March 8 - A Full Moon and Sun Spot Attack

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Maybe God doesn't like our national debate

I'm one of those people who is always looking for signs to point the way to one's destiny.  It may not be a big sign either, like pulling the magical sword Excalibur from a stone the way young Arthur did to become the Once and Future King Arthur.

At an early age I also learned to balance my passions of hope with skepticism to protect myself from too much disappointment. Mark Twain was my foundation with his wit and wisdom like "everyone's entitled to their own silly opinions."

So I now describe myself as a "cautious optimist" when it comes to human evolution, and an outright pessimist when it comes to human motivation.  It just seems we have pretty much lost our foundation for values and principles.

What used to be good is now judged to be obsolete.  What used to be immoral is now the new status quo.  Movies that used to be R rated for restricted and were banished to the theaters are now on cable television daily.

In today's world pornography, which used to be banned from the public, is now downloaded through the Internet into your very home with no moral compass or consequence.

When I grew up there were only two publicly available places you could find pictures of naked women, either National Geographic Magazine or the old man's Playboy if you could find where he hid it.  In fact National Geographic was about 100 years ahead of the education system in teaching sex education to kids.

All the old crooked siding salesmen, window salesmen, used car salesmen, vacuum salesmen and encyclopedia salesmen have now evolved into direct marketing by phone, Internet spam, and Internet fraud and thanks to modern technology the crooks can operate about 1000 times faster.

Anyway, you get the message.  There just might be some truth to the speculation that the loss of morality could lead to the End Times when the Creator decides to terminate the human experiment, maybe again (think Noah's Ark), and hits the erase button on Plant Earth.

Well according to the Bible what really makes the Creator upset is when people refuse to acknowledge the work of Jesus or make sacrilegious statements about Jesus.  Those people can get erased in a big hurry.

Lately in the dark world of politics a lot has been made of some pretty incendiary moral issues like abortion, contraception, gay marriages, sexual promiscuity, and the like and a lot of heated statements have been made by both sides of the issues.

After some of the things I've heard, I can't imagine the Creator can't be more than a little upset that the creation on Earth might be getting out of hand again.  But being the Supreme Being, it is hard for the Omnipotent One to annihilate all life forms just to teach a few lost souls a lesson.

No, there has to be something a little less dramatic than Noah's flood to teach a lesson to all those humans who strayed from the path.  In the infinite wisdom of the Creator he also surmised that it really wasn't most people indulging in the moral corruption of mankind but a handful of soulless radicals strategically placed.

Like in politics.  Like in sports.  Like in religion.  Like in hospitals.  Like in the banks and Wall Street.  Like in our face every day and night on the television.

So what was needed was a small sign to make a big impression on those few indulged in the moral destruction of mankind.  Remember, most people are followers, not leaders.  The enemies of morality are those deciding how mankind can be manipulated, and then they go out and do it.  They view their job as leading the masses through deception or any  means necessary into the dark.

So I watch the debates, the vitriol language, the personal and bitter attacks, and the endless opinions and analysis from the politicians and news media, and I say this might be a good time for a little Divine intervention to shut up the blabbering fools and silence the wolves.

If I were the Creator seeking a small sign to get the right people's attention, something so powerful you can't miss it but so targeted only the worst of the moral thieves would be hurt, I think I've got the answer.

SOLAR FLARES ON THE SURFACE OF THE SUN.

With the Sun an average of 93 million miles from Earth, it is visible through satellites but can't fry the earth if a little exhibition of power takes place.  So I set off some rather big solar explosions and aim them at the Earth.

When aimed directly at Earth, X-class solar flares can endanger astronauts and satellites in orbit, interfere with satellite communications and damage power grids on Earth. They can also amplify the Earth's display of northern and southern lights, also known as auroras.

Of course here in America, the land of plenty and then some, these huge clouds of charged particles — called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs - erupting from the solar flares, can have a much more interesting impact than most places.

Here we are psychologically addicted to multiple forms of electro magnetic toys like cells phones, GPS tracking systems, notebooks, video phones, wireless signals, credit cards, ATM cards and all the other things we have to distract us, please us, entertain us, manage our money and tell us where to go.

My little miracle, firing off a few big solar flares, can disrupt those technology toys that weren't even in existence 100 years ago.  When some of the people of earth suddenly can't use their cell phone, or text, or find their way to the nearest pizza joint, or realize their car won't start or tell them where to go, that will get attention.

So 36 hours ago a couple of x class solar eruptions exploded on the Sun.  Yesterday the government finally decided to warn us of the potential electro magnetic impact of the solar flares on earth, and all of the above were mentioned as possibilities.

We will know today.  But we also know that a series of bigger and bigger solar flares or storms are taking place every month and will continue to build until the end of 2013.  At some point the electrical devices will fail and the electrical grid could even collapse.

You don't think this act of God could have anything to do with the assault on God, religious freedom and moral proclivity taking place do you?

Maybe the Hopi, the Mayan and the Bible writers had a little more inspired insight than we may want to think!

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