The Dugan Hutchinson feud flared into the open this week when Morgan County trial lawyer Larry Schultz took to Facebook and accused Steve Hutchinson of, in effect, hiding behind a political action committee that is running ads against Morgan County Commissioner Stacy Dugan.
(Nutshell version of the Dugan Hutchinson feud — Stacy Dugan and Brenda Hutchinson — at the time both Democrats — served together as Commissioners on the Morgan County Commission from 2008 to 2012. Something went bad between the two. There are various versions of this. But bottom line — it seems to be a personality clash. Oil and water kind of thing.)
Dugan is now running as a Democrat for re-election to the Commission.
Hutchinson is now running as an Independent for House of Delegates against the Republican incumbent Daryl Cowles.
Schultz is Democrat and a supporter of Dugan for Commissioner. (The editor of MorganCountyUSA is an independent and a supporter of Hutchinson for Delegate.)
Schultz rails against Hutchinson despite the fact that Schultz agrees with Hutchinson on the issues — for a raise in the minimum wage, for a new deal for West Virginia workers and energy sector, against mountaintop removal mining and against fracking — and disagrees with Cowles, the Republican minority whip — on the issues. Cowles was one of only five members of the House of Delegates who earlier this year voted against raising the minimum wage and he favors mountaintop removal mining and fracking.
Schultz says that he voted early and didn’t vote for either Hutchinson or Cowles, although he predicts that Hutchinson will lose to Cowles.
“Forget about the Hutchinsons,” Schultz wrote on his Facebook page this week. “They are toast anyway, and not only because of this (the political action committee ads). Not even mostly because of this. The bridges they have heedlessly burned could light a small city for a decade.”
What burns Schultz is that the Hutchinsons are openly supporting Tuttle for County Commissioner. They have Tuttle signs on their car. Steve Hutchinson is Brenda Hutchinson’s husband. Steve has been actively putting up Tuttle for Commission signs around the county. And Steve recently joined with a group of 15 or so friends and formed a political action committee called Citizens for Open Government. Steve put up the initial $750 to fund the group.
Citizens for Open Government has been running ads in the Morgan Messenger attacking Dugan’s record.
Schultz took to his Facebook page this week and began railing against the Hutchinsons.
Schultz’s main complaint is that Steve Hutchinson should have put his name on the ad and not created a political action committee to put forth his views.
“I do oppose this sort of sneaky backdoor anonymous attack ad where you don’t even know who the guy is,” Schultz wrote.
Schultz says he doesn’t like people who “sneak around with anonymous attacks.”
“Will our local politics become a sump of anonymous, dishonest attacks run by shadow figures hiding behind front groups, or will our local politics continue to be a man or woman standing up and saying ‘this is what I believe, this is what I have done, and this is what I will do?’ Schultz asks.
“Nobody speaks for me, but me, and I speak in my name,” Schultz says. “People might advise me not to say things the way I sometimes do, or to try and say them more gently, and I try to listen. But in the end it is me speaking. And if you try to speak for me and I don’t like what you try to say for me, I will come after you.”
Of course, Larry Schultz is a trial lawyer. And trial lawyers give money to political action committees all the time.
In a wide ranging, and sometimes heated telephone conversation on Friday, Schultz admitted that he has given “two or three thousand dollars” this election cycle to political action committees.
He wouldn’t disclose the name of the political action committees he has given to. But a cursory search of the West Virginia Secretary of State’s web site found that Schultz has given money this election cycle to LAWPAC — the political action committee of the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. (Schultz refused a request for an on camera interview. “Maybe on November 5,” he said.)
Schultz admitted that he didn’t know what kind of ads LAWPAC was running this election cycle.
He said he believed they were advocating for access to the courts and access to justice.
But isn’t this the exact thing — giving money to a political action committee instead of putting one’s own name on the ad — that Schultz is angry at Steve Hutchinson for doing?
Schultz says there is a difference.
Schultz says Steve is personally involved in the issue of security at the courthouse — which is an issue raised in the Citizens for Open Government ads.
But isn’t Schultz personally involved with access to justice issues?
If the corporations get their way in slamming the courthouse door on innocent injured citizens — not only will those citizens be hurt, but so will Schultz’s trial lawyer practice.
True — money is corrupting politics.
And yes, we could do without anonymous attack ads.
But if you have given thousands of dollars to a political action committee to run ads that you have never seen, then how can you take to Facebook and say — “nobody speaks for me but me, and I speak in my name’”?
Well, no, Larry, you speak in LAWPAC’s name — and LAWPAC speaks for you.
By all accounts, there are three very close races in Morgan County — Tuttle and Dugan for County Commissioner, Hutchinson and Cowles for Delegate, and Democrat Donald Cookman and Republican Charles Trump for State Senate.
Driving throughout the county, you see all kinds of combinations of signage.
There are the usual political alignments:
Tuttle, Cowles and Trump, and
Dugan, Hutchinson and Cookman.
But more often, you get a shuffle, like —
Tuttle, Hutchinson and Cookman.
Or — Dugan, Cowles and Trump.
Or — like the combination on 522 near Oakland Road– Tuttle, Hutchinson and Trump.
How will it end?
You decide.
You can point the finger now.
And rant and rage on Facebook.
But come November 4, if you don’t vote, there is no one to blame but yourself.