{"id":3231,"date":"2018-01-31T23:31:44","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T04:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=3231"},"modified":"2018-01-31T23:31:44","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T04:31:44","slug":"west-virginia-senate-judiciary-committee-weighs-in-on-dumb-inbred-mouth-breathing-hillbillies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=3231","title":{"rendered":"West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee Weighs in on Dumb Inbred Mouth Breathing Hillbillies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee today voted West Virginians to be \u201cdumb, inbred, mouth breathing hillbillies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Senator Michael Woelfel
(D-Cabell)<\/p><\/div>\n

Or at least that\u2019s the take of State Senator Michael Woelfel (D-Cabell).<\/span><\/p>\n

A U.S. Chamber of Commerce backed bill (SB 341) to create an Intermediate Court of Appeals is moving through the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Chamber wants the bill passed into law because it would delay verdicts against major corporations.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Under the current version of the bill, the Governor would appoint all six Intermediate Court of Appeals judges. <\/span><\/p>\n

The six judges would be appointed for a term of ten years. <\/span><\/p>\n

Woelfel, who opposes the Chamber backed bill, offered an amendment that would let the people of West Virginia vote on a ballot measure in November to decide the question of whether the judges of the Intermediate Court would be appointed by the Governor or elected by the people. Currently, all Circuit Court and Supreme Court judges in West Virginia are elected.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it was clear from the debate that the Chamber and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee want to give Governor Justice the power to pack the newly created court. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, when Senator Michael Romano (D-Harrison) said the goal was \u201ca balanced, fair court,\u201d Senator Michael Azinger (R-Wood) shot back \u2013 \u201ca strict constructionist court is the goal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy appointing these judges, they would be better qualified,\u201d said Randy Smith (R-Tucker). \u201cThe society we live in today, a lot of the voters are not informed. They depend on what they see on television ads, radio ads, newspaper ads. By appointing these, they would be more qualified candidates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t really believe we have that little confidence in the people of our state,\u201d Woelfel responded.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo wonder our state suffers from such low self esteem,\u201d Woelfel said. \u201cWe are sitting here saying they are not smart enough to figure out who should be on their appellate court. That\u2019s outrageous.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“When we start saying that we don\u2019t trust the people of our state to make the right decisions for an appellate judge, we are heading toward an oligarchy. It\u2019s going to be the biggest contributors. You don\u2019t think people are going to look at who contributed and who can help you in the next election if you are the chief executive?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do we have a partisan Governor appointing non partisan judges?\u201d Woelfel asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you vote for the amendment, you show your confidence in the people of our state,” Woelfel told his colleagues on the Judiciary Committee. “If you vote against the amendment, you say they are a bunch of dumb, inbred, mouth breathing hillbillies.\u201d (Audio clip here.<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Senate Majority Whip Ryan Weld (R-Brooke) interjected a point of order.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the gentleman from Cabell is grossly misstating what it is we are voting on at this point in time \u2013 whether it\u2019s the amendment or belittling the people of West Virginia,\u201d Weld said. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Woelfel\u2019s amendment went down to defeat 10 to 5.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee today voted West Virginians to be \u201cdumb, inbred, mouth breathing hillbillies.\u201d Or at least that\u2019s the take of State Senator Michael Woelfel (D-Cabell). A U.S. Chamber of Commerce backed bill (SB 341) to create … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3232,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231\/revisions\/3232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}