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Rupie’s Resolution Sparks Deeper Question · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: Last Friday, I had the chance to hang out with
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  Speaker 1: Dave Allen on Metro News Midday. The timing was interesting
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  Speaker 1: because the same hour featured flora remarks in the Senate
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  Speaker 1: from Ohio County Senator Laura Wakem Chapman on Senate Joint
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  Speaker 1: Resolution nineteen. That's the resolution proposing a governor must be
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  Speaker 1: born in West Virginia to be eligible for the office.
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  Speaker 1: But there's an important wrinkle. The sponsor, Senator Ruby Phillips,
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  Speaker 1: had already said publicly he intends to modify the resolution,
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  Speaker 1: dropping the birth requirement and instead increasing the current five
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  Speaker 1: year residency rule to thirty years. Senator Chapman either wasn't
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  Speaker 1: aware of that shift or chose to address the original language.
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  Speaker 1: She made it clear she's not a fan of the
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  Speaker 1: proposal and defended Governor Morrissey's record. Phillips later rose to
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  Speaker 1: clarify his intent and even set on Midday that if
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  Speaker 1: his goal were to target the governor personally, he'd look
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  Speaker 1: at recall mechanisms, not residency rules. So zoom out for
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  Speaker 1: a moment. What's really fueling this? Look at the primary
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  Speaker 1: numbers in the Republican gubintorial primary. More Republicans voted for
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  Speaker 1: someone other than Morrissey than Republicans who voted for him.
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  Speaker 1: He secured the nomination with only thirty three percent in
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  Speaker 1: a crowded field. No runoff, just a plurality win. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he later won the general election decisively, but general election
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  Speaker 1: unity doesn't always erase primary season divisions. Some of today's
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  Speaker 1: tension may simply be the byproduct of a fractured primary.
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  Speaker 1: Then consider the broader environment closed primaries that exclude independence,
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  Speaker 1: a ban on rank choice voting, player on, a governor
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  Speaker 1: who isn't shy about weighing into primaries, and friction inside
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  Speaker 1: the dominant party isn't surprising. All of that leads to
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  Speaker 1: bigger structural questions. Should West Virginia consider run off elections
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  Speaker 1: to avoid plurality nominees? Our taxpayer funded primaries the best
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  Speaker 1: system if independents can't participate, or should the state at
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  Speaker 1: least study alternatives. One model people point to is Louisiana system,
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  Speaker 1: where all candidates run on the same ballot and a
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  Speaker 1: runoff happens only if no one tops fifty percent. It
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  Speaker 1: pushes candidates to broaden their appeal from day one. West
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  Speaker 1: Virginia may be a long way from that, but in
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  Speaker 1: a one party dominant state with growing internal factions, it
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  Speaker 1: may be time to at least examine the options. SJR.
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  Speaker 1: Nineteen might stall, it might move, but it's already done
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  Speaker 1: one useful thing. It sparked a serious conversation about how
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  Speaker 1: we choose our leaders, and that's a conversation always worth having,