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February 16, 2007
Clean Elections Update
The Public Campaign Financing Act (S118) is now in the Senate Finance
Committee, where our focus continues to be on prompting Senator Helmick to put
the bill on the agenda. Rumor at the Capitol is that he will do so, but it needs
to happen next week, and as soon as possible! The lobby team has been talking
with members of the Finance Committee this week, and we are getting some help
from supportive Senators in encouraging Senator Helmick to move the bill.
However, we must also focus on the other members of the committee. A delegation
from the WV Education Association met with Senator Helmick on Friday morning. He
told the WVEA group he would put the bill on the agenda, but said he did not
think it had the votes necessary to pass in the committee. Our job is to change
that!
Members of the Finance Committee and their contact information appear below. An
asterisk (*) denotes a sponsor of the bill. Please thank sponsors for their
support and ask them to encourage Senator Helmick to put the bill on the
committee agenda quickly. Ask all members to support the bill when it is brought
up in committee! Senators Bailey. Chafin, Plymale, Prezioso, and Unger are
probably swing votes, so encouraging them to support the bill is particularly
important.
Every West Virginian has one Senator on the Finance Committee. Please identify
yourself as a constituent when contacting your own Senator – it does make a
difference! Your calls and e-mails definitely helped in moving the bill through
Judiciary Committee. Keep up the great work!! You can also call legislators
toll-free at 1-877-565-3447.
| Walt Helmick, Chair |
357-7980 |
| William Sharpe |
357-7845 |
| Billy Wayne Bailey |
357-7807 |
| Edwin Bowman |
357-7918 |
| Truman Chafin |
357-7808 |
| Larry Edgell* |
357-7827 |
| John Pat Fanning |
357-7867 |
| Shirley Love* |
357-7849 |
| Brooks McCabe* |
357-7990 |
| Robert Plymale* |
357-7805 |
| Roman Prezioso |
357-7961 |
| John Unger |
357-7933 |
| Donna Boley |
357-7905 |
| Karen Facemyer |
357-7855 |
| Jesse Guills* |
357-7959 |
| Vic Sprouse* |
357-7854 |
| Dave Sypolt |
357-7914 |
We will also be in contact with the attorneys in the Secretary of State’s
office. They plan to offer an amendment authorizing the Secretary to delegate
administration of the bill in some way – probably either to appointees on the
Election Commission or to a staff position created for that purpose. We will be
encouraging the attorneys to have their amendment ready to present when the bill
is taken up, so it will not be put into a sub-committee (which would basically
kill it because of the limited time remaining).
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