March 16, 2006
 
Casey Urges Special Session for Sexual Predator Legislation
 
By HNN Staff
 
Charleston, WV (HNN) – Democratic Party Chair Nick Casey on March 15, 2006 praised State Sen. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall County, for taking a reasoned, statesman like approach to the passage of tough law to crack down on child sex offenders.
 
“This legislation is too important to play partisan politics with,” said Casey. “There’s not a single responsible person that I know of that doesn’t want to do everything they can to protect our children from sexual predators.”
 
In addition to Kessler, Casey also applauded Republican Senator John Yoder who was a prosecutor under the Reagan administration, as well as, Republican Senators Frank Deem, Karen Facemyer, Charles Lanham and Andy McKenzie who all voted against passage of a hastily conceived compromise bill that according to some prosecutors, including Kanawha County Prosecutor Bill Charnock, himself a Republican, could have unintended and negative consequences.
 
“This bill deserves more than 11th hour grandstanding by members of either party,” said Casey. “Those who want to use it to label one party as ‘soft on child predators’ are ignoring the position of distinguished members of both parties who recognize the difficulty in making wholesale changes in the penal code without a careful examination of all the potential consequences.”
 
“Governor Manchin said it best,” said Casey, “the important thing here is that we pass legislation to put sexual predators away. I respectfully call on members of both parties to work with the administration and with prosecutors to pass the best bill possible in an upcoming special session.”