Oct. 13, 2006
 
BLANKENSHIP MAILER: Mahan Says Money Targeting Her, Thompson by Blankenship Could Have Been Used to Help State’s Children
 
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
 
Hinton, WV (HNN) – Del. Virginia Mahan, D-Summers, is a woman who usually is in control of her emotions, but she was careful to choose her words on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006 in response to this reporter’s question about her reaction to a mailing by Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship that urged voters to vote against her and fellow Democrat Del. Ron Thompson, D-Raleigh.
 
“I can’t say what I really think of this despicable mailing that subverts the idea of “For The Sake of the Kids” to urge voters in the 27th District to vote for Republicans and vote against Democrats like me and Ron Thompson, but here’s something to think about…The expense of this mailing – which I understand is targeted to each of the state’s 58 House districts – is something to ponder…it must have cost a small fortune. Blankenship claims to be ‘For The Sake of the Kids,’ but he spends massive amounts of money on smear mailings like this when the money could have gone to good causes for children, such as shelters, foster care, children’s health issues.”
 
The campaign mailing, which says it’s “not authorized by any political party, candidate or candidate’s committee,” urges voters to cast their ballots on Nov. 7 for Linda Sumner, Philip Stevens, Ron Hedrick, Chuck Carpenter and Dereck Severt. Sumner, Thompson and Mahan are incumbents. House Speaker Robert Kiss, D-Raleigh, is not running for re-election and Del. Sally M. Susman, D-Raleigh was defeated in her attempt to run for state senate and is not running for re-election to the House of Delegates. One of the members of the 27th District must reside in Summers County; Mahan resides in Green Sulphur Springs, Summers County. Philip Stevens lives in Summers County.
 
The mailing says that Mahan and Thompson voted to retain the state’s 5 percent sales tax on food – it was lowered from 6 percent on Jan. 1, 2006 -- but Mahan says this is a distortion of the voting to phase out the tax, saying that she voted to retain the tax until other sources of revenue could be found for programs for children and seniors funded by the food tax. West Virginia is currently one of only seven states that tax food, down from 41 in 1958, according to a tax site on the web. The site estimates that the food tax raises $25 million a year for West Virginia.
 
“Under the leadership of Gov. Joe Manchin, Democrats and Republicans alike are trying to come up with a tax reform plan that hopefully will phase out the food tax; we can’t act precipitously on this issue until we have additional revenue sources in place,” Mahan told HNN.
 
The Blankenship mailer quotes the Charleston Daily Mail and the Charleston Gazette on the state’s record revenue – which the mailer says amounts to nearly “$400 million of extra money this year, yet Delegates Virginia Mahan and Ron Thompson voted to keep the 5 percent ax on food in West Virginia!”
 
Attempts to reach Ron Thompson for his comments on the mailing from Blankenship were unsuccessful.