Newest Senate Member Reacts To Passage Of Unemployment Extenders

By Rob Sanna - Talk Radio News Service

Shortly after Carte Goodwin (D-W.Va) was sworn into the U.S. Senate this afternoon, the chamber voted 60-40 to pass a $34 billion measure to extend unemployment benefits to Americans through November.

Goodwin, a 36-year-old former aide to West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin (D), was appointed by his old boss last week to fill the Senate seat previously occupied by the late Robert Byrd (D).

“I feel privileged to have played a small role helping to move this legislation forward. Obviously, no one can replace Senator Byrd, nor can anyone really hope to fill his shoes, but I feel privileged to have the opportunity to try and emulate his work ethic and his commitment to the law, this body, and the state of West Virginia.” said Goodwin following the vote.

In all likelihood, Goodwin will merely serve as a placeholder for Manchin, who hopes to win the seat in a special election on November 2.

Colleagues Celebrate Life, Legacy Of Robert Byrd

Legislators and Presidents gathered in West Virginia Friday to honor the memory of recently deceased Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history.

“He was a Senate icon, he was a party leader, he was an elder statesman and he was my friend,” President Barack Obama said from the West Virginia Capitol’s north plaza, the site of the memorial service.

Byrd, who died early Monday morning, served three terms in the House of Representatives in the 1950s. In 1958, he was elected to the Senate, where throughout his career he assumed the roles of Majority Leader, chairman of the Appropriations Committee and President Pro Tempore, leaving him fourth in line for the Presidency. He was well known as a firery advocate for his state and secured his constituents with an unprecedented level of federal funds.

Earlier in his life, the West Virginia Democrat was briefly a member of the Ku Klux Klan and filibustered against the Civil Rights Act in 1964. However, as his career progressed Byrd reversed many of his positions and expressed shame over both periods in his life.

“He was a country boy from the hills … of West Virgina and he was trying to get elected. Maybe he did something he shouldn’t have done, [but] he spent the rest of his life making it up,” former President Bill Clinton said. “That’s what a good person does.”

In the 2008 Democratic Primary Byrd endorsed Obama over then Senator Hillary Clinton.

A number of those in attendance touched warmly upon Byrd’s command of history and literature.

“He had an incredible, prodigious memory,” Vice President Joe Biden, who served 35 years with Byrd in the Senate, said. “I remember one time sitting with the queen of England … and he recited the entire lineage of the Tudors and every year each one had served.”

Added Biden, “She sat there and I thought her bonnet was going to flip off her head.”

Byrd’s declining health relegated the Senator to the sidelines for much of the last year. However, on Christmas Eve the wheelchair bound Byrd was brought into the upper chamber to deliver a decisive vote to pass health care reform.

Also in attendance for Friday’s memorial service were Senate Majority and Minority Leaders Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the widow of deceased Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) Vicki Kennedy.

On Thursday, Byrd laid in repose in the Senate chamber for six hours. Starting Monday, his Senate desk was draped in black and adorned with a pot of white flowers and his personal copy of the constitution. Byrd was 92.

Supreme Court Rules Against West Virginia Justice

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia Justice Brent Benjamin should have recused himself when holding a Court hearing in 2007, which involved an important contributor to Benjamin’s election campaign conducted three years prior.

The decision came after the Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 on whether Justice Benjamin Brent, who had been elected in 2004 following a $3 million donation from Massey Coal Company’s Chairman Don Blankenship, should have recused himself when ruling over the Hugh M. Caperton, et al. v. Massey & Co case.

In 2002, a West Virginia jury found Massey Coal & Co. liable for fraudulent misrepresentation, concealment and tortious interference with existing contractual relations. The jury condemned Massey & Co to $50 million to be awarded to the plaintiff, Caperton et al. in June, 2004. Massey & Co filed for appeal but its demand was rejected by the state trial court.

In 2004, West Virginia held it judicial elections. Massey & Co sponsored Brent Benjamin rather than the incumbent Justice so as to renew the possibilities of appealing but before Massey & Co filed its appeal, Caperton moved to prevent this by calling attention to the Due Process Clause and to the State's Code of Judicial Conduct based on Massey & Co’s campaign involvement.

The Due Process Clause under the 14th amendment of the U.S constitution ensures that no state should “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

Additionally, the Code of Judicial Conduct states that “A judge should participate in establishing, maintaining, and enforcing high standards of conduct, and should personally observe those standards, so that the integrity and independence of the judiciary may be preserved,” according to the U.S Courts online.

Despite receiving important funding from the party found liable in the Caperton v. Massey case during his judicial campaign, Justice Benjamin refused to recuse himself, and this for a total of three times.

The controversial topic involved whether or not to trust Judicial figures’ capability to remain unbiased when ruling on a question that involves a personal dimension.

In an interpretation Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered, he said “Under our precedents there are objective standards that require recusal when ‘the probability of actual bias on the part of the judge or decision-maker is too high to be constitutionally of this case,” adding that the judgment of the State Supreme Court of West Virginia is dissented “for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.”

Kennedy cited “risks of biases”, impartiality and “personal involvement” and the the foundations for the Supreme Court’s decision.

Cheney echoes Bob Dole: McClellan a “miserable creature”

Vice President Dick Cheney criticized the press at the National Press Club when referring to the Pulitzer Prize won by the New York Times for a piece that divulged information pertaining to US security, an action that he deemed was “less than honorable.” When asked, Cheney said that the most difficult part of his jobs involves the press since his role as an adviser necessitates an ability to keep important information secret.

Cheney said that the surge of forces in Iraq has been “enormously successful” and added that no terror attack on the United States in seven years can be attributed to the United States’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. The vice president stated that a successful president must make unpopular decisions, comparing President George W. Bush’s actions to the difficult choices made by President Lincoln during the Civil War. Cheney said that invading Iraq and Afghanistan will be viewed positively in ten to fifteen years and that the suggestion that the Bush administration acted rashly is false.

Cheney said that oil prices would be a factor in the upcoming presidential elections. He said that the “era of oil” is not ending and that the United States needs to do more to increase domestic production of petroleum. Cheney criticized those who try to limit domestic production and added that a repeal of federal gas taxes would do little to alleviate high prices if supply is not increased. Cheney added that Senators John McCain and Barack Obama will make strategic decisions when choosing a running mate, ignoring the status of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

When prompted to comment on the release of a book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, the vice president laughed quietly and said that former Sen. Bob Dole’s (R-Kan.) condemnation of McClellan as a “miserable creature” was accurate. In addition, Cheney revealed that he is an eighth cousin Barack Obama and said he would not be opposed to a family reunion. When discussing his family’s history, Vice President Cheney said that he is descended from two different Cheney families and emphasized that his family was never from West Virginia, a comment that surprised the audience.

Clinton campaign holds State of the Race campaign call with high display of confidence

Today the Clinton campaign held a “State of the Race” conference call. Terry McAuliffe, campaign chairman and Phil Singer, Deputy Communications Director, were both on hand to comment. McAuliffe started off by discussing last night and the scope of their victory. He stated that Clinton won by 41 percent and that, “we are in this thing.” The campaign also posted a seven figure plus day for online contributions and the top forty to fifty financial contributors to the campaign were going to meet with the campaign today. McAuliffe made sure to say that there is tremendous enthusiasm within the campaign and that the issue is, “who is it that can best win the general election?”

Phil Singer spoke next on the conference call. He again applauded their victory last night noting that it was in a key swing state. He mentioned the fact that no democrat has won the White House since Wilson in 1916 without taking West Virginia. Singer also made the claim that Clinton can take WV against McCain and mentioned that there are still five contests left. With the campaigns continual push to have the votes from Michigan and Florida to be counted, the staff is relentless is making this come to fruition, all while saying, “those votes out to be honored.”