The WV Legislature: The other class of West Virginians

Back when I was being published I often wrote about my disgust with the West Virginia Legislature. Apparently I annoyed several legislators who naturally felt I had no idea what I was talking about. Maybe so, but I do understand deadlines and job descriptions and duties and I am merely a citizen who constantly sees in news coverage how the Legislature can't follow deadlines, has no idea what they are truly supposed to accomplish and generally consider themselves another class of citizens.

As the 2009 Legislature approaches, I am planning on writing more about my problem with what they do (and don't do). I am going to cover and talk about how I contacted no less than four (4) legislators last session about important issues to me and not one of them had the courtesy to reply.

In the interim, here is an article published in 2006.



Many Charlestonians only notice that The Legislature is in session when the travel on Kanawha Boulevard and note all the fancy cars parked in what us mere mortals consider “no parking areas”.

It is the most glaring example of how their laws don’t apply to them.

Why does government have such a hard time getting its arms around the concept that the laws and regulations of daily life that it places on its citizens must also be followed by the government itself?

The parking, for example, is something that always amazes me. The Capitol is constantly surrounded by an army of blue uniformed guards that will swoop down upon you the moment you pull into a parking place. Even if you are merely pulling in to drop someone off, they will quickly advise that the spots are off limits and that your maneuver is illegal.

Parking at the capitol for the other ten months is bad enough, but during the legislative session, all the rules go out the window. The legislators, their entourages and all the lobbyists are at The Capitol complex every day and the average citizen (unless armed with a handicapped permit) can’t find a parking place within a half mile.

How convenient that the legislature is open for the people to witness, but the people can’t get a remotely convenient parking place.

I also don’t understand how the legislators decided that they are special enough to warrant the legalized parking along the Boulevard. Oh, I know how it was done. They made a statement that they require the ability to quickly come and go from their offices so they need an adjacent parking space.

Well, how about all the regular employees in The Capitol that must use parking lots that are a 10 minute walk. Some of those people have important jobs that would be made more efficient if they could come and go without enduring the walk.

The legislators should be subjected to the same rules as everyone else. If they decide that ten months out of the year it is illegal to park on Kanawha Boulevard then it should be for the remainder of the year as well.

Up until recently, the street wasn’t even closed. The legislators and their large SUVs or huge sedans would be parked, sometimes askew, and as you tried to just drive in front of The Capitol you not only had to watch for speed demons passing you in the left lane but also for large men swinging their drivers door open as they headed to work in the legislature.

Now, in another example of how the rules don’t apply, they placed construction barrels and closed the slow lane in front of The Capitol. The legislators now have luxurious double-wide parking places.

I wonder if some other entity could get permission to close parts of a major thoroughfare just to make their illegal parking spaces a bit safer and more comfortable.

It’s the “rules don’t apply” mentality that allows our legislature to behave as they do.

For the last 15 years the only significant legislative news or activity always comes out of “special sessions”. It’s a term that the average citizen doesn’t think much about. In fact, the term “special” implies that it is a good thing. Trust me, it’s not.

In this case, “special” is more akin to “Special Education”. It truly means that the work wasn’t completed in the allotted time and they have had to come back. In effect, they are being held back. Instead of being rewarded with more time with which to do their work, they should be embarrassed in front of the citizens that pay their salaries.

These sessions are always costly affairs for the state. Not only are they coming back to vote on something that will surely cost us more money, but the mere action of having all those legislators gathered means that we are spending tons of money.

As it stands, there is simply no motivation for them to get their work done in “regular” session. After all, in our media dominated society anything done in “regular” session must not be interesting. The only way to get their constituents excited is to be able to come home and tell how they were able to work hard in the “special” session and how they brought the money home for them.

Frankly, it’s just a routine. They show up here for 60 days, do largely nothing and then they return a couple times throughout the year for reunions and to spend more of our money. Nothing ever really changes.

Make an effort this year. I call upon even one legislator to break from the rest and refuse to park illegally at the Capitol complex. Ask someone in authority to find you a legal parking place that would be LEGAL for a non-legislator. Make a stand and follow the same rules that some 5 year employee in a regular government job has to endure.

How do you think that the rest of the employees feel when they see the special, even royal, treatment that you receive? You come and go as you please, you get nothing done and on top of all that you get to park your seventy-five thousand dollar car with the special license plate on a piece of roadway paved with tax dollars from the rest of us.

I want to go park in front of The Capitol just to see what they would do to me.