Trump's Rally Isn't the Craziest Thing Happening in West Virginia Right Now

West Virginia's entire Supreme Court was impeached last week. And things have only gotten weirder since then.

Facebook/Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia

President Donald Trump is headed to West Virginia today to campaign for state Attorney General Patrick Morrissey, the Republican running to unseat Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.). But the craziest thing going on right now in Mountain State politics has nothing to do with the Senate race. It what's happening with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, which is currently missing two justices due to an almost comical corruption scandal.

As I reported last week, the state's House of Delegates recently adopted 11 articles of impeachment against all four of its Supreme Court justices, who allegedly abused their authority and used taxpayer funds for personal gain. There's a long list of accusations against Chief Justice Margaret Workman and Justices Allen Loughry, Robin Davis, and Elizabeth Walker. But the highlight is their alleged use of more than $1 million in taxpayer funds on office renovations. (A $32,000 couch stands out.)

Davis has since resigned her post, and Loughry has been suspended without pay. Another former justice, Menis Ketchum, resigned last month and admitted to defrauding the state. With Davis and Ketchum gone, West Virginians will vote for their replacements this November.

That's where the plot thickens. House Speaker Tim Armstead (R-Kanawha) announced today he's resigning from the House of Delegates and running for Supreme Court:

Today, I resigned as Speaker of the House and will file to run for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals this afternoon. I am looking forward to talking with my fellow West Virginians and working to earn their trust and votes to serve as their Supreme Court Justice. pic.twitter.com/40Qxl2b55u

— Tim Armstead (@ArmsteadWV) August 21, 2018

Armstead is technically looking to replace the one justice who wasn't impeached. (Ketchum resigned beforehand.) But that doesn't make his decision to run any less odd. Essentially, the politician who led impeachment proceedings against West Virginia's Supreme Court is now running to be on that Supreme Court.

He's far from a shoo-in: Local NBC affiliate WVVA notes that Armstead is one of nine candidates for Ketchum's seat. Meanwhile, the fate of the remaining justices is in the hands of the state Senate, which yesterday officially received the House's articles of impeachment. A trial start date has yet to be set.

Comments

[damikesc]

Is the crazy part him running or that they are removing the Court for abusing public monies?

Because Reason SHOULD be completely behind the latter.

[loveconstitution1789]

Republicans are always bad- Reason's position.

[Juice]

I believe their position is Republicans are almost always bad. Criticism of your party might upset you, but that's the way it is.

[John]

When your desire to appear above the partisan fray causes you to think holding public officials accountable for abusing the public trust "crazy", maybe you are the one who is nuts.

[Dillinger]

crazy. naming your child Menis.

[John]

True. They should have made it his middle name and his first "Dennis".

[Rich]

At least xir surname isn't "Ration".

[Square = Circle]

When your desire to appear above the partisan fray causes you to think holding public officials accountable for abusing the public trust "crazy", maybe you are the one who is nuts.

I don't think they're saying it's crazy to impeach the entire Supreme Court, I think they're saying it's crazy that the entire Supreme Court deserves to be impeached.

[John]

Maybe so.

[BYODB]

I sure think that's it, because it's something that hasn't happened in my lifetime (that I'm aware of.)

Maybe there should be more judges on supreme courts, since it's a lot easier for a small group to conspire with one another.

[Juice]

Yeah, it was the fact that they were held accountable that was called crazy, not the unusualness of a state impeaching every member of its Supreme Court.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's all crazy. The corruption was ridiculous - literally they need to be ridiculed for their choices - and that the entire supreme court had to tossed is bizarre. That they're being held accountable is so out of practice for most top level corruption that it counts as crazy.

[loveconstitution1789]

Its phrased as crazy-bad rather than crazy-good.

Better choice of words could include: Unusual, Rare, Weird, Atypical...

[Square = Circle]

That they're being held accountable is so out of practice for most top level corruption that it counts as crazy.

This, too.

[loveconstitution1789]

Since, I am a Libertarian I think Republicans are sometimes bad, Democrats are almost always bad, and Libertarians are rarely bad.

[Just Say'n]

There are sitting Democratic representatives that I would gladly vote for over some of the garbage that the LP and Republicans put up a lot of times. To suggest that there is a ranking between the parties, including the Libertarian Party is crazy

[John]

The LP really is crazy.

[Just Say'n]

I'd take Tulsi Gabbard over Gary Johnson any day of the week

[loveconstitution1789]

The LP gets a bunch of Anarchists, Lefties, and weirdos in its ranks.

The normal Libertarians are too busy working for a living to get involved in cesspool politics. Which is technically the biggest problem facing Libertarianism- not enough Libertarians willing to run for office and win.

All the Democrats that were fiscally conservative so they didnt have funds for a Nanny-State are long gone. There is not a single Democrat politicians that is not partly a Socialist - not a single one.

The GOP is infested with RINOs who are Democrats that cannot get elected in that conservative district, so they hide as RINOs. Fiscal conservative Republicans barely exist in federal politics. Many Republicans are for the Nanny-State that they want (war on drugs).

[BYODB]

I was surprised to find out that technically blue dog democrats still exist. Weird that I haven't heard much from them in...I don't know when the last time we heard much about them actually.

[Juice]

Libertarians are rarely bad

Libertarians are rarely elected, so who knows how they would actually govern. The ones that run in high profile races in the past decade have tended to be former Republicans.

Which Libertarian candidates are your favorites?

[loveconstitution1789]

Me.

[loveconstitution1789]

Seriously though. Ron Paul was alright as a Republican and a good as a Libertarian.

[Libertymike]

lc, if you were running for anything, you would have my vote unless your opponent was Ron Paul.

[Just Say'n]

Do you guys plan on writing the defense for EPA rules today or tomorrow?

[loveconstitution1789]

The best part is that bureaucrat and politician turnover!

[Rich]

But the highlight is their alleged use of more than $1 million in taxpayer funds on office renovations. (A $32,000 couch stands out.)

"Another order in the court!"

"We hold that wallpaper in contempt!"

"You're seeing divan justice!"

Gee, it *is* "an almost comical corruption scandal".

[John]

http://www.breitbart.com/big-h.....y-scandal/

This is one of the most screwed up things I have read in a long time. This part is one of the best, though not the best part of the article. I had never heard of this

Back in the very early aughts, JT LeRoy was a literary sensation among America's celubutante class. Just out of his teens, Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy was everything America's craven elite seek as the latest "in thing," which was someone who hit all their shallow sweet spots: 1) JT LeRoy had been abused as a child by Christian fundamentalist grandparents. 2) JT was a child prostitute who hustled truck stops in America's "hypocritical" heartland. 3) JT was HIV positive. 4) JT was suicidal. 5) JT did bizarre things like pray to a raccoon's penis bone, an actual thing JT's mindless fans wore around their own pencil necks.

By 2002, anyone who wanted to be anyone latched onto the JT LeRoy bandwagon. JT was a way to prove you were "with it," part of the "in thing," and worthy to breathe the same rarified air as Bono and Lou Reed.

There was just one problem?

It was all a hoax.

There was no JT LeRoy.
JT LeRoy was invented by a troubled, overweight, 40-year-old wife and mother named Laura Albert.
Over the phone and on paper, it was Albert who played JT.

In person, JT was played by Albert's 25-year-old sister-in-law Savannah Knoop.

[Libertymike]

This story tracks a Law & Order SVU episode. I am dead serious.

[John]

We need to write a novel about the struggles of a Muslim transvestite hooker who was raised by Trump supporting evangelicals. We can sell the movie rights and move to the Carribean.

[John]

Robby and Shackford would get into a full on slap fight over who got to write the first fawning review of our "memoir" in Reason.

[Aloysious]

My munny is on Shackelfart.

[Fist of Etiquette]

House Speaker Tim Armstead (R-Kanawha) announced today he's resigning from the House of Delegates and running for Supreme Court...

Everyone wants that couch!

[Juice]

At $32k, it better be pretty nice.

[Mickey Rat]

It probably just looks all fancy, but is not comfy.

[jcw]

I'm interested to see which politician will be the one to oust Armstead and try and take over his job. That's the part that I find particular interesting/crazy.

Like if Nancy Pelosi somehow lead the march to impeach Trump and then ran for President. Seems weird and crazy to me.

[loveconstitution1789]

(1) The Left will never successfully impeach Trump;
(2) Pelosi would never win as candidate for president.

[Square = Circle]

Pelosi would never win as candidate for president.

^ This.

She'll be lucky to keep her seat in November.

[loveconstitution1789]

You might be right about that.

[Gilbert Martin]

Trump's rally not the craziest thing?

How is a Trump rally any crazier than a rally for any other politician?

[Paulpemb]

And what does Trump have to do with any of this? They could have just published the article as is except for the headline and the first paragraph and it would have been an informative piece about judicial corruption, but nobody would read that unless it has an "OMG TRUPM YOU GAIS!" clickbait headline.

[BYODB]

Essentially, the politician who led impeachment proceedings against West Virginia's Supreme Court is now running to be on that Supreme Court.

I mean, it's not that strange. I imagine he thinks he can do a better job, and that seems like a pretty low bar.

Alternatively, maybe he see's a bigger opportunity for graft and corruption in the judiciary.