By unanimous approval of its voting membership, at meeting duly assembled in Morgantown, Monongalia county on April 24, 2010, the Constitution Party of West Virginia has adopted its platform position on Agriculture.
Agriculture can and should be an important part of West Virginia’s economy. In a letter to George Washington during the Constitutional Convention, Thomas Jefferson said, “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” And, John Taylor of Caroline believed agriculture “the guardian of liberty, as well as the mother of wealth. So long as the principles of our government are uncorrupted, and the sovereignty of majorities remains, she must occupy the highest political station, and owe to society the most sacred political duty.” However, largely because of government interference, we feel that the full potential of West Virginia’s agricultural resources has not been developed.
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is a tyrannical system of federal control over the food supply and over the property of our farmers which will impose burdensome reporting requirements, expenses, and fines. We therefore call for an end to West Virginia’s participation in this program as well as an end to the acceptance of any federal money for the purpose of implementing it.
Likewise, farm subsidies have a corrupting influence on the agricultural free market; we thus call for an end to them as well. West Virginia has a long and proud tradition of well managed agribusiness without the need for government intervention. Because of their many commercial uses, the unlimited cultivation of all traditional crops and fuel producing plants should be unregulated and uninfringed. Agriculture is a resilient and adaptive industry. We therefore reject transforming its agenda to meet so called “global challenges” and are opposed to artificial market manipulation via any sort of wage or price controls.
Farmers should be free to sell their products, including meat, milk, and traditionally processed foods, to the public without government involvement. However, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) present a threat to food safety and create the potential for contamination of the gene pool of other agricultural crops and livestock that are grown or raised in proximity. Therefore, we advocate a law that prohibits the cultivation or production of GMO crops, seeds, or livestock. We envision a revitalized agricultural economy for West Virginia supported by local farmers’ markets and organic methods which will allow consumers the opportunity to purchase high-quality natural West Virginia edibles instead of over-processed and less healthy factory-farmed foods.
Finally, conservation easements present potential serious and confusing complications to basic private property rights and are thus viewed by us with caution. We do recognize the problem which deer pose to our state not only in crop damage, but to motorists as well, and thus recommend reducing the nuisance population thereof through expansion of landowner hunting. Venison and other wild game are excellent sources of nutrition for our populace, the harvesting of which should be encouraged.
Group complains about electronic voting machines
A local leader of the conservative Constitution Party asked Raleigh County Commission members Tuesday to stop using the Election Systems & Software (iVotronic touch-screen voting machines currently used in West Virginia.
The machines are approved by Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, and her office recently paid around $500,000 for the Raleigh machines. The county anted up another $400,000.
Gene Stalnaker presented Commission president John Humphrey and Commissioner John Aliff with the Ohio Project EVEREST voting study.
Under state law, county commissions can choose not to use the machines, said Gene Stalnaker, Constitution Party treasurer.
“This report calls for the State of Ohio to do away with the machines six months before their election,” Stalnaker said. “There’s other states that use the same machines that also have done that.
“So I’m just asking you as commissioners to follow (state code) and call a meeting to do away with the machines.”
Humphrey said he’d received no complaints about the performance of the machines and that no other voters had expressed concerns.
“As of now, we have no reason to doubt these machines,” he said. Read More
Constitution Party of West Virginia wins free speech victory
The Rutherford Institute Wins Court Victory for West Virginia Constitution Party’s Right to Circulate Petitions at a State Park
ELKINS, W.Va. —Judge John Preston Bailey of the Northern District of West Virginia has ruled that a First Amendment lawsuit dealing with the right of a political group to circulate petitions and collect signatures at a state park can move forward. Officials with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR), which manages and controls the park, had asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. Filed in April 2008 by Rutherford Institute attorneys on behalf of members of the Constitution Party of West Virginia, the lawsuit poses a constitutional challenge to a ban on politics in West Virginia state parks.
“Americans have a First Amendment right to the freedom of political expression,” stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “We cannot allow the government to silence. We have a right to be heard.” Read More
Constitution Party wins constitutional fight
ELKINS – In a constitutional triumph for the Constitution Party, U.S. District Judge John Bailey ruled that citizens can circulate petitions on West Virginia public lands.
On June 3, he held that West Virginia legislators violated First Amendment rights when they banned soliciting in state parks and other recreational areas.
He did not disturb a ban on hawking, peddling or carrying on business in parks.
His ruling will allow the Constitution Party of West Virginia to circulate petitions at National Hunting and Fishing Days in Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park.
Park rangers chased party leaders away from the event in 2007.
The party sued Division of Natural Resources chief Frank Jezioro, who responded that they should have applied for a permit like other exhibitors at the event.
Bailey disagreed, ruling that no one needs a permit to solicit in any park on any day.
He found that the ban acted as prior restraint on expression in a public forum.
“Any prior restraint on expression in a public forum is subject to strict scrutiny,” he wrote.
He wrote that the ban “fails this strict scrutiny test as it is not narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest.”
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Read the full article at the West Virginia Record.
WV Resident Wants State Officials To Pay Up … In Gold & Silver Coins
Raleigh county resident, and WV Constitution Party Treasurer Gene Stalnaker strongly believes in the US Constitution. But, he feels that state officials are refusing to live up to the oath they swore to uphold. Stalnaker, like many other state residents, want the state to pay them in gold or silver coins, like the constitution instructs them to.
Stalnaker, a law abiding, hard working and taxpaying WV citizen has taken his request to state officials. What he has received in return is a tax audit by the state, and told by both Deputy Tax Commissioner Craig Griffith & Treasurer John Purdue that if he wants gold or silver, “go to a bank, cash your tax check and buy some gold & silver coins.â€
In fact, Stalnaker says that Purdue’s office told him if he did not cash the state tax refund check by the dated deadline, they would turn over his money to the “Unclaimed Property†division. And we all know that if you don’t claim the money within a specific amount of time, the state can take it.
When he requested a face to face with tax man Chris Morris (pictured left), he was told by one staff member that “he does not make appointments with the public.†John Purdue agreed to meet with Stalnaker and other concerned citizens. Stalnaker noted that Purdue, and his deputy, Paul Hill, showed up late claiming he was in a meeting with the governor discussing the economy.
During their brief meeting, Stalnaker said he had prepared a written outline to Commissioner Purdue to better explain what he was wanting. He said about 30 seconds into Purdue reading the letter, the Commissioners “jaw dropped about 3 feet.†Then standing straight up, Purdue said “I can’t answer this.†Several days later, Stalnaker received a letter from an attorney with the state who informed him they would not comply with his request, and they only paid tax refunds by check, which, according to the state is legal tender.
Bottom line, WV does not have any gold or silver coins on hand, and has no plans to get any. Read More
Write-in candidate Paugh pitches W.Va. sovereignty
As Uncle Sam tightens his wallet and lets fewer dollars trickle down to the states for highways, Constitution Party gubernatorial hopeful Butch Paugh sees a golden opportunity for West Virginia to turn free enterprise loose and spawn a healthier business climate.
That done, the write-in candidate theorizes, more businesses will invest huge sums in the state, creating more jobs and, in turn, expanding a tax base so that adequate dollars flow into the coffers of the financially strapped Division of Highways.
“We can build the tax base without increasing taxes if we would let the people produce more and not punish them for being a West Virginia citizen,” the Nettie resident told The Register-Herald editorial board.
“Businesses don’t like it here because of the tax structure. You can’t tax people into prosperity. That does not work. When you’re already on the bottom, kicking them again doesn’t work.”
Paugh says the state needs to take a penetrating and comprehensive look at how neighboring Virginia operates with lower taxes and a larger tax base. Read More
Preamble, Core Beliefs, and National Positions Proclaimed
By unanimous vote of its Executive Committee, the Constitution Party of West Virginia has approved and adopted the Preamble, Core Beliefs, and National Platform positions to its specific state platform. Additionally, original drafts of the Community Decency, Illegal Immigration, Sanctity of Life and Second Amendment positions were also adopted at this meeting which was duly assembled at Alpine Lake, Terra Alta, Preston County on September 23, 2006.
Preamble
Conscious of Providence and solicitous of the blessings of Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ, the Constitution Party of West Virginia embraces and advances the following statement of positions to restore and protect Constitutional government, preserve the continuity of our civilization, and defend the sovereignty of our State thus guarding liberty under law for ourselves and our posterity.
Core Beliefs
We affirm the Christian character and heritage(1) of our State, and the Bible as the basis of morality on which the legitimacy of our laws rest.
We affirm the fundamental principles of American republicanism as originally set forth in the draft version of the Virginia Declaration of Rights(2) and reiterated in the Declaration of Independence, constituting the basis and foundation of government.
We believe in the sovereignty, freedom and independence of the several States and affirm the principles asserted in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798/1799.(3)
The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the land;(4) its provisions, along with those of this State, are operative alike in a period of war as in time of peace, and any departure therefrom, or violation thereof, under the plea of necessity, or any other plea, is subversive to good government and tends to anarchy and despotism.(5)
The government of the United States is a government of enumerated powers, and all powers not delegated to it, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people thereof. Among the powers so reserved to the States is the exclusive regulation of their own internal government and police; and it is the high and solemn duty of constitutional government to guard and protect the people of the several States from all encroachments upon the rights so reserved.(6)
National Platform
The Constitution Party of West Virginia recognizes the platform of the national Constitution Party(7) as the statement of principles and positions for our candidates for federal office and for areas where a state position has not yet been developed. Where the state and national party platforms differ, the following West Virginia state platform shall take precedence:
FOOTNOTES:
1) America’s Christian Heritage Week – www.achw.org
2) Virginia Declaration of Rights, draft version – http://www.lva.virginia.gov/lib-edu/education/bor/draftvdr.htm
3) Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798/1799 – http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/virres.asp
4) U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Section 2 – http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A6.html
5) West Virginia Constitution, Article I, Section 3 – http://www.legis.state.wv.us/WVCODE/WV_CON.cfm#articleI
6) U.S. Constitution, Amendment X – http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am10.html
7) Platform of the National Constitution Party – http://constitutionparty.com/party_platform.php
Religious groups join fight against national IDs
Critics of federal legislation to establish nationwide identification standards are tapping into religious groups to galvanize resistance to the statute.
The authors of a New Hampshire bill to make the Granite State the first to reject the so-called REAL ID Act have cited financial and constitutional concerns about its implementation. But several conservative Christian groups that have endorsed the New Hampshire proposal are largely motivated by their belief that the law is a sign of the apocalypse.
According to leaders of the movement against the statute, the cause has benefited immensely from the active participation of groups that view the law as the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy. Such groups refer to scripture that predicts that humans will be numbered by marks on their foreheads and hands before the arrival of the antichrist.
Katherine Albrecht, the founder of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, has lobbied extensively on behalf of the New Hampshire bill. She said religious groups have been valuable because they are highly mobile and well-organized.
Ervin (Butch) Paugh, a preacher and radio host in West Virginia who is running for governor on the Constitutionalist Party ticket, has been urging lawmakers in his state to follow New Hampshire’s lead. Joe Cicchirillo, a commissioner at West Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles, said he was impressed by Paugh’s knowledge of the issue when he met with him this month.
Read full article by Michael Martinez here.
Constitution Party Partisan Win
On November 2, 2004, Robert Miller, an activist in the Constitution Party, was elected County Surveyor of Grant County, West Virginia. He received ten write-in votes. No one else was running for the post.
From www.ballot-access.org.
WV Ballot Access Victory
On November 3, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin, a Clinton appointee, ruled that West Virginia may not charge a filing fee for declared write-in candidates. Phillips v Hechler, civ 6:00-894. The ruling upset a law that had been passed in 1993. The basis for the ruling is that the purpose of a filing fee is to keep a ballot from being crowded with too many names. That rationale has no application for write-in candidates.
The case was filed by Howard Phillips (Constitution Party presidential candidate), who was unable to qualify for the ballot, and who therefore depended on write-in votes in West Virginia. If the law had not been overturned, he would have had to pay $4,000 just to have his write-ins tallied (the fee is 1% of the annual salary of the office). The state has not yet said if it will appeal.
(From Ballot Access News.)