Constitution Party National Committee Meets in October, 2017

The National Committee of the Constitution Party will meet at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The keynote speaker for the event will be Vernon Robinson. Robinson is a former United States Air Force Captain, conservative political activist, former candidate for the U.S. Congress, and a former City Council member of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was also the campaign director of the National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee. Robinson has said,
“The domestic enemies of the Republic now constitute the greatest threat to the Republic, possibly the greatest threat in its history.  I believe that the Constitution     Party has never had a greater opportunity to tap into the GOP betrayal of the country.”
The meeting will be on Friday, October 27 and Saturday October 28th at the DoubleTree Pittsburgh International Airport. Registration is $95.00 per person, includes lunch on Friday, the Friday evening banquet meal, and Saturday lunch.   Further details are available at www.constitutionparty.org .
 

Phil Hudok Announces Run for Randolph Co. Sheriff

The Constitution PaPhil Hudok - Candidaterty of W.Va.’s 2016 candidate for Governor, Phil Hudok, has announced that he will run for Randoph Co. Sheriff in the next election.
Phil is a proven champion on Constitutional /Rule of Law issues. He has been involved in successful court battles including numerous cases in the West Virginia Supreme Court and a case in Federal Court. He believes that the sheriff’s duty as the supreme law enforcement officer in the county is to see that the law is upheld, and applied fairly.
Phil has remarked, that the sheriff “takes an oath to uphold the state constitution. The West Virginia Constitution, while not perfect, has some real protections and important principles that must be followed. All law enforcement actions in Randolph County are subject to and under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s Office which serves the people that elect the Randolph County Sheriff. While good government is essential, government is only meant to do what individuals, families, churches, and other non-governmental institutions cannot provide. Proper government is about good stewardship and public safety while protecting private property and individual rights. As Ronald Reagan rightly warned, ‘The nine most dangerous words in the English language are, I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Over the years, Phil has had numerous positions of service and responsibility. He served as officer in the Tygarts Valley Lions Club, Randolph County Education Association, Randolph County Tax Study, and Constitution Party of West Virginia. He was a national presenter of outstanding teaching practices for the Southern Regional Education Board in Nashville, TN and was teacher of the Year of Tygarts Valley Junior/Senior High School. After earning a BA in Physics at West Liberty State College, where he was Student Personnel Manager of ARA Food Service, he obtained a Masters in Educational Computing from Charleston University. Since 1972, Phil has owned and operated Century Photo, a photo/video service and media production company.
Phil says, “Good government is everyone’s responsibility. Do your part, expect and demand good honest representative government. Become informed, encouraged and vote.”
His campaign website is www.hudok.com and Facebook page is “Phillip Hudok”.

Constitution Party of West Virginia Meeting on April 8 in Elkins

Constitution Party of West Virginia will hold it’s next meeting at the Western Steer Family Steakhouse in Elkins on April 8, 2017, Saturday, from 12-5pm. Members and all who are registered to vote as Constitution Party are encouraged to attend. The general public and those interested in learning more about the Party are welcome.
The Western Steer Family Steakhouse is located on the South Side of Elkins on Rt. 219/250 on Beverly Pike.
We hope to see you there.

Resolution in Support of a No-Tax- Increase State Budget

The Constitution Party of West Virginia has approved a resolution in support of a balanced budget with no tax increases.
Whereas, the State of West Virginia has created the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program allowing selected cities to replace all or part of their B &O tax with a sales tax of no more than 1%,
Whereas, this new tax is currently being imposed on consumers in 28 municipalities in W.Va.,
Whereas, the Legislature is currently considering a bill, S.B. 441, to expand the program to all municipalities in W.Va.,
Whereas, H.B. 4009 of 2016, the Letting Our Counties Act Locally Act, permits counties, with the approval of voters, to impose a 1% sales tax for road construction,
Whereas, these recently created sales taxes combined with the current 6% sales tax total a potential tax of 8% in some areas of the State,
Whereas, the Legislature is currently considering S.B. 477 which would dramatically increase DMV fees,
And, whereas, the people of West Virginia are among the poorest of any state in the Nation,
The Constitution Party of West Virginia demands that the Legislature and Governor produce a balanced budget for the next fiscal year that includes no tax increases. We oppose any attempt by subterfuge to increase taxes under the guise of fee increases or any attempt to allow local governments to further increase taxes. Furthermore, we oppose any effort to place the people of West Virginia under debt bondage in order to maintain current spending levels which should be cut to match expected revenues.
The Government of West Virginia should conduct itself in the same way that the citizens of this state are forced to do when confronted with reduced income – cut spending.

Monday Conference Calls!!

CPWVa logo - telephoneThe leadership of the CPWVa now meets on a regular basis in telephone conference calls to discuss our agenda, share information, and plan our various activities.  We ask that all callers please identify themselves and keep their phones muted unless speaking. Only dues-paid members of the CPWVa are permitted to vote or make parliamentary motions, but the discussions are otherwise open to all participants. Guests who would like to be added to the agenda are asked to make such requests early in our meeting when we review our agenda. The call numbers are as follows:

We look forward to “seeing” you!

 

Republicans gain power yet demonstrate known failures

The dramatic election victories of Republican candidates in 2014, which gave them control of the West Virginia Legislature and the first opportunity in a lifetime to show their stuff, resulted in a predictable disappointment with half-measures and compromises as the order of the day. This was no surprise for members of the Constitution Party. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael set the tone by declaring, “We are running an economic agenda.”

The Constitutional Carry bill, S.B. 347, would have allowed gun owners to carry a concealed firearm without having to ask their local sheriff for a permit and paying a “coat tax” fee. While the bill easily passed the Legislature, two GOP House leaders opposed the bill. At the public hearing, held during a snowy day during a declared state of emergency, a cadre of lawless lawmen traveled from around the State to oppose the 2nd Amendment rights of West Virginians. In uniform and armed, they were in violation of Chapter 61, Article 7, Section 11a (g) of the W.Va. Code carrying weapons on Statehouse property – a misdemeanor. No arrests were made however but the Capitol Police were keeping a close eye on supporters of the bill as we entered the House chamber for the hearing. After the hearing, Republican Judiciary Chair John Shott lectured those in the audience that even though supporters had asked for no amendments, amendments were inevitable. Later, House Majority Whip Daryl Cowles, another Republican opponent, offered a killer amendment which failed. Under Mr. Carmichael’s “economic agenda,” this bill was passed late enough into the session to allow the Governor to veto it without fear of any legislative time left for an override.

Also under this same agenda, there was no room for the repeal of Common Core standards which were shoved down the throats of West Virginians by the unelected State Board of Education. The House passed the bill 75-19, but it was gutted in the Senate on an unrecorded 18-16 floor vote and replaced with a bill that calls for a study. State Board of Education Superintendent Michael Martirano threatened the Legislature with a preposterous $128 million cost to repeal the standards, but when the Board passed Common Core several years ago, costs were not an impediment. According to an article in www.truthinamericaneducation.com, six Senate Republicans contributed to the defeat.
And the “economic agenda” struck us again when the practice of forced vaccination of school students was allowed to continue. Health-Nazis succeeded in gutting the Medical and Religious Exemption bill for vaccinations (S.B. 286) in the Senate Health and Human Resources committee. The religious exemption was removed and a provision that is supposed to prevent delays in the approval of medical exemptions retained. GOP Senators Mike Hall, Mike Maynard, and Chris Walters chickened out and dropped their sponsorship of the bill shortly after introduction while the Health-Nazis were having a fit over vaccination exemptions during an out-of-state measles outbreak. Had enough, yet?
On a positive note, the session marked the rise of the Liberty Caucus, a group of delegates who are committed to limited government and Constitutional fidelity Their influence was felt in the defeat of the Forced Pooling bill which was supported by almost all of the rest of the Republicans and so we commend these statesmen for their courage to put principle over politics—the motto of our Party.

BEWARE THE CON-CON!

Keep your eyes and ears open, folks, and your brains in gear! We are hearing more and more about an Article V constitutional convention (Con-Con) with several groups advocating for it, for several different reasons – from balancing the budget, to term limits, to campaign finance reform and limiting “constitutional rights” of corporations. Many of the groups work together, including sharing board members and belonging to a coalition named Call A Convention.
Call A Convention, whose goal is “a truly open and constructive” (i.e. unlimited) Article V convention, was formed in 2013 by Lawrence Lessig, a leftist, a blasphemer and friend and associate of both George Soros and Barack Obama. Lessig is also on the boards of Compact For America (CFA), ConventionUSA, and Rootstrikers and works closely with leftist Wolf-Pac as well as Mark Meckler’s Convention of States (COS). In West Virginia, it is mostly COS that has been wooing our legislators but recently CFA has been actively seeking supporters.
The COS website has a petition that calls for “an Article V convention to propose only amendments that would impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its power and jurisdiction, and impose term limits on its officials and members of Congress.” Such a convention could easily become the “runaway” convention that sensible people fear would either radically alter our Constitution or even replace it with one of the socialist constitutions already written and waiting in the wings.
Compact for America calls for the creation of a compact of 38 states to petition Congress to call an Article V convention for proposing a balanced budget amendment (BBA) only. The application contains all the rules for governing the convention AND a pre-written BBA that would be “pre-ratified” within the initial applications. This appears to be the completely safe answer to all the fears previously expressed by critics.
But, please don’t believe in fairy tales. Not only is this Con-Con vulnerable to becoming a “runaway,” constitutional scholar Publius Huldah warns that it is “actually a tricky device for imposing a national sales tax or value added tax on the American People – on top of the income tax – and does nothing to limit federal spending.” Publius Huldah has also explained that – unlike the states, which require budgets – the federal government is limited by the Constitution to spending only for the few enumerated powers and obligations that it authorizes. A BBA would substitute a “budget” for the enumerated powers and authorize the national government to spend money on whatever it puts in the budget. “To add insult to injury,” Huldah alleges, “while all versions of a BBA pretend to limit spending, they actually permit increases in spending
and increases in debt whenever a majority votes to do so.”

Learn more about this http://ArticleVCon.weebly.com

CPWVa adopts resolution in support of the Confederate flag

On July 23, 2015, by unanimous vote of a quorum of its State Central Committee officers, the CPWVa adopted an important resolution in support of the Confederate flag and historical monuments. The four part resolution resolved to recognize the Confederate flag and other symbols and monuments to American history and heroes, including those of the former Confederate States, as positive symbols of America’s heritage, culture, and reverence. It further resolved that, since there is no Constitutionally protected freedom to not be offended, these symbols and historical monuments be re-installed and protected in their places of honor, and called upon all Americans to unite together in peace and racial harmony. Finally, invoking the charge of the Party’s 2008 presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin from his recent article, the resolution called for the increased display of the Confederate flag as a symbol of resistance to federal and local tyranny to boldly awaken the original independent American spirit. Mr. Baldwin’s article can be found at http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/Articles/tabid/109/ID/3336/The-Confederate-Flag-Needs-To-Be-Raised-Not-Lowered.aspx. As philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” America’s current direction towards a dystopic Orwellian future must be reversed. The adopted resolution was sent back to committee for final work on writing its supporting statements (based on the Baldwin article), and the completed document is expected to be placed on our website before the end of August.

Original Intent Definition of Natural Born Citizen and Presidential Eligibility Resolution Introduced

At its March 26, 2015 weekly Executive Committee meeting, the CPWVa adopted the following important resolution on the original intent definition of a natural born citizen:
Whereas, Article II, Section, 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution states “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or
a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of
President…;” and
Whereas, no person alive today or in the future was a citizen in the year 1788 (at the time of the adoption of
the Constitution), and thus the Constitution makes a clear distinction between a natural born citizen and a
citizen who is not natural born; and
Whereas, Section 1 of the 14th Amendment only defines citizenship in general without making any distinction
between natural or non-natural born; and
Whereas, Article I, Section 8, Clause 10 of the Constitution states “The Congress shall have Power…To define
and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations,” The
Law of Nations being a set of books authored by the Swiss writer Emmerich de Vattel and is thus incorporated
into the framework of the Constitution; and
Whereas, The Law of Nations was originally published (in the French language) in 1758, predating the drafting
of the Constitution by twenty-nine years. This important work was studied by our founders, particularly as
evidenced by George Washington’s two-hundred and twelve year overdue copy from the New York Society
Library (replaced by the Mount Vernon Estate, May 19, 2010), and defines the principles of the law of nature
applied to the conduct and affairs of nations and sovereigns. Its clear reference in the United States
Constitution is proof positive of our Framers’ desire that it be a primary source of understanding; and
Whereas, Book I of The Law of Nations, Chapter XIX, § 212 (Joseph Chitty numbering) – “Citizens and natives”
reads: ‘The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to
its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in
the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by
the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all
their rights. The society is supposed to desire this, in consequence of what it owes to its own preservation; and
it is presumed, as matter of course, that each citizen, on entering into society, reserves to his children the right
of becoming members of it. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become
true citizens merely by their tacit consent. We shall soon see whether, on their coming to the years of
discretion, they may renounce their right, and what they owe to the society in which they were born. I say,
that, in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is
born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country;’ and
Whereas, Vattel’s definition of a natural born citizen makes it clear that he or she is one whose parents were
citizens at the time of birth, and especially whose father was a citizen. § 213 and § 215 of this work reiterate
that “children follow the condition of their fathers;” and
Whereas, U.S. Senate Resolution 511 of April 30, 2008 declared Panamanian-born presidential candidate John
McCain to be a natural born citizen based upon the U.S. citizenship of his father and thus confirms Vattel’s
definition in modern times; and
Whereas, in human genetics, as designed by our Creator, only the male carries the y-chromosome thus
determining the gender of his offspring and exactly matching the natural law of heredity as defined by Vattel; and
Whereas, the Constitution for the United States of America is a legal document, the definitions of all words therein must be held as those that its authors understood at the time of its writing. Only the mechanisms outlined in Article V of that document can be used to legally alter or change its meaning; new dictionaries, opinions of legal scholars, and court decisions notwithstanding; therefore be it
Resolved, that it is the Constitution Party’s position that the original intent definition of natural born citizenship is thus the citizenship of a person’s father, and
Therefore Be It Further Resolved, that to be eligible for the office of United States President, a candidate’s father must have been an American citizen at the time of his or her birth.

Fundraising Goal REACHED!

WE DID IT! THANK YOU!!!

In order for our state party to have a voice at our upcoming national meeting in Pittsburgh later this month, we needed to raise a total of $1000 to meet our state affiliate obligation. We are now $91 IN EXCESS of that task and still have $286 in outstanding pledges pending. To everyone who helped put us OVER THE TOP, Thank you and God Bless!