Members of the West Virgina Public Worker’s Union, UE Local 170, made a preemptive move to prevent the outsourcing of jobs at the West Virginia Office of Technology by filing action in the state courts. The union filed a writ of mandamus in Kanawha County Circuit Court today asking the judicial body to stay any [...]

West Virginia Watchdog will have live real-time coverage of the election results from today’s special election to fill the unexpired term of the late Sen. Robert Byrd starting at 7:30 p.m. Check back to this link, or be sure to follow our updates on our Facebook page and our Twitter account.

Here are a few of my thoughts, along with links to interesting articles, on Saturday’s special primary election and the race for two years remaining on the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd‘s term. Why “Apprehension and Disgust?” Because “Fear and Loathing” was already taken by another writer. The race is starting to shape up, with [...]

A few weeks ago West Virginia Watchdog sent each candidate running in the Aug. 28 primary for U.S. Senate  a questionnaire by email. The questionnaire focused on four key policy areas: health care reform, Afghanistan, the economy, and environment/coal. Eight out of 14 candidates responded, including Democrat Sheirl Fletcher and Republicans Mac Warner, Harry C. [...]

The Reason Foundation recently published a report criticizing the federal government for taking monies from the Highway Trust Fund and using them for non-highway related issues. The report, titled “Restoring Trust in the Highway Trust Fund,” details the history and the original purpose of the Highway Trust Fund. Despite starting off as a users-pay/users-benefit fee, [...]

From the Mercatus Center: The above chart by Mercatus Center Research Fellow Matt Mitchell uses data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to analyze the evolution of state, local, and private spending since 1950. Shown above is the spending level for each year from 1950 to 2009, represented as an index using base year 1950. [...]

The office of Gov. Joe Manchin admitted late Friday that federal investigators had subpoenaed two state government agencies this week. The Charleston Gazette reported that the Department of Administration and the Division of Highways were subpoenaed earlier this week in regards to a federal grand jury investigation. Reporter Alison Knezevich has more details: Charleston lawyer [...]

Gov. Joe Manchin‘s office confirmed today that state government officials have been contacted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office this week regarding an ongoing investigation. The target may be Manchin himself, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous. According to Manchin Spokesman Melvin Smith, federal authorities contacted state officials for information regarding an ongoing [...]

Republican John Raese may be able to self-fund his campaign for the vacant U.S. Senate seat, but data shows that Gov. Joe Manchin has no trouble raising large sums of money. The National Institute on Money in State Politics have put together a report on political donations to Manchin from 2000 to 2008. During that [...]

According to a recent report by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a West Virginia project receiving funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ranks No. 88 on a list of 100 wasteful stimulus projects. The report, titled “Summertime Blues: 100 Stimulus Projects that Give Taxpayers the Blues,” lists a $650,000 Army [...]