CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Republican state senator who announced his intent to step down from his position Tuesday says he would be willing to stay while questions about appointing a replacement are sorted out.
“I would want to talk to the NRA about that, my future employer, but yes,” Senator Daniel Hall (R-Wyoming, 9) told Hoppy Kercheval on Wednesday’s “Talkine.”
In his new position, he would become a State Liaison with the NRA, lobbying for the group in multiple states (including West Virginia after a one-year moratorium, which Hall indicated he would request a waiver from the state Ethics Commission for).
The debate is over whether someone from the party he was affiliated with when he was elected should be named or someone from the party he was affiliated with when he would resign.
Elected as a Democrat, Hall broke a 17-17 tie in the Senate by switching parties and giving Republicans leadership control.
He and counsel for the party believe the state code is clear on this issue, as it states in section 3-10-5:
Any vacancy in the office of State Senator or member of the House of Delegates shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, from a list of three legally qualified persons submitted by the party executive committee of the party with which the person holding the office immediately preceding the vacancy was affiliated.
“We researched this for quite some time before we made the announcement yesterday and there has been no resignation, all there’s been so far is the press release with intent,” Hall said. “We feel very confident that that first paragraph and the code about party affiliation and the subsequent paragraphs are about location or residency of the replacement.”
There is opposition, led by the state’s Democratic Party, to that interpretation saying it is a disservice to those who originally put Hall into office.
“The purpose of the statute is not to replace the person with someone like the person is when they leave, it’s to respect the will of the voters,” said Anthony Majestro, Charleston attorney and registered Democrat. “The voters in that senatorial distict elected a Democrat to that office.
He said on “Talkline” that there is some ambiguity further down in 3-10-5 within subsection c that deals with the list of replacement candidates submitted by the leaving individual’s local party:
In the case of a State Senator, the list shall be submitted by the party executive committee of the state senatorial district in which the vacating senator resided at the time of his or her election or appointment.
The words “at the time of his or her election or appoint” are what Majestro said leads him and other to give pause.
He also argued that the intent of the statute should be looked at in this unique scenario, rather than just the wording.
To explain his point, he presented a hypothetical in which someone was elected, switched parties and then resigned the next day.
“Under the Republicans’ interpretation, the governor would be forced to appoint somebody who never could have gotten elected to that seat to sever the full term and that can’t be what that statute means.”
While entertaining that idea, Republican counter that in Hall’s case, the voters would still be serviced with a Republican replacement.
“Senator Hall in his change of party noted that the district he represents, the will of the voters in that district has changed substantially,” said Richie Heath, counsel for the Republican leadership in the Senate. “As such, that’s why he switched parties.”
As for Majestro’s argument of ambiguity, Heath believes other portions of the code are being left out, specifically with respect to the governor’s duties.
“If the party executive committee doesn’t submit a list to the governor, the governor shall appoint within five days thereafter a legally qualified person of the same political party as the person vacating the officer. There are no qualifiers on that language.”
Hall said that this would all be a moot point if he stays in the Senate –which he said he is willing to do– as there will be no vacancy to argue over.
He did want to get an opinion on the ruling from the governor’s office to put the matter to bed.
However, that opinion may not be coming anytime soon based on a statement released Wednesday by Chris Stadelman, Gov. Tomblin’s Director of Communications.
“Until there is a vacancy, the governor has no role in any decision with regard to the appointment process,”
The Regular Legislative Session begins January 13th.