CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Democrat challenging state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in the November general election sees a couple of differences between himself and the Republican incumbent who’s seeking a second term.
“If you look at my experience, I’m a businessman who’s created jobs throughout West Virginia. He (Morrisey) is a lifelong lobbyist before he was attorney general, I think that’s one,” Delegate Doug Reynolds (D-Cabell, 17) said.
“Second is my commitment to fighting this drug problem. I’ve been a prosecutor. I’ve pushed legislation dealing with that. That’s clearly not been a priority of his (Morrisey’s) during the last four years.”
A business owner and West Virginia native, Reynolds was a guest on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline” as part of a series of interviews with the statewide political candidates that will continue through Election Day on Nov. 8.
Reynolds, CEO of Huntington-based Energy Services of America, has served in the Legislature as a delegate representing parts of Cabell County and Wayne County since first being elected in 2006.
He also is managing partner for HD Media, the holding company of the Huntington Herald-Dispatch and Wayne County News, according to his campaign biography.
Previously, Reynolds ran his own law firm and served as an assistant prosecuting attorney.
If elected attorney general, Reynolds pledged to more vigorously pursue legal action against pharmaceutical companies in connection with the opioid epidemic. Under Morrisey, he claimed, too many cases have been left to languish.
On another issue, Morrisey has lead West Virginia’s involvement in court challenges to a federal directive dealing with the school restroom and locker room usage of transgender students.
With that directive, schools are being instructed to allow transgender students access to facilities that correspond with their gender identity, not their birth gender.
“We don’t need to go across the country to find litigation,” Reynolds said. “I think our local school systems should regulate the bathrooms. It shouldn’t be a federal issue.”
Morrisey has vowed to defend local school systems in court if the federal government takes steps to pull funding because of policies that are in opposition to the directive and, Reynolds said on “Talkline,” he would do the same, if necessary.
“If that happened, if the federal government was trying to step on our local boards, I would intervene on their behalf,” Reynolds pledged.
Morrisey was first elected AG in 2012 after beating incumbent Attorney General Darrell McGraw who’d served since 1992. He’s the first Republican AG in West Virginia since 1933.
In addition to Morrisey and Reynolds, Karl Kolenich is running for attorney general as a Libertarian, according to filings with the Secretary of State’s Office.