West Virginia Policy and Campaign Finance Research Podcast

Carrie Clendening

West Virginia Policy and Campaign Finance Research. This Substack publication is dedicated to tracking the flow of political money into West Virginia’s elections and policy-making process. carrieclendening.substack.com

  1. 2d ago

    How Patrick Morrisey Built a Political Network Around Access, Pressure, and Power

    At first glance, the political groups surrounding West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey do not seem like natural allies. Americans for Prosperity is tied to the Koch/Stand Together network and promotes lower taxes, deregulation, and privatization-minded policy. Club for Growth and its School Freedom Fund are backed by wealthy conservative donors, including Jeff Yass and Richard Uihlein, and are known for enforcing school-choice politics in Republican primaries. The Informed Consent Action Network, or ICAN, comes from the “medical freedom” movement and is closely associated with legal fights over vaccine policy. Then there are the other parts of Morrisey’s political history: the Republican Attorneys General Association, pharmaceutical-industry donors, Washington lobbyists, super PACs, campaign consultants, and high-dollar donor retreats. These groups do not agree on everything. In some cases, they strongly disagree. But they all have a reason to want access to the governor. That is the key to understanding Morrisey’s political operation. This is not evidence that every group is secretly coordinating with every other group. The public record does not prove that. Instead, it shows something more complicated: different political networks can support the same governor for different reasons, using different methods to reach the same center of power. Some use campaign money. Others use lawsuits, lobbying, voter outreach, independent spending, or private fundraising events. Together, they form a system that gives powerful interests several different ways to influence state government. A Network Built Around Access It is tempting to describe this simply as a “dark money” story. Dark money usually means political spending by groups that do not fully reveal where their money comes from. But “dark money” does not explain the full picture. The more useful phrase is political arbitrage: building a system where groups that do not agree with each other can still invest in the same politician because each group believes it can get something useful in return. For Americans for Prosperity, that may mean tax cuts, deregulation, and expansion of the Hope Scholarship program. For Club for Growth, it may mean a governor who supports school choice and is willing to help reshape the Republican Party through primary elections. For “medical freedom” activists, it may mean a governor willing to challenge school vaccine rules and use the power of his office to support religious exemptions. For corporate donors and lobbying interests, it may mean access to an administration led by someone who understands the world of national political fundraising, attorney-general associations, and Washington influence. These groups are not one team. They do not need to be. They only need to see Governor Morrisey as someone who can deliver something they value. The Policy Infrastructure: AFP Americans for Prosperity–West Virginia is part of the national Americans for Prosperity and Stand Together network associated with Charles Koch. AFP is more than a campaign group. It brings staff, voter data, polling, door-knocking, policy research, mailers, digital ads, endorsements, and pressure campaigns. In West Virginia, AFP endorsed Morrisey in July 2023 and credited him with helping deliver income-tax cuts and expansion of the Hope Scholarship program. That kind of organization can shape politics before an election even begins. A campaign may last a few months. A permanent political organization can operate all year. It can collect voter information, build relationships with activists, train volunteers, contact lawmakers, and push for specific bills in the Legislature. AFP’s agenda in West Virginia includes expanding school choice, reducing or eliminating the state income tax, and repealing certificate-of-need laws that regulate the expansion of health-care services. These policies are often presented as separate issues. But together they form a broader vision of government: lower taxes, fewer regulations, less public control, and more private-market alternatives. Club for Growth and the School-Choice Machine Club for Growth is a separate national conservative donor network. It shares some of AFP’s goals, especially on taxes, regulation, and school choice. But it has a different donor base, different political style, and a history of fighting with other Republican-aligned groups. Its specialty is primary elections. Club for Growth is willing to spend heavily against Republican incumbents it considers too moderate, too cautious, or insufficiently committed to its economic agenda. That makes it different from business groups that often prefer stable relationships with sitting lawmakers. In the 2024 governor’s race, Club for Growth and allied groups promised more than $10 million to elect Morrisey. Club for Growth Action ultimately spent about $13.1 million—its largest investment ever in a governor’s race. It also transferred at least $3.2 million to Black Bear PAC, a pro-Morrisey political committee. By 2026, the school-choice issue had become a way to enforce loyalty inside the Republican Party. The Club for Growth-affiliated School Freedom Fund helped back candidates in Republican legislative primaries. Many of those candidates supported expanding the Hope Scholarship or opposed efforts to place tighter limits on it. Several sitting Republican lawmakers lost their primaries after outside groups targeted them. This matters because, in much of West Virginia, the Republican primary is the real election. In heavily Republican districts, winning the GOP nomination can be more important than winning in November. That gives outside groups enormous leverage. A legislator does not have to lose an election to feel the pressure. The threat of a well-funded challenger can affect how that legislator votes, what bills they support, and whether they are willing to question the governor’s agenda. The Beverly, Massachusetts Hub The clearest evidence of overlap in Morrisey’s political world comes from paperwork. Several committees tied to Morrisey or his allies use the same address in Beverly, Massachusetts. Bradley Crate, a major Republican campaign treasurer, runs Red Curve Solutions from that address. Records show Crate listed as treasurer for Morrisey’s official campaign corporation, Morrisey 2024, Inc., and for Blue and Gold PAC. Crate also serves as treasurer or compliance official for major Trump political committees. Charles Gantt, another well-known political treasurer, works from the same building through Bulldog Compliance. Records identify Gantt as treasurer for Sugar Maple PAC, Black Bear PAC, West Virginia Prosperity Group, and earlier political committees that supported Morrisey. Gantt has also served as treasurer for major Trump-aligned PACs. This does not prove illegal coordination. Campaigns, PACs, and nonprofits are allowed to hire the same accountants, lawyers, treasurers, vendors, and compliance firms. Shared professionals do not automatically mean two groups are secretly directing each other. But shared infrastructure is still meaningful. The same small set of professionals can create committees, manage reports, keep records, select vendors, process donations, and move political money through several organizations. To voters, the groups may look separate because each has its own name and logo. Behind the scenes, they may rely on the same few people and offices. That is why the people who sign the paperwork can matter as much as the people who appear in television ads. The PACs that Police Republicans Some of Morrisey’s strongest political allies are not aimed at defeating Democrats. They are aimed at defeating other Republicans. Sugar Maple PAC is one of the most important examples. Chaired by former Delegate Geoff Foster and managed by Charles Gantt, the PAC has raised most of its money from outside West Virginia. It spent heavily in 2026 Republican primaries, including races involving sitting lawmakers. Its purpose is not simply to help Republicans win general elections. It is to help a particular kind of Republican win primaries. The same is true of Make Liberty Win, the federal super PAC connected to Young Americans for Liberty, and of the State Freedom Caucus Network. These groups focus on pushing the Republican Party further right and punishing lawmakers they view as insufficiently conservative. This is one reason politics in West Virginia has become harder to understand through the old “Republicans versus Democrats” frame. The most important struggle is often inside the Republican Party. It is a fight between Republicans who want to preserve legislative independence and Republicans who want a more disciplined party—one that follows a governor’s agenda, a school-choice agenda, or a national conservative movement’s agenda. When a group can spend six figures or more in a low-turnout primary, it can change the balance of power in the Legislature. The Freedom Caucus Lane The West Virginia Freedom Caucus name has been used by more than one group. A newer version of the caucus was relaunched in 2026 as part of the national State Freedom Caucus Network. That national network was created by the Conservative Partnership Institute, a Trump-aligned organization founded by former Senator Jim DeMint. Its network includes prominent figures such as former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorney Cleta Mitchell. The State Freedom Caucus Network exists to organize lawmakers who want to move state legislatures farther right. Its focus includes party discipline, election rules, school choice, government spending, cultural issues, and fighting Republican leaders it sees as too moderate. The national organization has ties to Club for Growth through personnel and political history. Andy Roth, who has led the State Freedom Caucus Network, previously ran the Club for Growth Foundation. In West Virginia, the

  2. 4d ago

    Thank You, Jimmy Keady: The Memo Explaining How West Virginia’s Senate Became a Political Extraction Machine

    There is a particular kind of political operator who believes the louder he announces victory, the less closely anyone will inspect the invoice. He believes the final tally erases the method. He believes that if he says “mandate” often enough, people will forget the money, the targeting, the consultants, the mailers, the PACs, the nonprofit conduits, the resource-denial strategy, and the carefully managed campaign infrastructure. When there is nothing left to stand on except the story you tell yourself about your own brilliance, you tend to tell on yourself. Not the sanitized version. Not the part designed for a press conference. Not the “we are all one big happy conservative family” version recited beneath the Capitol dome while somebody hands out lapel pins and chicken salad. The real version. The version that explains how power is accumulated, protected, and used against anyone inside the institution who might resist it. That is what Jimmy Keady gave us. He wrote a memo celebrating primary-night victories. He sent it to lobbyists, senators, and what he called “Charleston stakeholders.” He named Senate President Randy Smith. He named Senators Brian Helton and Patrick Martin. He named Tom Takubo. He named the challengers. He described outside groups, fundraising, caucus resources, campaign infrastructure, a media strategy, and an effort to consume an opponent’s resources before the next legislative session even begins. And in the process, he filled a gap in paperwork I had already spent months collecting. So thank you, Jimmy. I mean that sincerely. I am the nerd who collects the paperwork. The campaign-finance reports. The mailers. The independent-expenditure disclosures. The consultant payments. The media buys. The vendor records. The PAC filings. The nonprofit filings. The timelines. The disclaimers. The patterns. I pay attention to who gets targeted, who gets defended, who suddenly receives a blizzard of expensive political mail, and who benefits when supposedly separate organizations happen to show up with the same messages, the same vendors, the same consultants, and the same political enemies. I also pay attention when political operatives brag about their work. That is not glamorous work. It is tedious. It requires pulling filings, comparing dates, tracking expenditures, identifying recurring names, and resisting the temptation to assume that every suspicious pattern is proof of a single coordinated plan. The financial network is usually there. It is rarely hidden especially well. More often, it is fragmented. One entity pays for the mail. Another buys the ads. Another funds “issue advocacy.” Another hires the consultant. Another runs compliance. Another sends the press release. Then everybody points to a different disclaimer and asks why anyone would think these entities might have anything to do with one another. Money alone leaves room for the usual denials. Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe the PACs were independent. Maybe the candidates, donors, consultants, media vendors, and messaging all aligned at the same time because of pure political weather. Maybe the people spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect particular legislators and punish others had no common purpose except a touching, spontaneous affection for democracy. That is the advantage of a fragmented political operation. The pieces can be visible without anyone admitting to the whole picture. And proving intent is hard. It should be hard. Accusing people of coordinating political activity, manipulating campaigns, or abusing the machinery of public office should require more than a hunch. It should require records, context, corroboration, and an honest account of what the evidence does—and does not—show. But when the consultant responsible for celebrating the operation writes down the strategy in his own words, the calculation changes. Then Jimmy Keady wrote the memo. In a May 20, 2026, memo titled “10-1 Randy Smith’s Decisive Victory Last Tuesday,” Keady described what happened after Randy Smith became Senate President. According to Keady, Smith had “no infrastructure in place to defend his team,” so “everything had to be created from scratch.” Created from scratch. That is a remarkable phrase for a consultant to use in a message directed to lobbyists, senators, and “Charleston stakeholders.” Keady wrote that Smith spent months “cultivating outside groups and raising money.” He wrote that caucus “resources and time” were used to “professionalize incumbent campaigns” through a “media-forward, TV-focused approach.” He credited Smith and his leadership team with building “a new, leaner, meaner, and much more effective caucus operation.” Build infrastructure. Cultivate outside groups. Raise money. Use caucus resources. Professionalize campaigns. Protect incumbents. Neutralize challengers. That is not governing language. That is campaign-operations language. The public was told it was watching independent groups, independent expenditures, grassroots conservative activism, distinct campaign operations, and ordinary primary politics. Keady’s memo describes something more integrated. Legally independent.Operationally acquainted.Financially well introduced. The memo becomes more revealing when Keady discusses Tom Takubo. Keady wrote that the only challenger race in which outside groups participated was Takubo’s. He claimed that occurred only after Takubo recruited challengers against other incumbent senators. But the justification is less important than the stated objective. “Our primary objective was to tie up Takubo’s resources on himself rather than his allied candidates.” That is not a message about voters, ideas, or public policy. It is an admission of political resource denial. Keady wrote that the effort was “always a long shot.” In other words, the goal was not necessarily to defeat Takubo outright. The goal was to make him spend money, time, attention, and political capital defending himself rather than helping candidates aligned with him. He then described the operation as exploiting what he believed was a particular vulnerability: Greg Thomas’ sensitivity to a possible loss in the 17th District. Keady called it a “head fake strategy” that “worked masterfully.” That phrase matters because it says what the operation thought it was doing. Not merely campaigning. Not merely making a case to voters. Managing the battlefield. Manufacturing pressure. Draining an opponent’s resources. Weakening his allies. Consolidating leadership power before the Senate convenes again. Keady wrote that the Senate President race “ended on Tuesday.” That may be consultant bravado. Consultants are often paid to make the next outcome sound inevitable. But the bragging matters because it records the operation’s stated intent: use a primary election to lock in institutional power before senators return to the Capitol. The money told me who was connected. The mailers showed me who was targeted. The expenditure reports showed me how much they were willing to spend. Jimmy Keady told me why. His memo does not answer every legal question. It does not, by itself, establish every fact someone might need to prove under campaign-finance law. It does not need to. The memo matters because it describes a political purpose in the consultant’s own words: * Build an infrastructure to defend a leadership team. * Cultivate outside groups. * Raise money. * Use caucus resources and time to strengthen favored incumbents’ campaigns. * Target a leadership rival. * Tie up that rival’s resources. * Prevent those resources from reaching allied candidates. * Use the outcome to make the Senate President’s position effectively untouchable. That is the value of a written victory lap. It turns a scattered paper trail into a statement of purpose. The financial network can always be described as coincidence. It can be broken into PACs, nonprofits, LLCs, campaign committees, consultants, ad buyers, polling firms, mail vendors, media firms, and boilerplate disclaimers. Intent is harder to launder. Jimmy Keady’s arrogance is not the whole story. It is part of it. A political operative confident enough to put this strategy in writing—while boasting to lobbyists and senators about its success—has a level of contempt for public scrutiny that should concern anyone who cares about representative government. But consultants do not hold office. They do not cast legislative votes. They do not control committee agendas. They do not decide which bills live or die. They do not appoint leadership teams. They do not claim to represent the public. Elected officials do. The officials who knowingly benefit from this kind of machinery are not innocent bystanders. If they accept its protection, use its resources, rely on its outside-money alliances, and retain power through a system designed to isolate dissenters and make internal competition prohibitively expensive, then they own a share of the responsibility. They cannot hide behind the consultant. They cannot praise the results while pretending the method belongs to someone else. They cannot benefit from a strategy built to punish dissent, protect loyalists, and consolidate power, then act surprised when the public notices that the Senate increasingly operates less like a deliberative body and more like a private political club with a fundraising arm. That is where the democratic damage occurs. A legislature is supposed to be a place where elected representatives can argue, negotiate, deliberate, amend, disagree, and answer to voters. It becomes something else when political survival depends on staying in the good graces of an internal leadership operation backed by outside groups, coordinated messaging, targeted mail, consultant strategy, and the credible threat that any dissenter can be made too expensive to defend. That is not healthy party di

  3. 5d ago

    Governor Morrisey’s Inaugural Leftovers Are Funding His Own Thank-You Mail

    Governor Patrick Morrisey’s inauguration committee threw the party, the leftover cash bought the megaphone, and now the megaphone is asking you to call the governor’s office and congratulate him for work done by Jim Justice, the Legislature, taxpayers, and private companies. That is not a metaphor stretched for comic effect. It is the paper trail. The West Virginia Wins Inaugural Committee’s IRS filing says it raised money to support Patrick Morrisey’s 2025 inauguration. When the committee closed out, it reported distributing $500,000 to the West Virginia Prosperity Group — the organization named in the fine print at the bottom of this mailer. American Prosperity Group’s filing adds another stretch of pipe: $125,000 to West Virginia Prosperity Group and $65,000 to Black Bear PAC, the super PAC that supported Morrisey. The groups do not all have to be the same legal entity for the structure to matter. The same people, addresses, consultants, compliance shops, nonprofits, and PACs keep appearing across the same political ecosystem. That is the beauty of modern political plumbing. Money can leave an inaugural committee, pass through nonprofit organizations, arrive at PACs or advertising operations and still emerge from your mailbox wearing a little disclaimer that says, “Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.” (Oh look, it’s DJ Eckert and Trevor Vessels, owners of Matchstick Media, and Scott Will and Charlie Bailey from SW2 Political. How Ironic!) Legally independent. Socially acquainted. Financially well introduced. Keep that org chart in your back pocket. We’re going to need it again before this is over. Now, the actual claims. The mailer has a small thread of truth running through it. So does a counterfeit hundred dollar bill. “Tackling the cost of living.” West Virginia’s residential electricity rates rose 73% between 2015 and 2025. We had the lowest electric rates in the country in 2005. Now 26 states beat us. More than a third of West Virginia households spend over 6% of their income just keeping the lights on. Some families pay more for electricity than for their mortgage. Some of that bill got run up specifically because Morrisey, as attorney general, participated in proceedings surrounding a 2021 Public Service Commission order sticking West Virginia ratepayers with roughly $448 million to upgrade three aging coal plants and keep them running. Kentucky and Virginia regulators examined substantially the same investments and declined to leave their customers paying beyond 2028. AEP’s own evidence indicated that retiring the Mitchell plant instead could save customers $27 million annually. And this February, Morrisey himself said West Virginia families face “higher grocery prices, higher energy costs, and a higher cost of living.” He offered that as the justification for a tax cut. The mailer now presents the same problem as an accomplishment. Pick a lane. “Delivering a 5% income tax cut.” True — but Morrisey asked the Legislature for 10%, and lawmakers gave him half after his revenue assumptions proved less persuasive than he hoped. The House Finance Committee initially proposed no income-tax cut at all. The final 5% was a legislative compromise, because someone had to be the adults in the room. For roughly 80% of West Virginians, the savings amount to somewhere between $4 and $144.50 a year. The top 1% receives around $2,300. That is not “more money in your pocket.” That is a lottery scratch-off ticket. More important, Morrisey arrived after the train had already left the station. Under Jim Justice, lawmakers enacted the major 21.25% personal income-tax reduction in 2023, followed by another 2% reduction and a 4% automatic-trigger cut. Morrisey added 5% to a framework built under the previous governor. He put another car on the train. He did not survey the route, lay the tracks, build the locomotive, or invent steam. “Securing over $13 billion in private-sector investment.” This number has been $4.5 billion, then $6.5 billion, then $10.5 billion, then $12.8 billion, then $15 billion — all within about nine months. At that rate, give it until Labor Day and West Virginia will have more investment than Switzerland. The state’s own website describes the broader figure as “combined public and private investment.” The mailer simply drops the word “combined,” apparently hoping nobody will notice the public money falling out of the sentence. A real chunk of the total also predates Morrisey’s governorship. The Nucor sheet mill was announced by Governor Jim Justice in January 2022. Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s microgrid land deal also originated during the Justice administration. And much of the newer tally consists of announced projects, memoranda, preliminary agreements, and capital promised “at full buildout.” Several large data-center projects have not been completed; some have not broken ground or received final certification. An announcement is not a factory. A rendering is not a payroll. And a governor posing beside someone else’s construction plans is not the same as creating the jobs. “$125 million for local road and bridge repairs.” Also real. Also appropriated by the Legislature through the state budget. Morrisey himself thanked lawmakers for including it. An essentially identical $125 million surplus transfer appeared in the previous budget. This is not Moses striking the rock. It is a recurring budget practice. The mailer also skips the billions West Virginia is receiving in federal highway and bridge funding, because “the governor signed a state appropriation alongside a much larger federal funding stream” takes up more space than “Patrick fixed your road.” Taxpayers furnished the money. Legislators appropriated it. The Division of Highways spends it. Morrisey held the pen. Apparently the pen gets the billboard. “Fully funding the Hope Scholarship … true freedom in their children’s education.” The universal expansion of Hope was written into law in 2021 under Jim Justice. It was designed to expand automatically once public-school enrollment crossed a statutory threshold. That happened before Morrisey ever built a budget. Morrisey did support full funding and oppose a legislative attempt to cap the benefit. He deserves credit for that. But defending a program created by somebody else is not the same as creating it. And the Treasurer’s office has acknowledged that 85% to 90% of recipients likely would have used private school or homeschooling without the scholarship. You cannot hand someone “freedom” they already had. You can hand them a public subsidy for a choice they had already made. That may be the policy lawmakers want. Fine. But “taxpayer reimbursement for an existing private choice” lacks the cinematic sweep of “true freedom,” so naturally it did not make the mailer. “A 3% pay raise.” Real — and it passed the Legislature 95–0 in the House and 34–0 in the Senate. Unanimous. Nobody had to twist an arm. Nobody had to trade a highway for three votes and a committee chairmanship. The bill went through with all the dramatic suspense of naming the pepperoni roll the official state snack. The average bump is roughly $1,500 to $1,800 for teachers and some state employees, and around $900 for school service personnel. During the same period, PEIA premiums rose 3%, inflation exceeded the raise, and West Virginia teacher pay remained 47th nationally. The Legislature passed it. Morrisey signed it. Both facts can fit in the same sentence, although this mailer appears to have run out of room after printing his name six feet tall. The borrowed-accomplishment checklist: Notice the pattern? * A tax-cut movement and statutory framework already underway before Morrisey arrived. * A Hope Scholarship created and scheduled for expansion under Justice-era law. * A recurring road-fund transfer appropriated by lawmakers. * A teacher raise passed unanimously by the Legislature. * Private investments partly inherited from the previous administration. * Future projects counted before all the buildings, spending, and permanent jobs exist. This is a mailer about a man riding a train somebody else built, waving out the caboose window like he is driving. Morrisey did sign bills. He did advocate for priorities. He did support some of these appropriations. Governors are supposed to participate in governing, and he should receive credit for his actual role. But “participated in” does not fit comfortably beneath a heroic portrait. “Signed legislation passed unanimously by 129 lawmakers” lacks zip. “Continued a program enacted by my predecessor” would make the type too small. So the mailer performs a little political taxidermy. It takes legislative action, inherited policy, taxpayer money, federal funding, and corporate announcements; stuffs them; mounts them; and hangs them over Morrisey’s fireplace. Honestly, given how much of the checklist was signed, sealed, or set in motion during the previous administration, I would argue the mailer has supplied the wrong thank-you line. If you truly want to call somebody and say thanks, Jim Justice’s Charleston Senate office is (304) 342-5855. Tell him you appreciate the tax-cut framework, the Hope Scholarship, and the economic-development projects announced on his watch. He did a substantial share of the paperwork. Patrick did the postage. And while you have the phone warm, Treasurer Larry Pack’s office is (304) 558-5000. Pack served as Justice’s Revenue Secretary and senior adviser from 2022 through 2024, and he now chairs the Hope Scholarship Board. He was inside the Justice administration while the tax and education policies Morrisey now touts were being implemented. Tell him thanks, too. Somebody should. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit car

  4. 6d ago

    Interview w/ Jared Page, Candidate for Kanawha County Commission

    Official Campaign Website Facebook Page This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carrieclendening.substack.com

  5. Aug 9

    Flock Camera Interim Committee Hearing

    Interviews Members of the Joint Committee on Government Organization Senate Members Senator Morris-ChairSenator BarrettSenator CharnockSenator HamiltonSenator HeltonSenator JeffriesSenator Maynard, M.Senator Maynard, Z.Senator PhillipsSenator RoseSenator RuckerSenator ThorneSenator WoelfelSenator Woodrum House Members Delegate Phillips-ChairDelegate Smith, D.-Vice ChairDelegate AdkinsDelegate BrooksDelegate BrowningDelegate BurkhammerDelegate Cannon, J.Delegate Clark, W.Delegate ClayDelegate DeanDelegate FerrellDelegate FogginDelegate HottDelegate Howell, T.Delegate KyleDelegate LeavittDelegate LewisDelegate LucasDelegate McCormickDelegate PinsonDelegate SheedyDelegate Smith, B.Delegate StreetDelegate Young Thanks for reading West Virginia Policy and Campaign Finance Research! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carrieclendening.substack.com

    Flock Camera Interim Committee Hearing

  6. Aug 4

    You are focused on the Wrong Thing

    Team Morrisey Campaign Accounts Federal Account: https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00711929/ State Account: https://cfrs.wvsos.gov/public/committeeProfile?registrantID=1020002131 Joint Fund Participant(s) 1. BLUE AND GOLD FUND: https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00710889/ Committee Id: C007108892. BLUE AND GOLD PAC (this is the state account): https://cfrs.wvsos.gov/public/committeeProfile?registrantID=1020003641 Committee Id: C000000003. BLACK BEAR PAC, INC: https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00708644/ ; https://cfrs.wvsos.gov/public/committeeProfile?registrantID=1040002474 Committee Id: C00708644 Statement of Organization: https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/505/202603239856783505/202603239856783505.pdf Filings: https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00711929/?tab=filings Who is George Shalhoub? I told you here: “*Something I found interesting: September 29, 2025 through July 17, 2026, Denise Henry Morrisey’s company Saluber Strategies was listed as a direct client of Capitol Counsel on behalf of MAD Global Strategy. George Shalhoub is the Vice President at MAD Global Strategy and her daughter Julia’s husband.*” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carrieclendening.substack.com

  7. Aug 1

    Interview w/ Marc Harman. Senate District 14. How to fill the leadership void.

    Coal Association Fundraiser Mountaineer Conservative Attack Mailers Senate District 14 Election Results https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/WV/126209/web.345435/#/detail/1800 Mountaineer Conservative Campaign Finance Records https://cfrs.wvsos.gov/public/committeeProfile?registrantID=1040003956 Thanks for reading West Virginia Policy and Campaign Finance Research! This post is public so feel free to share it. Relevant Articles This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carrieclendening.substack.com

  8. Jul 30

    The Truth about the 340b Drug Pricing Program

    JANUARY 12, 2024: Senate Bill 325 is Introduced LEAD SPONSOR: Takubo (up for reelection in 2026) CO-SPONSORS: Plymale, Woodrum, Woelfel, Weld, Hamilton, Deeds (up for reelection in 2026) SENATE COMMITTEE REFERENCE 1: Committee on Health and Human Resources SENATE COMMITTEE REFERENCE 2: Committee on the Judiciary SUMMARY TITLE: Relating to distribution of drugs to safety net providers and contract pharmacies Introduced Version - html | pdf | docx January 23, 2024, Senate Health and Human Resources Committee Holds Hearing on Senate Bill 325 * 2024 Senate Health and Human Resources Committee Members: Mike Maroney (Chair), Tom Takubo (Vice Chair), Mike Azinger, Laura Wakim-Chapman, Vince Deeds, Amy Grady, Bill Hamilton, Mark Hunt, Glenn Jeffries, Bob Plymale, Rollan Roberts, Patricia Rucker, Eric Tarr, Ryan Weld * Senate Health and Human Resources Committee Substitute Version - html | pdf | docx February 1, 2024, Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing 2024 Senate Judiciary Committee Members: Charles Trump (Chair), Ryan Weld (Vice Chair), Azinger, Caputo, Chapman, Deeds, Hamilton, Hunt, Martin, Maynard, Rucker, Stover, Stuart, Taylor, Woelfel Senate Judiciary Committee Substitute for the Senate Health Committee Substitute Version - html | pdf | docx Video Video of February 1, 2024, Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing February 7, 2024: Senate Floor Vote on passage of Senate Bill 325 Senate Roll Call Vote House of Delegates Activity House of Delegates Passage Roll Call Vote House of Delegates Effective Date Roll Call Vote Communications from Special Interests Group CCAGW Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Stand For Us PAC * Katie Miller’s Memo * Stand For Us PAC State Political Action Committee Account * Stand for Us PAC Federal Super PAC Account In-State Lobbyist Full Directory Federal Lobbyist It is important to note that First Lady Denise Henry Morrisey owned stake in Capitol Counsel LLC at the time of this activity. *Something I found interesting: September 29, 2025 through July 17, 2026, Denise Henry Morrisey’s company Saluber Strategies was listed as a direct client of Capitol Counsel on behalf of MAD Global Strategy. George Shalhoub is the Vice President at MAD Global Strategy and her daughter Julia’s husband.* Capitol Counsel LLC https://lobbyingdisclosure.house.gov/lookup.asp?reg_id=39384 340B lobbying activity for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA): 393840047. TOTAL $2,040,000.00 * $80,000: 2019 Q4 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/06ef66c4-df57-4f5f-a559-b9a935facd85/print/ * $80,000: 2020 Q1 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/f17cdcd0-1f7c-4052-8e49-6c28f01fbd55/print/ * $80,000: 2020 Q2 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/4e83e58f-afb4-42d7-b467-3640b7ff4709/print/ * $80,000: 2020 Q3 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/6d16f3c1-eead-4c58-ae0a-5ad4c2d10272/print/ * $300,000: 2020 Q4 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/fe8f39da-37b5-42a8-97f8-e8dec844484e/print/ * $140,000: 2021 Q1 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/684e93e1-44d2-4249-bd8f-3960ede658d2/print/ * $80,000: 2021 Q2 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/1eb7427f-ab13-4e49-a5db-871cb275fbc7/print/ * $80,000: 2021 Q3 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/997ff8e4-c207-491a-aec4-34e3262716d5/print/ * $80,000: 2021 Q4 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/214f9ede-4178-489b-a6c5-aa9cfe16a5db/print/ * $80,000: 2022 Q1 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/4e83e58f-afb4-42d7-b467-3640b7ff4709/print/ * $80,000: 2022 Q2 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/80920e0d-8cee-48a2-8c00-5162fd160251/print/ * $80,000: 2022 Q3 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/764488fd-7381-487d-89a5-14224cb5101f/print/ * $80,000: 2022 Q4 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/c5af1e2a-e903-40b3-bd83-37780c4e8558/print/ * $80,000: 2023 Q1 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/40eef4f1-2a35-4106-af6a-4fa8a6c08738/print/ * $80,000: 2023 Q2 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/4321637e-3e94-400b-93c2-5ca523ed04e9/print/ * $80,000: 2023 Q3 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/40eef4f1-2a35-4106-af6a-4fa8a6c08738/print/ * $80,000: 2023 Q4 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/6a5104df-a158-4163-8b41-9b6d6e18d6af/print/ * $80,000: 2024 Q1 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/f1e4ff0e-852a-41e4-bd2f-01ec2c353494/print/ * $80,000: 2024 Q2 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/f1d0e6c2-44ce-4997-a324-9b8e63becc56/print/ * $80,000: 2024 Q3 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/f3165951-02a6-4e60-b5b0-069c9c04d3e3/print/ * $80,000: 2024 Q4 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/66b6e8ba-51ac-4e27-9f18-df6cf5449dbd/print/ * $40,000: 2025 Q1 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/5cd5b3a5-7336-4958-9054-108f8c6b6b7f/print/ * $40,000: 2025 Q2 https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/2ba93470-35bd-427c-a0ca-5e400360758d/print Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Pay attention to Schedule C of their 2024 990 tax filing. This is who they granted money to for that year. (American Legislative Exchange Council, Republican Attorney General Association, Americans for Prosperity, American Prosperity Group) 2024 Form 990 for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PHRMA) 340b Lawsuit Documents Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America v. John McCuskey (0:25-cv.pr-01054), Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America v. Morrisey et al Bloomberg Explainer of Lawsuits 340b Lawsuit Explainers and Documents from the American Hospital Association This post is public so feel free to share it. Related Documentaries This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carrieclendening.substack.com

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West Virginia Policy and Campaign Finance Research. This Substack publication is dedicated to tracking the flow of political money into West Virginia’s elections and policy-making process. carrieclendening.substack.com

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