The Election

Life has been crazy the last few months. I spent my time at meetings, knocking on doors, attending meet-and-greets at the homes of friendly people and candidate forums with neighborhood and political groups. The local right-wing talk radio station and Morgantown's daily newspaper ( owned by the same family) interviewed me.

It quickly became clear that there were two groups running for office. One was paid for by some of the big landlords in town, who mostly rent to students. That group wanted a less activist city council, and some were members of  The Citizens Defense League, a group that believes everyone should be able to carry a gun wherever they want.

Our group wanted a cleaner, greener city. We were willing to take stands on national issues, and to represent the more progressive population of Morgantown.

There was an attempt to smear us, led by a local talk radio host, who said we were beholden to a "special interest" group, Mountaineers For Progress. None of us were endorsed by the non-partisan Mountaineers For Progress, and although I am a member of that group, I skipped the meetings where they discussed what questions they would ask candidates at their forum. No one in that group told me what to say or defined a set of issues. I did all that on my own. People from that group helped me as individuals, but the only expectation was that I would have a conscience and do what was right for the city. The landlord group, called The North Central West Virginia Business Owners Alliance, put up billboards for the others, featuring the names of all of those candidates, and paid for their radio ads. The talk show host didn't press them about being beholden to that group.

That I am in a same-gender marriage only came up once. Dave Wilson, the talk-show host, said, on April 7, "Mountaineers For Progress is so far left that they don't care to have a gay man with a husband in their group." That same day, I was invited, by Dave, to be on the air with my opponent the following week. A friend (and maybe more than one friend) e-mailed the station demanding that Dave be fired. There was some to-do, and, when I was on the show, my marital status was not discussed, nor did David badger me about Mountaineers For Progress, as he had some other candidates. I asked him after the interview about the statement he had made, and he said it wasn't about me, but about a local gay blogger, who appeared on the show after the remark. I don't believe that.

Our whole group won, I by a slimmer margin than the others. My opponent and I each won five of the ten wards, generally by less than ten votes, except in South Park, the neighborhood of big old homes on a hillside where the retired college professors, the attorneys and the Jews live. Turnout was much higher in that neighborhood, and I won there by two hundred fifty votes. I have called South Park "The South Park Bubble" and "the only place in West Virginia where, in 2012, you could fearlessly have an Obama sticker on your car." The first house we looked to buy in the winter of 2015, was in that neighborhood. We got a better deal in newer, pretty Suncrest, at the north end of the city.

I'm still invited to events. Last night (Saturday, May 6) Joe and I attended an event for Morgantown Theatre Company, a children's acting troupe. I played "The Rabbi" in "Fiddler on The Roof" with them three or four years ago. Last night I met many people from all over the city I had not met before. Every one of them said they voted against the three incumbents from the other "team" because they had filed suit to remove the other four Councilors from their posts.

In previous years, there was a PAC called "Morgantown Together," a not necessarily liberal group, but people who were not beholden to real estate interests. When they won control of the council in 2013, there was a backlash, and a 2015 lawsuit to remove the Councilors. That went to the West Virginia Supreme Court, where the suit was thrown out. There was a lingering bitterness, and two of the four incumbents from Morgantown Together declined to run again. I am in the ward of one of those two. My opponent lost in the last two elections, and signed the petition to have the winners removed from office. Voters didn't want those people on Council, as it turned out, and that helped move the election to our side.

So now the real work begins. We assume office on July 1. Since the election I have spoken to the present council in favor of resolutions for equal opportunity in the city, and to welcome refugees, immigrants and those seeking asylum. People have been asking me about their tax bills, about fixing the roads and improving traffic flow on the streets. And one person attacked me and others in  a letter to the editor in the paper, published five days after the election. As for me, I stand by my campaign promise to work with anyone and everyone to make Morgantown a better city.