Let’s Work Together to Move Democracy Forward in WV

By Carey Jo Grace and Julie Archer

 

A lot has changed since West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections (WVCCE) released the WV Pro-Democracy Anti-Corruption Platform in 2018. Members of our coalition collaborated to produce a terrific strategy for advancing democracy and judicial independence in WV in 2020.

Then the pandemic hit…

Politics became even more divisive, downright mean, and tore families and friends apart…

Fellow Americans invaded the US Capitol trying to overturn a free and fair election…

The Big Lie spread…

Joe Manchin became the biggest power-broker on the Hill…

And democracy is even more threatened today than it was just a few years ago. 

Protecting our democratic rights and stopping corruption in politics is some of the most important work we can do together.

So It’s time to put on our collaborative thinking caps. 

At this critical juncture, how can we refocus the WVCCE collaboration to move democracy forward in WV?

• Do we need to re-evaluate what’s on our Platform? 
• Are our 2020 goals still relevant? These goals included: 
  • building public support and momentum for the Democracy Agenda; 
  • strengthening recusal rules & exploring other non-legislative reforms to restore confidence in the courts; 
  • strengthening, diversifying & expanding our coalition.
• How do we address WV specific issues? (See this Mountain State Spotlight article about how Evan Jenkins recently took advantage of the state’s weak ethics laws.)
• Should we continue to focus on judicial independence or pivot to something else? With the US Supreme Court reversing important legal precedents, state courts and constitutions will play an increasingly important role in protecting our rights and freedoms.

We’re hoping to get partners together in mid-July for a strategy session (virtually and/or in person, depending on, well, you know.) Please reach out to julie@wvcag.org if you’d like to get involved.