Rep. David McKinley

Yesterday, both local "newspapers" carried an article detailing Representative David McKinley's views on replacing Justice Antonin Scalia despite the fact that what McKinley believes doesn't matter -- members of the House have no input on the matter.

In the article McKinley rehashed the court's decision on the EPA/Clean Power Plan but told us nothing new and in discussing the future of the Supreme Court, the congressman did his best Captain Obvious imitation:

"There are going to be a number of decisions both sides of the aisle are going to be concerned about," McKinley said.

Really?

Senator Shelley Moore Capito

Today, we learned from an article with the largest headline on the front page that our senator believes in both coal and natural gas!

While some coal industry leaders believe natural gas development contributes to the loss of mining jobs, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said the nation will benefit from the largest possible output of both fossil fuels.

Also not new or surprising is that she blamed Obama and the Democrats for the coal problem:

Holding a roundtable discussion with local leaders and industry officials at West Virginia Northern Community College Thursday, Capito, R-W.Va., said President Barack Obama and other Democrats seem determined to curtail or totally eliminate coal usage.

And in case we missed it the first time:

"I think there is room for both," coal and natural gas, Capito said after the session.

She also discussed the major problem facing the natural gas industry:

"We can't get it out. We can't get the resource out," she said of the glut of natural gas created by a lack of pipeline infrastructure. This leads some Ohio and West Virginia producers to sell their product for less than $1 per 1,000 cubic-foot unit, even when the price is about $2 per unit on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

No, from what I have read, the problem is not getting-it-out; rather, it's the huge oversupply of natural gas in the marketplace. (It's called a "glut" and it's behind the very low price of natural gas.) If that's true, getting-it-out would only compound the problem. As Any Option wrote yesterday about the natural gas glut:

Although much of the narrative in the energy sector has been fixated on the crude oil losses, natural gas faces many of the same challenges as demand slips and production remains not far from record highs. . . . the glut remains intact and unlikely to abate until more companies within the space begin to default and declare bankruptcy.

I will admit that compared to the McKinley article, the Capito article at least had some substance.

McKinley? Check. Capito? Check. Look for articles on Patrick Morissey and/or Ryan Ferns on the weekend.

Update February 20

"Free-publicity-week-for-our-favorites" continued today as the Intelligencer published an article (no link - not online) by Senator Capito elaborating on what was reported about her speech given at Thursday's roundtable. Actually, I have no doubt that the "article" was her actual speech.

Additionally, another "favorite," Attorney General Patrick Morissey, was featured in an editorial, "Prevent Outside Counsel Abuses." While the editorial does call for some reforms, it does praise him especially when compared to his predecessor:

Incumbent Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has made substantial improvements in how outside attorneys are handled. But lawmakers - who, it should be noted, failed for years to crack down on McGraw - are right to put some reforms in the statute books.

A final question: since the editorial purports to be about the workings of the AG's office and not the November elections, why does the paragraph start with the word "incumbent?" That's easy, for Wheeling "newspapers," everything is about the next election.