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The Ogden Newspaper effort

It’s easily the largest article in either of today’s paper. The front-page story

Sen. Capito Urges Support For Senate Police Reform Bill

is by Ogden’s political reporter, Steven Allen Adams, and it details Senate Republicans’ new police bill, the JUSTICE Act of 2020. Capito is quoted throughout the article as Adams explains the bill’s provisions and how it is different from the one being considered by the House. (For the appearance of balance, a spokesperson for Senator Manchin is quoted at the end of the article.)

The article, its placement, and the quotes from Capito certainly makes it appear that the senator was very valuable to the Republican Party’s effort. Here, it should be noted that the afternoon Wheeling News-Register printed, in addition to the Capito article, an AP article about this same JUSTICE Act on page 8. (I guess we can never read too much of a Republican good thing.) The News-Register’s version of the article is titled

Senate GOP Proposes Police Changes, Less Sweeping Than Dems’

and it compares it with the Democratic legislation, how the Republican intend to pass it, and how the Democrats have reacted to it. Some of the article’s material is a repeat of the Capito article but the AP version apparently missed the important role that our senator played – Capito is not mentioned in the AP article. And, unfortunately for local readers, the News-Register dropped the last 45% of the article which included some of the Democratic criticism of the legislation. For example:

But Democrats roundly criticized the Republican legislation, with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer saying it “does not rise to the moment” and would provide less accountability than the House Democrats’ version. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler called the GOP bill a “sham.” Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus who led the Democratic effort, said the GOP approach "definitely mimics parts of ours but without the teeth."

One key area of disagreement is over ending “qualified immunity” for officers to make it easier for those injured by police to seek damages in lawsuits. The Democratic bill includes the provision, but the White House has said it is a line too far that Trump will not support.

Additional Capito notes

The good (which will probably jeopardize her ranking as the 3rd most Trump-supporting senator):

Sen. Capito (R-WV) will vote against Nancy Beck’s confirmation for chair of Consumer Product Safety Commission. Beck is a former chemical industry executive who supports laxer regulation of toxic chemicals & had slow-walked PFAS regs while she was at EPA https://t.co/Ckj3yd3qDv

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) June 17, 2020

And the bad (I guess the negative impact this will have on the environment never occurred to the senator):

I look forward to seeing the positive impact this decision will have on jobs, security, our energy economy, and economic development in West Virginia. https://t.co/LDDZsoE4AL

— Shelley Moore Capito (@SenCapito) June 16, 2020