Melody Potter, Chairwoman of the WV Republican Party, wrote an op-ed that appeared today in both Wheeling “newspapers.” The Intelligencer headlined it with

W.Va. Voters Can’t Trust Ojeda

While the News-Register used:

Ojeda a Tool of Liberals, Not A genuine Defender of W.Va.

It begins:

Democratic congressional candidate Richard Ojeda pretends to be a blue collar guy who’ll stand up for West Virginia’s values, but he actually espouses extreme Democrat views that will devastate the Mountain State.

It ends:

Ojeda and the radical Democrats are fundamentally opposed to all of these things. [i.e. tax cuts, deregulation, peace and prosperity]

And there is more of the same in-between. Simply put, it’s an attack piece from beginning to end.

A couple of questions

What relevance does Potter's mean-spirited, unsubstantiated op-ed have for the voters of West Virginia’s 1st district?

It has none.

Why, then, was it run?

The locals frequently serve as the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. Attacking Democrats, regardless of origin, is what they do.

Would the Ogden papers be willing to print an op-ed from the Ojeda campaign?

Are you kidding?

Finally, wasn’t there a local editorial last month proclaiming that “powerful politicians seeking to influence us are wasting their time”?

Yes, similar statements are made a couple of times a year. They are irrelevant to what actually gets published.