The two leaders of the West Virginia Legislature came under scrutiny last week for different issues, though one is being more transparent than the other one.

First, my friend Brad McElhinny with West Virginia MetroNews reported last week that a political action committee connected to Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston, began putting up ads attacking a rival, state Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, as he faces a contested GOP primary.

The PAC, Mountaineer Conservative Coalition, pushed an ad taking Takubo to task for a 2021 vote on the bill now called the Save Women’s Sports Act. That bill, currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, bans transgender girls and women from participating in high school and college girls and women’s sports.

At the time, Takubo voted against the bill, not because he was against the bill’s underlying goal but because he felt the bill should only regulate public school sports and leave college athletics to the NCAA. The Mountaineer Conservative Coalition ad featured former University of Pennsylvania swim team member Paula Scanlan talking about her experiences swimming against Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, and scolding Takubo for voting against the law. 

Look, politics ain’t beanbag, as the old saying goes. Takubo, the former Senate majority leader under former Senate President Craig Blair, lost his attempt to succeed Blair in a three-way race, with Smith squeaking out a win on the second ballot. But Takubo and others have spent the last year recruiting like-minded Republican candidates in order to counterbalance Smith and his supporters. It’s not surprising that Smith would feel his gavel threatened.

You’ve seen me call these factions light red and dark red, with Takubo being the leader of the light red and Smith the de facto leader of the dark red (though as I said in last week’s column, I suspect Smith’s own faction is going to mount a challenge to his leadership at the December caucus due to several actions during the most recent legislative session). But if Takubo can get some of his handpicked candidates elected, that could spell the end Smith’s time with the gavel.

The issue isn’t the ad itself. The issue is the lack of transparency. One has to dig to find any information on Mountaineer Conservative Coalition. It’s registered in Delaware, and despite fundraising pleas and fundraisers, if they have filed any campaign finance reports with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office, I can’t find any data. The PAC appears to be run by Smith’s son. 

If Smith’s PAC wants to go after a fellow Republican state senator, by all means do so. But I think it ought to be more transparent about what it is, who is behind it and who is donating.

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Speaking of transparency, House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, is taking slings and arrows for being one of three attorneys representing data center/microgrid projects seeking air permits through the state Department of Environmental Protection.

According to Country Road News, Fundamental Data hired the Bowles Rice law firm to represent it as it fights legal challenges to keep the company from locating a natural gas-powered microgrid in Tucker County to power proposed data center projects. One of the three attorneys assigned to work with Fundamental Data is Hanshaw.

Based on the reactions I’m seeing out there, you’d think that Fundamental Data hired Hanshaw directly. You’d also be left with the impression Hanshaw has an immediate conflict of interest due to House Bill 2014, the data center and microgrid bill that passed the Legislature last year. Lawmakers recently approved the Department of Commerce rules bundle setting the guidelines for these new data center and microgrid districts. Hanshaw voted for both HB 2014 and the rules bundle.

Never mind that the Fundamental Data data center/microgrid project predates the passage of HB 2014. HB 2014 wasn’t introduced on behalf of Gov. Patrick Morrisey until March 18, 2025. That’s the same day that Country Roads News revealed that Fundamental Data applied for its Department of Environmental Protection air quality permit. 

HB 2014 did not complete the legislative process until April 12, 2025. And the rules bundle for implementing HB 2014 didn’t complete the legislative process until March 13 of this year. Fact of the matter is HB 2014 hasn’t truly been implemented yet, and there are no data center/microgrid districts approved because of HB 2014. 

My friend Caity Coyne with West Virginia Watch reported Thursday that Hanshaw, through Bowles Rice, is also representing the Mason County Fidelis New Energy as it also seeks a clean air permit for its data center/microgrid project. According to the Bowles Rice website, environmental and regulatory law is one of Hanshaw’s practice areas, along with data center and AI infrastructure. 

Now, we’ll see what happens next year should bills dealing with data centers and microgrids comes before the House of Delegates. Members can request to be excused from voting under the rules of the House if they believe they have a conflict of interest. 

It would be up to the presiding officer (which is Hanshaw unless he steps down and lets one of the deputy speakers make that decision) to decide if a delegate is a member of a class of five or greater and doesn’t have a direct interest and be required to vote. But Rule 49 (or Rule 43 in the state Senate) is how House members put on the record that they may have a conflict of interest. 

This is a part-time legislature where members all come from different jobs and businesses and employment. Unless you want them to be a full-time legislature and have no other employment than being lawmakers, then this is the way it has to be done. 

We have teachers, lawyers, insurance agents, doctors, business owners and more serving in the Legislature. And if they all had to be excused from voting on bills that in some way touch what they do, then no one would be able to vote.

In Hanshaw’s case, I at least know what he is doing because he has disclosed it, which allows us in the press to keep a closer eye on his votes. On the other hand, I have no idea what Smith is doing through his PAC.