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The West Virginia Code of Fair Campaign Practices states, "I shall not use or permit the use of character defamation, whispering campaigns, libel, slander, or scurrilous attacks on any candidate or his or her personal or family life."
Congressional candidate David McKinley must have overlooked that Code since he is violating every aspect of that statement and other parts of the Code in his campaign against Jefferson County's Alex Mooney. We have received two mailings from McKinley accusing Alex of corruption since he is being investigated by Nancy Pelosi's Ethics Committee. In his flyers, McKinley repeats the Pelosi accusations of Alex misusing campaign funds for personal expenses, including using "the money to take trips to resorts."
I know that President Donald Trump asked Mooney to come to his resort, Mar-a-Lago, twice. The second time that he went, he came away with Trump's endorsement in his race against McKinley. McKinley probably never has been and almost certainly never will be invited by Trump to be anywhere near him, especially since McKinley voted for Pelosi's witch-hunt into the Jan. 6th riot. Pelosi is using that investigation to continually smear Trump and her Ethics Committee to continually smear Mooney.
McKinley also repeats Pelosi's accusation of $1,900 spent on food at Chick-Fil-A. I worked in the Jefferson County Republican 2020 election office in Charles Town. Mooney's regional campaign staff worked out of that office and the Berkeley County office in Martinsburg. There was often food from Chick-Fil-A there for the volunteers, especially for the last week when Alex himself was there making calls for all of the Republican candidates, and for the Mooney sponsored celebration after the polls closed.
McKinley and Pelosi may object to buying food from Chick-Fil-A, but none of the supporters of Alex Mooney and Donald Trump that I know object. I don't remember if the Left's attempted boycott of Chick-Fil-A was going on at the time, but that is even more reason to buy from them instead of the usual pizza and chips for volunteers. These expenses and the travel expenses are, of course, legitimate campaign expenses.
There is also a state-wide "reporter" who sounds a lot like McKinley's campaign, repeating Pelosi's fevered imaginings. He is most often printed on the opinion pages but has recently had "news" stories. I would like to point out some of his misstatements, but my old grandpappy (or maybe someone else) told me, "Son, never get into a war of words with a man who buys his ink by the barrel."
Suffice it to say that I know the entire Mooney family well since they have gone to my church in Charles Town for years. There is not an iota of corruption or immorality in the entire family, including his mother, who was imprisoned by Fidel Castro for not being corrupt and immoral. My question is whether the same can be said for Nancy Pelosi, David McKinley or that state-wide "reporter."
Gary Dungan
Harpers Ferry