May News.Pub
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
May 2012 Number 613 OMEGA Members Partner with the Department of Education to Keep Kids Safe Providing Life’s Essentials to West Virginia - Fuel, Food and Convenience. Providing Life’s Essentials to West Virginia -- Fuel, Food and Convenience. Marathon Ad 2 From the President ... It’s been a busy time in the OMEGA office. The election is now over until the Fall and a full report is on pages 4 & 5. On Sunday we will complete our month long campaign for the Children’s Home Society. It has been a wonderful campaign and we appreciate all of the hard work. We will report our success next month but please enjoy the photos on page 5. Up next for May: Connections 2012 Trade Expo May 16th Glade Springs Resort 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If you are not signed up to attend the Connections 2012 Trade Expo on Wednesday, May 16th, you need to do so! We are giving away an Apple iPad 2! All you need to do to win is attend the show and visit every booth and your name will be entered into a drawing. Please note that only retailers are eligible to win this prize. Hope to see you on the 16th! Douglas M. Roach Associate Supplier Members Douglas M. Roach Tom Jamieson Associate Supplier Members OMEGA R. M. Roach & Sons Jamieson Family Markets Proctor Dean 2011 --- 2013 Officers Board Members Rick Joseph Eagle Transport Corp. Chairman Cory Beasley Kanawha City Foodland Randy Emanuelson Jim Oppe Little General Store, Inc. Jeffrey L. Kramer Sledd Co. TWJ, Inc. Sam Chico, III Prima Marketing LLC Victor Flanagan Vice Chairman Chico Enterprises Inc. H. C. Lewis, III Pullin Fowler Flanagan Greg Rogers H. C. Lewis Oil Co. Brown & Poe LLC Edward J. Coyne, II R. T. Rogers Oil Co. Tri-State Petroleum Corp. Thad Ours Randal Flesch Secretary/Treasurer Petersburg Oil Co. Marathon Petroleum Co. Greg Darby Joe DeFazio Little General Store, Inc. Steve Roach Denny Huff DeFazio Oil Co. Sammie Huff Contractors R. M. Roach & Sons Patrick C. Graney, III President Petroleum Products Co. R. T. "Ted" Rogers Jim Linsenmeyer Jan Vineyard R. T. Rogers Oil Co. Proud Eagle, Inc. Michael Graney Immediate Past Chairman One Stop Darroll Talbott Rod Moore Enviroprobe Integrated Sandra Morgenstern Wayne Harris Guttman Oil Co. Par Mar Oil Co. Solutions Harris Oil Co. Dennis Thompson Greg Walls Gary Hatch Dawson-Thompson Oil Co. Greg Walls Frito Lay Senior Board Members Bruceton Petroleum Curt Woodford Allan Williams John Heater Art Hartley, Jr. Woodford Oil Co. Allan Williams BrickStreet Insurance Go-Mart, Inc. City Ice & Fuel Co. H. C. Lewis, II Sam Heater 3 H. C. Lewis Oil Co. Go-Mart, Inc. West Virginia News Election Results The primary election was held on May 8th and as we go to press we are analyzing the results and beginning to think about the November 6th General Election. Following are a few of the highlights: The biggest news of the election was that Keith Judd, the inmate doing time in a Texas prison, got four out of every ten votes in the Democratic Primary for President in West Virginia. We knew that President Obama was unpopular, but certainly had not envisioned that Judd would get that many votes when the majority of those going to the poll didn’t even know that he would be on the ballot. We suspect the vast majority of those who voted for Judd did not know anything about him, but rather they simply cast a protest vote against the President. Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney still has some work to do in West Virginia. Nearly one in three of the republicans and independents who voted in Tuesday’s Republican Primary, voted for someone other than Romney. Senator Joe Manchin easily won re-nomination Tuesday and will run against John Raese in the Fall. For U. S. House of Representatives it will be: ◊ Sue Thorn vs. David McKinley ◊ William McCann vs. Shelley Moore Capito ◊ Nick J. Rahall, II vs. Rick Snuffer Governor Earl Ray Tomblin faired very well in the Primary against his opponent and will face Bill Maloney again in the Fall. For of Board of Public Works and Supreme Court: ◊ For Secretary of State Natalie Tennant will face Brian Savilla ◊ Auditor Glen B. Gainer, II vs. Larry V. Faircloth ◊ State Treasurer John Perdue may really have a race against Senate Minority Leader Mike Hall from Putnam County ◊ With Gus Douglas retiring there is no incumbent for Commissioner of Agriculture. Senator Walt Helmick will face Kent Leonhardt in the Fall. ◊ Attorney General Darrell McGraw, Jr. will definitely have a race on his hands with Patrick Morrisey. The republican has been out working hard already. ◊ Justice Robin Jean Davis and Tish Chafin will run against John Yoder and Allen Loughry for two seats, which are each 12-year terms. This is a very important race and one in which we will need to be involved. 4 In the State Senate we lost incumbent Richard Browning who is the current majority leader. His opponent Delegate Daniel Hall will still have to face Eppe Cline in the Fall. Nine of the 17 State Senate races in the general have one candidate running for the seat. Seven of those are democrats who are currently unopposed, while the other two are republicans. It is very likely that a few of the seats currently held by democrats will go to republicans in the Fall. Senator Jack Yost, in the 1st District, has a strong contender in Pat McGeehan, Senator Mark Wills in the 6th has Bill Cole who is a strong businessman, who owns a car dealership and is very involved in the community and should fair very well. An open seat in the 8th could go to Republican Chris Walters. The 15th will be represented by Craig Blair, a former Delegate, who has no opposition in the Fall. And lastly, the 16th in the eastern panhandle has Senator Herb Snyder being challenged by a strong republican, Jim Ruland. In the House of Delegates, only one incumbent was beaten and that was Joe Talbott from the 44th district, Webster County. With all 100 seats up for grabs it will be interesting to see how the races will stack up. Again, it appears that we will be dealing with more republicans come January 1, 2013. The turnout Tuesday was historic… historically bad. Unofficially, only about 25 percent of registered voters cast ballots. That would be the lowest turnout for a Primary Election in West Virginia in 60 years. The next lowest turnout was 39 percent in 2004. One reason could be election fatigue; this was the sixth election in West Virginia since the 2010 primary. Trish at Par Mar 37 Little General at Crossings Mall Go-Mart on Harper Road Children’s Home Society Board Member Tish Chafin, Jan Vineyard, First Lady Joanne Tomblin, OMEGA Board Member Michael Graney, Children’s Home Society Chairman Katherine Dooley and Mary White of Children’s Home Society. 5 Federal Issues Both the House and Senate were in recess this week. The House returns next week. The Senate remains in recess for another week. Looking Ahead in Washington Post-Election Lame Duck Frenzy Expected ◊ Bush tax rates, debt-ceiling negotiations and automatic budget cuts are expected to create a frenzied Congressional session after the Presidential election. Other legislative issues requiring action include the expiration of the payroll tax cut, extending unemployment benefits, spikes in the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and the estate tax and the renewal of a tax-extenders package. ◊ Conferees from both the House and Senate will continue negotiation toward a surface transportation reauthorization proposal. ◊ The Federal District Court in the District of Columbia is expected to rule by May 15 on legal challenges to the National Labor Relations Board's "ambush election" rule brought by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, of which NATSO is a member, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The rule went into effect April 30. ◊ The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) rule requiring commercial drivers to pass more stringent health exams will take effect May 21. Drivers and examiners must be in compliance two years later. FMCSA estimates the program will cost $232 million over 10 years to implement. Highway Reauthorization Update Both the Senate and House have named conferees on the transportation bill. As a reminder, the Senate passed a comprehensive two-year reauthorization bill covering fiscal years 2012 (which is more than half over) and 2013. The House, unable to garner enough Republican votes for the bill reported from the Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, passed another 90-day extension of the program, through September 30, 2012, combined with approval of the Keystone pipeline, the environmental streamlining provisions of the T&I bill, and several other provisions unrelated to transportation. (Note: this is a very unique situation, even for Congress. Normally, the Senate and House pass bills at least dealing with the same basic subject matter before going to conference.) The Senate appointed 8 Democrats and 6 Republicans to the Conference. Among them were Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) who is Chairman of the Commerce Committee. While each Senate Conferee has an equal vote on the overall conference report, House conferees' votes are limited to the areas under their jurisdictions. The House has appointed a total of 33 conferees. Among them are both Congresswoman Capito (R-WV) and Congressman Rahall (D-WV), Ranking Member on Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 12 Republicans and 9 Democrats, with jurisdiction over all provisions of the bill except the tax provisions.