Life Gauge History
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History of Life Gauge 2002 January/February -- Life Gauge was created January 1. During the legislative session in January and February, Life Gauge asked legislators to introduce bills that protect West Virginia's unborn babies. Twelve Life Gauge bills were introduced in the House, and two in the Senate. The House Judiciary chairman, Jon Amores, from Charleston, killed all twelve bills in the House, and the Senate Judiciary chairman, Bill Wooton, from Beckley, killed both bills in the Senate. May -- Life Gauge ran prominent newspaper ads in eight large West Virginia newspapers, announcing what grade -- A B C D F -- each candidate running in the May 14 primary election received from Life Gauge. Grades are based on each candidate's cooperation with Life Gauge. November -- Life Gauge ran large newspaper ads in Charleston and in Beckley announcing what bills each chairman had killed. The House Judiciary chairman, Jon Amores, who had always finished first of the seven elected in his district, finished third, more than three thousand votes out of first place, and more than two thousand votes out of second place. The fourth and fifth place finishers weren't far behind him. The Senate Judiciary chairman, Bill Wooton, lost by more than 600 votes. 2003 January/February -- Twenty-eight bills were introduced in the House, and fifteen in the Senate. Committee chairmen killed all of the bills. 2004 January/February -- Forty-three bills were introduced in the House, and seventeen in the Senate. The bills were all killed by committee chairmen --- most by Don Perdue in the House, and Roman Prezioso and Jeff Kessler in the Senate. April -- Eighty-three (of 198) challenging candidates responded to Life Gauge's survey, willing to cooperate. May -- Life Gauge ran advertisements in seven newspapers in Ripley, Point Pleasant, Winfield, Hinton, Union, Lewisburg, and Oak Hill. The ads publicized Karen Facemyer and Anita Caldwell's bad records. Another ad listed Tom Louisos' grade of A. Facemyer and Caldwell won (but Caldwell later lost the general election.) Louisos won, finishing second of three elected (instead of fourth, as some expected). November -- Life Gauge ads appeared in twelve newspapers: A full-page ad in the Wayne County News; a half-page top-to-bottom ad in the Morgantown Dominion-Post; three-column ads in the Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston Gazette, Princeton Times, Fairmont Times-West Virginian, Parsons Advocate, Hampshire Review, Moundsville Echo, and Beckley Register-Herald. A two-column ad appeared in the Wheeling News-Register and the Wheeling Intelligencer. The Beckley newspaper ran a front-page article refuting Life Gauge's statements about Speaker Kiss, and Life Gauge responded with an ad detailing Mr. Kiss's offenses. In the House, Barbara Fleischauer lost. Debbie Stevens beat Stan Shaver (Parsons Advocate and Morgantown Dominion-Post). Ruth Rowan defeated Jerry Mezzatesta (Hampshire Review). Thomas Porter was elected (Princeton Times) to an open seat. Jeffrey Tansill defeated Diane Parker (Fairmont Times-West Virginian and Morgantown Dominion-Post) for an open seat. In the State Senate, Don Caruth defeated incumbent Anita Caldwell (Princeton Times), and Clark Barnes defeated incumbent Mike Ross (Hampshire Review). Life Gauge ads failed to dislodge Perdue, Prezioso, Kessler, Kiss, and Hunter. 2005 February/March. Sixty-six Life Gauge bills were introduced in the House, and 17 in the Senate, for a total of 83 bills introduced, a record. The bills were assigned to a variety of committees, where they were killed by hostile committee chairmen. 2006 In the legislative session, 38 delegates introduced 75 Life Gauge bills, and 9 senators introduced 20 Life Gauge bills. A March 7 floor vote on a motion to bypass a hostile committee resulted in the first recorded evidence against many delegates who claim to protect babies. These delegates, almost all of whom Life Gauge had previously given a grade of D, have now received a grade of F. In the May primary election, Tom Louisos, Life Gauge's most courageous supporter in the legislature, lost the Democratic primary by four votes. He won Fayette county, where Life Gauge ran a newspaper advertisement detailing his record (A), and the records of his opponents, John Pino and David Perry (F). But he lost Clay county and Nicholas county, where no advertisements ran. In the November election, Life Gauge ran twelve ads in fifteen newspapers: Charleston
Daily Mail The ad headlines targeted Don Perdue, Joe Talbott, Barbara Fleischauer, Bonnie Brown, Dale Martin, Bob Tabb, Virginia Mahan, Sam Cann. Two headlines thanked Ruth Rowan and Debbie Stevens. All of the targets are well-entrenched political figures, and all won their races. Of the two delegates who help Life Gauge, Ruth Rowan in Hampshire county won, and Debbie Stevens in Preston county lost. In Clarksburg, Tim Miley (A) finished first, ahead of three opponents who each received a grade of F. Ted Ellis and Ralph Rodighiero finished ahead of their opponents who received a grade of F. In Huntington, Carol Miller (A) defeated veteran incumbent Margaret Leach (F). The 2006 results were not an indication of the public's views on abortion. The results reflected national issues and West Virginia party allegiances that had nothing to do with abortion, except that they eclipsed it in motivating people to vote. On December 19, Delegates Barbara Fleischauer and Bonnie Brown filed an election complaint against Life Gauge. Life Gauge did not file paperwork with the Secretary of State that details solicitation, donors' names, amounts, ads, costs, etc. 2007 ... January --- Instead of asking delegates to introduce two bills, Life Gauge asked them to introduce one. But some of them introduced two bills anyway. Forty-six bills were introduced in the House, by thirty delegates. Twelve bills were introduced in the Senate, by seven senators. On February 20, Life Gauge asked all cooperative delegates to introduce a motion to discharge the House Constitutional Revision committee, bringing HJR 18 directly to the floor for an up or down vote. In May of 2007 Life Gauge received a letter from the Secretary of State's office stating that Life Gauge was in violation of the campaign finance law, and that charges would be referred to the Kanawha County prosecutor. The law ties certain requirements to certain speech, which is clearly unconstitutional. To keep up with current developments, check the What's Happening page. Life Gauge Mark Robinson, Coordinator |
