Marion County Republican Executive Committee takes part in influence peddling in nonpartisan City Council race
Nov. 2—FAIRMONT — A close affiliation between one Fairmont City Council candidate and the Marion County Republican Executive Committee has set off alarm bells for some members of the Fairmont community.
"My personal opinion is that council is nonpartisan and we should do everything we can to keep it that way," Councilmember Rebecca Moran said. "The issues that we deal with are typically not partisan issues. It adds division, it adds problems and we don't necessarily need that."
Part of Moran's concern comes from how District 4 candidate Terry Burton was able to benefit from campaign spending made on his behalf by the Marion County Republican Executive Committee. The local political party paid for an ad on Facebook supporting Burton for Fairmont City Council.
Moran pointed out that political candidates have to go through a rigorous process on Facebook to spend money on advertising, basically verifying their identity and confirming they are a candidate. However, since the Republican Executive Committee was willing to do that on Burton's behalf, it allowed Burton to bypass any need to spend money on Facebook ads.
Burton spent $120 of his own money on campaign advertising, according to records kept by Fairmont City Clerk Janet Keller, with no contributions made toward his candidacy. Burton spent his money on signs, which says "paid for by candidate" on the side.
Burton arrived from the UK importing a British strain of conservatism. He said his political preferences hew closely to those of American conservatives, with alignment on several topics such as immigration and business. Burton attended the ribbon cutting of the County Republican Campaign headquarters in September.
"They were keen, since I was a conservative anyway, to put me on their ballot sheets," Burton said. "So fine, if it gets me another vote, let them do it. I just left it at that."
Marion County Republican Executive Committee Chair Kandace Nuzum — who also serves on city council — replied to a phone call by text, saying county political parties are not governed by the Ethics Commission.
"We are governed by WV election laws and there is no violation of election laws broken by a county political committee supporting a nonpartisan candidate for City Council or any nonpartisan race," Nuzum stated.
Nuzum referred further questions to Dave Cook, general counsel of the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office or Ellen Briggs of the West Virginia Ethics Commission.
However, according to WVU Political Scientist Sam Workman, director of the Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs at West Virginia University, the situation may not adhere to conventional wisdom for two reasons.
"The notion that city councilors are not partisan is kinda' — it's a fiction," Workman said. "They all support in their private lives one party or another."
Workman pointed out nonpartisan elected officials can frequently be seen at campaign functions for state level candidates. Second, removing party affiliation can actually remove the single most useful piece of evidence voters have to make their decision, he said.
Most voters don't pay attention to politics, and party affiliation can serve as a shorthand for what basket of policies a candidate might support.
"By and large, at the local level, [voters[ are not going to know how much a city candidate is pro business versus pro labor, or pro development versus pro parks," Workman said. "They're just going to know the bare minimum about how the candidate identifies."
While from a starting position, Workman said, candidates should not be receiving financial help from a party in nonpartisan elections and should insulate themselves to a degree, nonpartisan elections themselves are not good for voters.
However, Moran disagrees. For starters, she believes council elections should be nonpartisan because most of the issues a small town government deals with are nonpartisan.
"If I have an R or D beside my name, of which I have neither, what does that tell you about how I'm going to vote for parking if it comes up," Moran said. "What we're going to do about our parking ordinance? If we're talking about changing occupancy sizes across town, what political party votes for or against those things?"
Moran also pointed to a much larger problem. City code allows members of council to sit on party executive committees. A council member could ostensibly use the resources of the party they chair to help candidates campaign, building a voting bloc to secure their agenda.
Moran also criticized how it becomes a black hole for money, since a party committee doesn't report how much they spend per candidate, but for advertising. There's no way to track it, she said.
Nuzum represents Fairmont's District 9 on city council, while also chairing the Republican Executive Committee. She provided no rebuttal to Moran's points by press time. She also said by text both views on nonpartisan versus partisan elections have merits, regarding Workman's explanation on nonpartisan elections.
In 2022, Nuzum and the Marion County Republican Executive Committee paid for a postcard that endorsed city council candidates for districts 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9, which include what is now Nuzum's seat.
"It's almost like a council member can buy extra seats for people," Moran said, "that they feel are going to be aligned with their philosophies and votes in the future."
