Wythe County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge M. Keith Blankenship has been arrested again.  Here is the latest story. 

This time he was arrested for a hit-and-run that occurred in Powhatan County on April 27.  According to the VSP news release of this incident:

Blankenship then drove into a yard beside the telephone-line box, causing “substantial damage.”
Before leaving the scene, state police say, Blankenship crossed over to the left side of the road, hit an embankment and uprooted a tree in another yard.
Geller said multiple witnesses saw the crash.

Astonishing! Earlier back on March 1, Blankenship was arrested for DUI in Smyth County. Here is my post on that incident. He has yet to appear in court on this charge.

This judge should be suspended from office at least.  I’m not sure if there is a procedure for that, but at least it should be checked into.  This really is conduct unbecoming of a judicial official.  If he is found guilty, he should be removed from office.

Pat Martin, ousted chair of the Tazewell County Republican Party, filed a lawsuit last Monday in Tazewell County Circuit Court seeking an injunction to prohibit the reorganization meeting held on this past Saturday from going forward.  The suit was filed by Blacksburg attorney Thomas Debusk on behalf of Martin and other ousted officials and named 12 defendants including the chair and 9th District Republican Committee.

On last Thursday, retired judge Charles Flanagan dismissed the suit and stated in his ruling “the court is without jurisdiction to intervene in the political affairs of a political party where no statutory or constitutional issues are presented.”

The news article about the suite can be found here.  The ousted Tazewell GOP leadership apparently plans to appeal to the State Central Committee.  I do not think they will be successful and shouldn’t be after the circus of a “convention” they conducted.

I was not able to attend the Saturday re-organization meeting of the Tazewell County Republican Party due to finding out late and a previous commitment.  Anybody know how it went?

UPDATED:  4/30/08

Dale in the comments fills us in on how the Saturday meeting went:

At the meeting on Saturday, Pat Martin and her slate lost 2-1 against the other slate. The new committee is comprised of Chairman: Aaron Roberts, Vice-Chair: Sherman Cain, Secretary: Rebecca Shuler, and Treasurer: Travis Hackworth. The temporary committee did a great job in planning and excecuting the new mass meeting. The Tazewell Co. GOP is stronger than ever now.

Good to hear that the Tazwell GOP is back on track and thanks to Dale for updating us.

Last week U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia John Brownlee announced his resignation effective next month.  Likely speculation, which Brownlee has fueled, seems to be that he is considering a run for Virginia Attorney General next year.

Brownlee proved to be an effective U.S. Attorney, taking down drugs and local government/police corruption among other achievements.  He would be an excellent candidate for the GOP.

I certainly hope he does decide to run.  A McDonnell/Bolling/Brownlee ticket sure would do some damage to the Virginia Democrats.  Speaking of which, are there any Democats organized yet?

The GOP stands a great chance at taking back the Governor’s Mansion in 2009 after 8 years of mis-management.

Since Isaac St.C. Freeman was elevated by the General Assembly in 2005 to Circuit Court judge in Smyth County and the 28th Judicial Circuit there have been many rumors about his demeanor in office. 

Today the Bristol Herald-Courier has a story on his apparent legislating from the bench antics in denying concealed handgun permits to at least two honorably discharged veterans and others in Smyth County.  The Code of Virginia says that in order to qualify for a concealed handgun permit you must demonstrate competency and being honorably discharged is listed as a qualifier.  Freeman’s antics prompted Delegate Joe Johnson to introduce HB873 this past session, which passed, that further expands the Code of Virginia section on the permits to say that proof of competency once established never expires.  Both the Sheriff and Commonwealth’s Attorney of Smyth County had greenlighted the applications that Freeman has denied.

The Virginia Court of Appeals actually overturned Freeman’s decision in one case and ordered the permit be granted.  However, later in another case Freeman denied another permit following that decision.

All the legislators who represent Smyth County have great concerns about these problems.  As mentioned in the article, Senator Phillipp Puckett went as far as to file an official complaint on Freeman with the Chief Justice of Virginia.  When Freeman’s term is up in 2013, it doesn’t look like he will have to worry about being re-elected to office by the General Assembly. 

Judge Freeman should not be legislating from the bench and should not be imposing undue burdens on these applicants.  The Code of Virginia is very clear on the subject and a judge cannot impose additional requirements not listed in the Code.  If he doesn’t think he can carry out the duties of circuit court judge, he should resign immediately.

On Sunday afternoon the 9th District Republican Committee held a special meeting to discuss the events of the Tazewell County GOP Convention from back in March.  I attended as a voting member in my capacity as Chairman of the Smyth County GOP.  The meeting lasted about 3 hours. Going into the meeting I was really torn on what the proper decision should be. On one hand the Tazewell GOP Convention clearly had problems, On the other hand is it proper for the District Committee to intervene in a local county party’s affairs?

There was emotional testimony from many who felt disenfranchised by the convention and felt that the existing Tazewell GOP under the leadership of Pat Martin was not up to par.  Many wore stickers saying “Tazewell County GOP Lockout Victim.”  The videos circulated on YouTube were played for all to see.  The woman in the video gave her version of events which didn’t differ much from what was depicted in the video.

In the end the definition of “functioning” as used in Article IV, Section D, (e) in the RPV plan was the debate.  That section states:

Whenever the District Committee shall determine that a Unit Committee, or its Chairman, has
failed to function as such, the District Committee shall appoint a new Committee, or a new
Chairman, as the case may be. A Committee thus created shall perform their duties provided in
the State Party Plan until their successors are elected at a Mass Meeting or Convention called
for that purpose.

In the end the it was decided that the existing Tazewell GOP was not “functioning” in the spirit of the Republican Party. It could not be denied that the Tazewell GOP did have elected leadership and was meeting, but the majority of voting members thought that it was not “functioning” as a committee should. I forgot to record the exact vote for dissolving the committee, but it was overwhelming of like 20-2 if I recall. A new Tazewell GOP Committee was elected by the 9th District Committee. I believed the new committee desired to hold a new mass meeting or convention to get the Tazewell GOP back on track.

This was a very sad event. The GOP should not be fighting each other and it was unfortunate that it had to come down to this. We as the GOP need to work together and not against each other and those interested in the political process. We cannot lock people out of a public meeting, deny them to right to observe, and make it overly complicated for people to participate.

A sad event indeed.

The Bristol Herald-Courier has a couple articles here and here about the selection of judges in Virginia by the General Assembly.  The paper states that the process goes back to reconstruction and Virginia is one of only two states were the legislature picks judges.

The articles largely center upon State Senator Phillip Puckett’s (D-38) refusal to allow Judge John Farmer of Dickenson County to be re-elected to another term as a Juvenile and Domestic Relations judge.  Puckett said his reasoning for the decision was confidential complaints that he received.

I strongly favor Virginia’s current system of the General Assembly electing judges.  I do not think it would be a good idea to allow judges to be popularly elected as it would inject judges into the public political process.  I don’t think judges should be running public campaigns while in office.  It wouldn’t be good for a judge to run a campaign by putting up signs with the likes of ”tough on crime” and other slogans as this could be a potential conflict with their duties.

I would support doing as other states do and allowing the public to have a retention vote on judges.  A simple yes or no question on the ballot about retaining a judge, such as how Florida does, would be good to add to the processes the are now in place for judge election.  The General Assembly in Virginia holds judges accountable and that process should be kept as is with very little change.

I was glad to see yesterday that a potential rift in the GOP for the 2009 Virginia races was avoided.  Lt. Governor Bill Bolling dropped his race for Governor and deferred to Attorney General Bob McDonnell for the GOP nomination for Governor.  It was fearful that Virginia Republicans would see a repeat of the Hager/Earley fiasco of 2001.

Bill Bolling is a super nice guy and I am glad to see he has announced his intention to run again for Lt. Governor next year.  McDonnell is the stronger candidate and the GOP ticket will do well being led by him and Bolling.  Now, the AG slot needs to be filled with a good strong conservative Republican.

Hopefully the RPV will make a comeback with the U.S. Senate race in November and will march on strong and unified for the 2009 races.

Last Thursday several NASCAR drivers came to Smyth County to promote the planned 1,500 acre Sheridan Ridge Private Reserve upscale housing community slated to be built in the Marion area.  The Smyth County News has this article on the media event.  The land deal, a record $12.7 Million, is the largest in Smyth County history.  The upscale housing development will cater to NASCAR drivers and similar other types.

This upscale development will also pours hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Smyth County tax base too.  Another good thing for Smyth County.

TriCities.com reports here that Wythe County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge M. Keith Blankenship was arrested Saturday on I-81 in Smyth County on DUI charges.

M. Keith Blankenship is set to appear April 24 in Smyth County on charges of DUI and refusing a breath test, both misdemeanors.
The 43-year-old Wytheville resident was arrested Saturday evening in Smyth County after being pulled over by a Virginia State Police trooper.
Trooper R.D. Collins was watching for Blankenship’s vehicle on Interstate 81 northbound after police received a tip from Washington County that the vehicle’s driver may be impaired, said State Police spokesman Sgt. M.T. Conroy.
Conroy said the officer observed Blankenship driving erratically and pulled him over at the 43 mile marker at approximately 5:36 p.m.

Tonight at 7PM was the deadline for candidates to file for town elections in Virginia to be held in May.  This list from the SBE lists the Smyth County towns and candidates.  I have been told it is up-to-date.  I am somewhat surprised to see that the only contested races in Smyth County will be for Mayor and Town Council in Saltville.  Incumbent Saltville Mayor Jeff Campbell is being challenged by Billy Whitely.  Campbell is a lawyer in Marion and Whitely is a leader in the Saltville Ruritan Club.  This one should be an interesting race.

UPDATED:  3/5/2008  8:16PM 
The link listed above appears to have been updated today.  Now 6 people are seeking the 3 council seats in Saltville.  Incumbent members Ison and Orr have decided to re-file.  However, Bill Palmer, who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Craig Barbrow did not re-file.  The link I have above must have some kind of delay and not be as up-to-date as I was given the impression of.

We’ll see what happens in May in the contested races in Saltville