How long should a candidate for governor have to live in WV?
By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
CHARLESTON, WV – If you want to be governor of West Virginia, you must satisfy certain requirements. You must be an eligible voter, 30 years old, a resident of the state for at least the past five years, and you must never have engaged in a duel with a deadly weapon.
At least one senator wants to change those requirements. While the duel ban would still apply, Sen. Rupie Phillips, R-Logan, filed Senate Joint Resolution 19 this week requiring the governor to be born in the state. Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier, also signed on as a co-sponsor of the measure, which if approved by the legislature would go on the ballot for voters to decide this fall.
The resolution apparently stems from disagreements between Republican senators and the state’s current Republican governor, Patrick Morrisey. Morrisey moved to West Virginia 19 years ago and has held elective office in the state for 12 years.
Phillips says he has revised his proposal since hearing from voters, who thought it went too far initially requiring you to be born in-state, to require that a person must be a resident for at least 30 years before becoming governor.
During “remarks by members” on Friday morning, an ally of Morrisey, Sen. Laura Chapman, R-Ohio, rose to speak. She sits immediately behind Phillips on the Senate floor.
“I have to admit I was a little surprised and disappointed,” Chapman began. “The voters elected 10 of 35 governors to serve despite that they were born outside our borders.”
Chapman argued that the geography of delivery rooms shouldn’t dictate who can lead the state.
“Our current governor, Patrick Morrisey is a perfect example of why this matters,” she said, after listing some of the things she believes he has accomplished while in office.
“We should trust West Virginians to decide who is worthy of leading them,” she concluded, before Phillips stood in reply.
“I think (30 years) is a very good compromise,” he began. “I still believe we need West Virginia values. Five years just isn’t enough to understand every corner from Wheeling to War what goes on in West Virginia.”
SJR19 has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
