Tag: Tim Armstead

Gov. The 30-minute segment, titled “Perfect Storm,” aired on WVVA, an NBC affiliate based in Bluefield. It consisted of Bray Cary, an adviser to Justice and board member of publicly traded natural-gas driller EQT Corp., interviewing the governor about the potential goodness of Republicans if they swept Tuesday’s elections. The ad was paid for by West Virginians for Fair Courts, which is headed by Greg Thomas, a longtime GOP consultant in West Virginia and campaign manager to Blankenship for his Senate run in the Republican primary earlier this year. According to disclosures to the Federal Communications Commission, the group paid $5,000 to run the ad, which included campaign plugs for Republicans like Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and congressional candidate Carol Miller, and for nonpartisan judicial candidates like West Virginia Supreme Court Justices Tim Armstead and Evan Jenkins. Along with Cary interviewing Justice in a format reminiscent of a Charlie Rose interview, the segment features a video compilation of news clips generally focused on positive economic news in the state. When asked about the appearance of a state-made video that includes the governor and two state employees appearing in a political ad, he said the video compilation was not made for political purposes. “I see that point, but the video was made to document the then-current posture of the administration, in terms of what that political issue is,” he said. Abraham said he asked an attorney with the state Ethics Commission for an informal opinion, and that attorney agreed with him. Despite being technically nonpartisan candidates, Armstead and Jenkins both served as elected Republicans before Justice appointed them to the Supreme Court.