CHARLESTON — Across the state, West Virginians are actively receiving misleading negative mailers from Mountain State Values, which is a left-wing political action committee attempting to elect liberal candidates throughout the state of West Virginia. Additionally, they are purchasing advertisements on radio stations and social media platforms. This is part of a two-year-long disinformation campaign to defeat republican legislators.
Already, Mountain State Values has spent $1,041,268.03 in negative ads within the last 40 days against conservative candidates, spending $180,060.68 on Sen. Robert Karnes’ race alone. Karnes, a republican, is running to serve the 11th senatorial district, representing: Grant, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Upshur, and Webster Counties.
One of the primary attacks that Mountain State Values has launched against Karnes is by falsely accusing him of supporting tax hikes, targeting his conservative base, citing S.B. 335. However, this is categorically false because S.B. 335 was a republican tax reform bill to eliminate the state income tax over a 3 year period. For the first time, West Virginians’ paychecks would be untouched by the state tax department. To compensate for the loss of funds, as a result of eliminating the state income tax, a flat tax would be placed on all in-state sales. This would have resulted in one of the largest tax breaks in West Virginia history.
So, why would Mountain State Values falsely accuse Karnes and other republican legislators of supporting a tax hike? They certainly have a motive.
The chairwoman of Mountain State Values is Lou Ann Johnson, and the committee’s treasurer is Fmr. Del. Nancy Guthrie (D).
Fmr. Del. Guthrie was a democratic member of the House of Delegates, formerly representing Kanawha Country’s 36th district. In 2016, Guthrie co-sponsored her final, signature legislative proposal H.B. 127, a bill “increasing personal income tax rates for taxpayers.” She co-sponsored this bill to increase income taxes with Delegates Brent Boggs (D), Mike Caputo (D), Mike Ferro (D), Ken Hicks (D), Dana Lynch (D), Clif Moore (D), Mike Pushkin (D), Ralph Rodighiero (D), and Justin Marcum (D). It was entirely led by the House Democratic leadership, without bipartisan support.
Therefore, Guthrie has a strong motive to completely misrepresent Sen. Robert Karnes’ tax reform proposal. As the chairman of the West Virginia State Senate’s tax reform committee, Karnes not only prevented Guthrie’s income tax hikes, but attempted to eliminate the state income tax altogether.
Additionally, Mountain State Values chairwoman Lou Ann Johnson is a former staffer for U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller and also worked for Natalie Tennant’s U.S. Senate campaign. She was also a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.
Furthermore, Mountain State Values has hired two large political firms to carry out their attacks on Republican legislators: Targeted Platform Media and The Campaign Workshop
According to documents obtained by Mountaineer Journal, Targeted Platform Media has been paid over $24,852,397 in 2020 alone to defeat conservative candidates throughout the country, including President Donald J. Trump.
Targeted Platform Media received $1,480,806 from Tom Styers’ Need to Impeach PAC to lead a multi-media propaganda campaign for the purpose of increasing support for the impeachment of President Trump. They also became involved in U.S. House races, supporting House of Representatives candidates who will support his impeachment. They also took credit for Trump’s first impeachment, claiming to have pressured “Congress to hold the most corrupt president in U.S. history accountable.” This PAC worked to flip the House of Representatives to Democratic control in 2018, giving democrats the majority of members needed to impeach the President.
Targeted Platform Media also collected $70,000 from the Medicare for All PAC, assisting democratic candidates that support socialized healthcare. Furthermore, they received $16,294,389 from Bill Burton’s Priorities USA Action, which is the largest liberal-Democratic Party super PAC in the United States.
The Campaign Workshop is a democratic political firm based in Washington D.C. This firm has provided $11,950 in services to support candidates supporting LGBT causes, along with receiving $92,499 from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and $56,917 from other leading union organizations.
Other candidates that have been attacked by Mountain State Values in the general election include Sen. Ryan Weld ($143,726.88), Sen. Mike Maroney ($150,299.26), Kathie Crouse ($138,300.93), Jack Woodrum ($42,667.61), Patrick Martin ($109,670.27), Sen. Patricia Rucker ($141,393.87), and Eric Nelson ($135,148.53) among others. All are republicans.
In conclusion, Mountain State Values is an organization that is attempting to falsely accuse Republicans of supporting higher taxes in order to protect the West Virginia state income tax. Mountain State Values‘ leadership has a documented history of fighting for income tax increases in the state legislature. They are directly and deliberately accusing their republican opposition of supporting their legislative outcomes, by deceptively labeling tax cuts as “tax hikes.” Their sole agenda is to create an effective disinformation campaign to weaken support within the Republican base, so democrats supporting higher taxes will have a greater chance of getting elected. Therefore, Republican voters should not believe any mailers or promotional material from this organization, as their sole agenda is to save the state income tax for the purpose of imposing future tax increases on West Virginia taxpayers.