CHARLESTON — A liberal judge has attempted to rig a state senate election against a conservative candidate, over claims of ineligibility. The case is currently being considered by the West Virginia Supreme Court, following an appeal.
Andrea Garrett Kiessling, the conservative republican state senate candidate, has held joint-residency in West Virginia and in North Carolina. According to legal experts in the GOP, nothing in the West Virginia State Code defines whether one can have joint residency, traveling between two separate states. Garrett Kiessling was born and grew up in West Virginia, living in the state for several years.
The West Virginia State Constitution requires that senators must have “been citizens of the State for five years next preceding their election or appointment.”
Judge Duke Bloom, a registered Democrat, ordered the Secretary of State to withdraw the certificate of candidacy and for votes for Kiessling not to be counted.
Judge Bloom’s ruling is not only unprecedented, but it’s likely a direct order in violation of federal common law.
Very clearly, in Purcell v. Gonzalez, the ‘Purcell Principle’ established that courts should not attempt to interfere during an election because it could confuse voters and election officials.
Judge Bloom’s order totally ignores all reasonable principles of stare decisis, where judges are to make rulings according to prior judicial precedents.
Placing signs up at polling places declaring a candidate to be ineligible, along with ordering county clerks not to count the votes of the candidate, is blatant interference by the courts in a democratic election.
Greg Thomas, GOP strategist and executive director of WVCALA, denounced the ruling as being a total “partisan attack.”
The Judge Bloom hearing is nothing short of a partisan attack. Surely the State Supreme Court will see this desperate attempt by greedy liberal personal injury lawyers to prevent a Christian businesswoman, mother of three who doesn’t support letting boys use girls bathrooms.
— Greg Thomas—Pre-Trump (@gregthomaswv) May 3, 2022
Bloom is the same judge who dismissed two charges against a doctor accused of sexually abusing his patients while they were under anesthesia at Charleston Area Medical Center. The doctor was ultimately found guilty of one count of sexual abuse, and was forced to surrender his medical license.
The West Virginia Supreme Court will begin reviewing Garret Kiessling’s case on Friday.