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PARKERSBURG – The Libertarian Party of West Virginia announced its slate of candidates for the 2016 general election Wednesday, including two men running for office in Wood County.
Parkersburg resident Stephen Smith plans to run for the Wood County Commission, while Davisville resident Brent West will throw his hat in the ring for sheriff, according to a release from the party.
Neither had filed as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Wood County Clerk Mark Rhodes, but they have until Aug. 1 to do so.
Smith would join a field that includes Parkersburg Mayor Jimmy Colombo, a Democrat, and former Commissioner Rick Modesitt, who won the Republican primary for the seat Tuesday.
Smith has served as an associate professor of accounting in the Business, Accounting and Public Services Division of West Virginia University at Parkersburg for nine years. He holds a master’s of business administration degree from West Virginia University at Morgantown and a master’s of accountancy degree from Stetson University in Deland, Fla. Smith also holds a professional certification as a certified management accountant from the Institute of Management Accountants.
”I look forward to bringing the Libertarian philosophy of smaller government, personal freedom and personal responsibility to the race for our county commission,” Smith said.
Smith said he has been involved with both the Republican and Democratic parties over the years, but always had problems with some of the positions they had taken on certain issues.
”In the Libertarian Party I have found a set of positions that for the most part represent my views and that I can be proud to associate myself with,” he said.
Smith said he is interested in working to keeping county government as small as possible.
”You have to get in there and work with the details,” he said. ”Wood County has done a pretty good job holding down taxes and so forth, but can we do more?
”That is what Libertarian philosophy is, government being as small as possible and taking the least amount from the taxpayers while still providing needed services.”
Smith believes that many people throughout the county will end up agreeing with the Libertarian positions on a number of issues once they are made aware of what the party represents.
With only Republicans filing for Wood County sheriff in the primary, it appeared Steve Stephens, the top vote-getter in a field of five Tuesday, would be unopposed in the general election. But that will change when West registers.
West previously announced he was running for West Virginia treasurer, but the party news release identified Michael A. Young of Putnam County as the Libertarian candidate for that office.
A post to his campaign Facebook page, Brent West for WV, on Tuesday said, “I am still seeking office in 2016, not the original office. I will be ready to make the official announcement in the next few weeks. This change is huge, and we will get at least one Libertarian in office in 2016.”
West said he was still putting together his official platform that he was running on, but was able to share a number of details Wednesday evening.
West is a husband and father of two. He studied psychology and criminal justice while attending Ohio Valley University, but family commitments prevented him from graduating from OVU, West said. He is finishing his degree, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, through Southern New Hampshire University by January.
West said he has had no experience in police work but has managed businesses, worked with schedules and budgets.
”Sheriff is an administrative role,” West said. ”I feel I can offer a unique approach to the office.”
The role of sheriff is traditionally the chief tax collector for the county, he said.
West said he would be responsible in working with the county to be able to collect taxes fairly.
”No one enjoys paying taxes,” West said. ”I would hope to be able to put a friendly face on it.”
Being Libertarian, West feels a new approach needs to be taken in the country’s “war on drugs.”
What has been going on since the early 1970s has essentially failed with the government spending millions of dollars and militarizing the police with little to show for it as only 10-15 percent of the heroin out there has been confiscated, West said.
”It has been a policy failure,” West said. ”It is not working and it has been failing the citizens of Wood County.”
West would like to get people looking at the problem differently with a focus on getting people into effective treatment programs rather than the endless cycle of substance abuse, arrest, incarceration, release and start abusing again, he said.
He would like to see people be able to approach the sheriff and deputies with the option of being able to turn in their drugs and be able to seek treatment.
He admits he cannot do it all himself, but he wants to get the conversation started.
”We need to start looking at it in a different way,” West said. ”Einstein said the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
”I believe the people of Wood County deserve a choice,” he said. ”The office of sheriff should not be decided in a closed primary. The Democrats, Libertarians and independent voters deserve a say in their chief tax collector,” West said.
The Libertarian Party is fielding candidates for governor, David Moran of Preston County; attorney general, Karl Kolenich of Upshur County; secretary of state, John Buckley of Hardy County; treasurer, Michael A. Young of Putnam County; auditor, Brent Ricketts of Jefferson County, and for commissioner of agriculture, Buddy Guthrie of Monongalia County. The party has nominated Zane Lawhorn of Mercer County for U.S. House of Representatives in the Third Congressional District.