Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Dyer speaks to Wood County Commission
Discusses candidacy for West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
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PARKERSBURG -- Re-establishing the public's trust with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals will be one of the things a candidate for the court told county commissioners on Thursday.
Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Lora Dyer appeared before the Wood County Commission to talk about her candidacy. The terms of three West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals justices will expire in 2020. The three seats are up for nonpartisan election on May 12, 2020.
"There are professional reasons and personal," she said of her run for the court.
Court members were impeached in 2018 for spending large amounts of taxpayer dollars for expensive furnishings and office decorations with a lot of attention given to a $32,000 couch bought by the former chief justice.
Former Chief Justice Allen Loughry was sentenced to two years in jail and other court members resigned and were replaced as the court has begun rebuilding its reputation.
"I like the direction things are going now," Dyer said. "Like anything else in government there is always room for improvement."
She feels she has the experience, talent and passion for the judiciary. She highlighted growing up in southern West Virginia, the daughter of a coal miner, and being the first person in her family to go to college, Marshall University for her undergraduate work and West Virginia University Law School.
"Everything I have and everything I have accomplished has come from hard work," she said. "I am not afraid of hard work or making difficult decisions.
"That job requires a lot of that."
As a circuit judge in the state's 5th Judicial Circuit, which covers Jackson, Mason, Roane and Calhoun counties, she has administered around 1,000 cases.
She credits former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Joseph Albright of Wood County with giving her first legal job.
"I credit him for the passion I have for the judiciary," she said.
She was also a clerk for the late-Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jim Stucky and was an assistant prosecutor in Kanawha County. She spent several years in private practice as a corporate attorney, representing Fortune 500 companies. She was general counsel in the state Auditor's office.
"I feel I have the experience to do the job," Dyer said.
She is the mother of an 8-year-old son.
The state of West Virginia has around 7,000 children in foster care with many grandparents having to adopt and raise their grandchildren. In Jackson County, they have 300 abuse and neglect cases involving children, many of which she has dealt with.
"I want to do and take it statewide," Dyer said.
Commission President Blair Couch told Dyer it was "a heavy lift to run for statewide office."
"You have a passion for the law and a lengthy legal career that brings you to a point where you can serve the whole state," he said. "I think that is critical.
"There has to be a passion to run for office."
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com