The voters of your county are fortunate to be able to vote to re-elect Del. Scot Heckert to the State Legislature in the upcoming election.

I know I am not from your county. But this is the age of unreliable social media, spam texts and emails, and high-priced, half-truth negative election ads. So the views of someone who has been on the inside of the Legislature should therefore be particularly valuable to your readers.

Over the years I have lobbied the Legislature about consumer issues, about improvements in divorce courts and laws for the children, about landowners’ and royalty owners’ rights vs. oil and gas companies, and so on. I have done these things as board president of a statewide consumer organization and as a lawyer for the little guy. Long ago I even worked as a lawyer drafting bills at the Legislature.

I can say that I have had the privilege of working with Del. Scot Heckert on many of these issues since he was elected to the Legislature from your county. Particularly he has worked to improve the many problems in our foster care system, and it needs more work. Del. Scot Heckert listens hard to all sides, thinks hard, makes his own hard decisions, and then works very outspokenly to do what is best for the citizens of his district and the State of West Virginia. I do not even always agree with him, but I know he is deciding based on what he believes to be right, and not because of politics or campaign contributions.

Our state and our state government have problems. We have those problems because there are not enough legislators like Hon. Scot Heckert in the Legislature from other parts of West Virginia. I urge your readers to vote in the upcoming election to send Scot Heckert back to the Legislature.

David B. McMahon

Charleston