CAMPAIGN ’88 : ‘Cleanest Election’

The votes are in from Mingo County, West Virginia, in what the secretary of state called “the cleanest election in Mingo County history.” Voters rejected three of five candidates under criminal indictment and nominated a host of unknowns to key offices.

The poverty-stricken mountain coal mining county has been saddled with a corrupt reputation for years. In 1986, the fire chief was convicted of running a drug ring and the sheriff pleaded guilty to buying his job for $100,000.

Tuesday’s primary election for the Legislature, county commission, sheriff and other posts marked the decline of “slate makers,” power brokers who in the past have bought a person’s vote for $2 or a half-pint of bourbon, officials said.

The three indicted officials who lost were state Sen. John Pat Fanning and Chief Magistrate Bill Webb, both seeking reelection, and former state Rep. R. Doyle Van Meter II, who ran for county assessor.

Two indicted officials will be on the November ballot--former Magistrate Joey Kohari, nominated for assessor, and surveyor Jim Webb, nominated for another term in his position, which has no salary and no official duties.

“The results signal that an overwhelming majority of Mingo Countians are determined to put an end to the kind of political corruption which had drawn unfavorable attention from outsiders,” said Secretary of State Ken Hechler, the state’s chief election officer.

Fanning, Kohari, Van Meter and Bill Webb were among 15 political figures indicted April 7 on charges of conspiring to control elections through excessive political contributions to a Mingo County political slate. Jim Webb was indicted last fall on bribery and conspiracy charges for his role in a deed transaction. All have pleaded not guilty.