The Mystery of the Missing Delegate

To paraphrase The Doors (badly), politics are strange, politicians are stranger. That’s true on a national level – think Mark Foley, William Jefferson, or Jim Traficant, just for starters. On a local level, things can get even stranger. Consider the strange case of West Virginia House of Delegates member Ron Thompson.

Thompson was first elected to the House in 1994 and retained his seat in every subsequent election (House seats are up every two years in West Virginia). He is one of five delegates representing the 27th District, which includes hunks of Raleigh and Summers counties in the southeastern part of the state.

What makes Thompson’s case particularly mysterious is that he’s been AWOL for nearly a year - since the end of the Legislature’s 2006 session in March. He did not appear at any interim meetings through the rest of the year and was not in the Capitol when the Governor called a special session on tax reform back in November. Even odder, nobody really seemed to notice.

2006 was an election year, of course, and Thompson had to make his way through both primary and general elections. He did with flying colors. There were 10 Democrats on the primary ballot in May, with five spots in the general election on the line. Thompson led the slate, garnering almost twice the number of votes as the sixth-place runner (i.e., the first alternate). Six months later, Thompson came home third in the general election, just behind fellow Democrat Rick Moye.

Thompson managed this feat without ever really campaigning. According to the Beckley Register-Herald, Thompson “passed up public functions and photo-ops and spent a mere $600 on his race.” In the past, Thompson has hardly been a shrinking violet. The same newspaper article notes Thompson’s “usually high profile” and notes that he was “always a fashion plate in the House of Delegates.”

Had Thompson made some appearance post-election, the whole story would have disappeared as a footnote to modern political apathy. A story of a cynical incumbent who knew he had to do nothing more than put his name on the ballot to secure another term at the Capitol. But Thompson has never materialized. That 2006 special session was called by the Governor just two days after the general election. But Thompson didn’t appear.

With a new year came a new regular term of the Legislature. Thompson was still AWOL. This time, however, someone did take notice. With a new session of the Legislature came the swearing in of all the legislators, when they took the oath of office. A member who refuses to take the oath can be booted from the House. If nobody knows where Thompson is or when he will appear, how can he take the oath?

The need to act fell to the new Speaker of the House, ironically also named Thompson (tho’ no relation to Ron). Speaker Thompson managed to make contact with the wayward Thompson after the session began. Thompson informed the Speaker (via phone and letter) that he was seeking treatment for a “medical problem” and planned to take his seat on February 5.

But the 5th came and went, with no sign of Thompson. His fellow Delegates from the 27th District could not contact him. The Speaker punted the issue to the Rules Committee, which passed a resolution declaring the seat vacant. The full House passed the resolution the next day, in an unprecedented move. No member had ever been booted out for failure to appear. The last member kicked out came in 1970, when a Delegate who was also a state employee had to be excluded following the passage of a constitutional amendment barring state workers from serving in the Legislature. Beyond that, House researchers had to go back to the Reconstruction era, when former Confederates were denied seats for failing to take the oath.

That should have been the end of the story. The process for replacing Thompson had started and the seat should have been filled. But, alas, there is one further twist to this tale. After the House voted to boot Thompson out, the House received a letter from a Beckley psychiatrist stating that Thompson had been unable to fulfill his duties, including taking the oath of office. In addition, the Beckley media spied Thompson on his way to court, apparently for a mental hygiene hearing, indicating that there is some question regarding Thompson’s mental faculties.

Acting on this new information, the House first decided that it had the power to rescind its earlier order expelling Thompson and then voted to do just that. Thompson is still a member of the House, although it’s unclear when, if ever, he’ll actually appear at the Capitol (the Legislative session is only 60 days long, after all).

So, as it stands now, the votes of Raleigh and Summers counties are still short one Delegate, for reasons that aren’t altogether clear. Equally unclear is whether they have anything to complain about. After all, Thompson’s AWOL status was known during last year’s election and he was overwhelmingly voted in. Maybe next time an incumbent disappears without a trace, the voters might ponder whether they should seek representation elsewhere.