The West Virginia School Service Personnel Association announced Monday that its political action committee has endorsed Jeff Kessler for governor in the May primary, and the West Virginia Education Association PAC announced its choice of Darrell McGraw for state Supreme Court, among other state office endorsements.
School Service Personnel Association Executive Director Joe White said his union's 21-member PAC, consisting of the union's elected executive committee and members appointed by the executive committee, chose to only make endorsements for governor and local school board races in order to focus resources like time and money. He said the PAC was saving state Senate and state House of Delegates endorsements for the general election.
White said Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer and the only Republican candidate for governor, didn't return a questionnaire required to receive an interview from the PAC for a possible endorsement.
He said all three Democratic candidates in the May 10 primary - Kessler, Booth Goodwin and Jim Justice - did return questionnaires, and each received a roughly 30-minute interview Saturday.
All three answered questions well and the PAC took about four hours to choose Kessler, said White, who doesn't have a vote on the PAC.
"At this time, with the workers in West Virginia being under attack as they have been, they felt that it would take experience and knowledge in the governor's office," he said.
White said Kessler, D-Marshall and Senate minority leader, has "always been a friend of education," and impressed the committee by promising to advocate for a repeal of the state's new "right to work" law in his first state of the state address as governor.
White said his union feels right to work - which doesn't directly affect his organization but will allow workers in other sectors to benefit from union representation without paying dues - will drive down wages in the state.
"If people leave West Virginia, then it affects the school system, and that's what we work in," he said.
White said the union has about 8,120 members. School service personnel include workers likes bus drivers, cooks and custodians.
Also Monday, the PAC of the WVEA union, which earlier endorsed Justice for governor, announced that it had picked McGraw for Supreme Court, Natalie Tennant for secretary of state, Doug Reynolds for attorney general, Jason Pizatella for auditor and John Perdue for treasurer.
Not all primary candidates have contested elections, but WVEA President Dale Lee said no Republican candidates for the statewide offices answered the questionnaires required to receive an endorsement. When asked whether this offended him as head of the union, Lee said, "Everybody does what they believe is best. If I were a candidate I would definitely want to at least have my views shared."
He said his union's PAC is comprised of chairmen or chairwomen representing all 55 counties, and the full committee voted on the statewide endorsements. He said it endorsed McGraw because of his responses to the questionnaire and in the interview and his "longstanding support of education."
McGraw is married to Jorea Marple, a former West Virginia state schools superintendent.
The winner of the nonpartisan Supreme Court race will be selected during the May 10 primary.
WVEA's list of endorsements for Senate and House will eventually be posted online at wvea.org/news.
The union has over 13,000 members - mostly teachers, but also service personnel, college students studying to become teachers and retirees.
The American Federation of Teachers' West Virginia arm will make its endorsements April 2.
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.