| IRELAND'S MUG - Gift mugs bearing the Secretary of State's name and title were given to county
election officials and workers at a recent state election conference at Glade Springs.
Betty Ireland (Republican) lobbied county clerks and other officials to abandoned their earlier decision to use Optical Scanners to count paper ballots.
Ireland told county officials that Touch-Screen computer voting was more efficient, and has safeguards.
Several counties, including Calhoun, have apparently changed their mind about sticking to a paper ballot-optical scanning vote system.
Staff members for Ireland said she has worked hard to keep her name off any office materials or handouts that other elected officials often use as a means of self-promotion.
At the same time, Ireland and her staff handed out more than 250 coffee mugs that were paid for by the state.
Last year, Attorney General Darrell McGraw got flak when his staff ordered more than $100,000 worth of pens, pillboxes and other trinkets that featured his name.
McGraw also was criticized during last year's election season for spending state money on an expensive series of television ads that featured himself.
Statewide, at least half a dozen elected officials also have been criticized for painting their names on state vehicles.
Last year, then-Secretary of State Manchin had to recall thousands of voter forms that bore his name in tiny print at the top, a violation of state law.
The State Ethics Commission has declined to rule on the trinket give-aways.
The Secretary of State's office also has begun an investigation of Kanawha County Prosecutor Bill Charnock (Republican), whom state auditors have charged with using state-funded resources like computers and copiers to help run his campaign.
FEDS SEIZE DELEGATE'S RECORDS - The feds have targeted a member of the West Virginia Legislature, looking for gambling and election-related records.
Investigators raided the office of Delegate Joe Ferrell (D-Logan), who operates a video lottery machine business, according to US District Court Records.
FBI agents seized over 700 boxes of materials from the Logan headquarters of Southern Amusement Company, an outfit once owned by Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin and his family.
Seized records include candidate slates and other election-related documents, found in a credenza. Ferrell, an eight-term lawmaker, has been named a co-conspirator and potential witness in the pending vote-buying case against several Lincoln County officials and residents.
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