AFFLICTING THE COMFORTABLE: JOURNALISM AND POLITICS IN WEST VIRGINIA

8. He Never Used the Broom

Chapter 8 HE NEVER USED THE BROOM WEST VIRGINIA'S TWENTY-SIXTH GOVERNOR, William Wallace Barron, elected to office in 1960 on the same ballot as Kennedy, used to tell the story about walking out of church as a boy while his father was delivering a sermon. "Why did you do that?" Dr. Fred Barron asked his son later. 'The sermon wasn't very interesting," young Barron replied. This was one of the few recorded moments in Governor Barron's past when he openly exercised independence of spirit. Today he is remembered as a master compromiser, a man who believed that it is better to bend to the demands of reality than break under the burden of principle. Barron was an able student of the political craft as traditionally practiced in West Virginia. He discovered early in his career that it takes longer to change many minds than to change a few, and from then on, conference-room bargaining and assembly-room accommodation became his favorite tools of statecraft. As majority whip in the House of Delegates during the Patteson administration , as chairman of the Liquor Control Commission during Marland's term in office, and as attorney general during the Underwood years, Barron was well positioned to study the strengths and weaknesses of his predecessors and to hone his own skills for a future political run. From Governor Underwood, Barron learned not to provoke legislative passions in quest of the high ground. From Governor Marland he learned not to try to change fiscal policies deeply rooted in the past. And from Governor Patteson he learned how to turn patience and low-key persuasion into political virtues. go CHAPTER EIGHT He learned well. During his four years as governor, West Virginia experienced its greatest period of prosperity. Its citizens had more money, spent more money, and saved more money than at any other time in state history. Barron's interest in politics began in his youth and led to his first state job in the Workmen's Compensation Department following his graduation from Washington and Lee University. He later received his law degree from WVU and followed that with a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. He paid his dues, as the saying goes, as a Democratic precinct worker in Elkins. As a youngster he transported voters to the polls and performed other menial chores, eventually working his way up to precinct captain. His first elective office was that of mayor of Elkins, and he modestly distinguished himself by organizing a cleanup of the streets around town. To emphasize his commitment to the project, Mayor Barron himself pushed a broom as one of the volunteer sweepers. After serving for two terms in the House of Delegates, Barron's first big test of the precincts came when he filed for attorney general as a relative unknown . By then, Governor Marland had both appointed him liquor commission chairman and fired him from that position, an encumbrance Barron managed to overcome with skillful campaigning and his own secret weapon- his wife, Opal Marie Wilcox Barron. Out along the campaign trail, Opal's smile, wit, and innate charm warmed the hearts ofvoters as much as Barron himself. Thanks in large part to Opal, he won the primary with a 2,317-vote edge over his opponent, former State Treasurer William H. Ansel Jr. Barron had a brilliant and handsome opponent in the general election, Charleston attorney and city council president John A. Field Jr. But the statewide Democratic majority gave Barron the advantage. Field was appointed tax commissioner by then-Governor Underwood and later resigned to accept an appointment to the federal bench. Ironically, it was from this position that Field would some years later sentence Barron to prison. Barron's talent for accommodation became evident about the same time that rumors of his gubernatorial ambitions began surfacing. The attorney general , as the state's legal advisor, prepares written opinions for state and local officials. In this capacity his duty is to advise them on how the law reads HE NEVER USED THE BROOM 91 and relates to their actions, not on how it can be bent to suit the whims of a particular public official. But more than a few department heads mentioned that when they went to Attorney General Barron for legal opinions relating to problems in their departments, Barron would ask how they wanted the opinion written, apparently hoping to curry...