WV State Senate Debates at CU

The debate was organized and moderated by Phi Alpha Delta.
Photo By Anastasiia Vorobeva

On November 2, 2016, Concord University hosted a debate between two candidates for the West Virginia senate - Rockwell “Rocky” Seay and Chandler Swope. The event was organized by Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity, and gave the students and community residents the opportunity to learn more about the candidates and their opinions on important state issues. “Planning of this event was very difficult, honestly,” says Tyler Gordon, the president of Phi Alpha Delta. “It was many hours of speaking to both of the candidates, and there were a lot of disagreements. They each had to sign like eight pages of terms and agreements which we typed up. There was a lot of debate on those.” The results paid off and the debate turned out to be great. The candidates covered a wide range of topics, including fund cuts, supporting coal jobs, the importance of college education, legalizing marijuana, and even the accusations that Chandler Swope hired illegal workers for the construction company he recently retired from.

    One of the first issues the candidates talked about was the low accessibility of higher education for West Virginians. Swope agreed that higher education should be the higher priority for the state budget. Seay suggested that one of the ways to fund higher education is placing taxes on certain goods and services, such as transaction taxes for lawyers that they currently don’t pay.  “We have to reward our best and our brightest. We have to incentivize them to stay home,” Seay says. “We need our best and our brightest now more than ever.  And one way we can incentivize them to come here and also make college more affordable is providing them with the means to pay portion of the debt they take on once they receive their diplomas.”

    The candidates addressed the question of the role of coal in the future of West Virginia. “It is not the question of “is coal the answer? –  Yes or no,” says Seay. “The answer here is that coal is a part of the answer. Let’s be realistic about something, folks. We have a proud heritage of coal in the state. […] But coal…it is never gonna provide in the way it once did.” Seay believes that it is important to rely not only on the coal industry, but also agriculture, tourism and manufacturing. “We have to diversify our economy in order to thrive and survive,” he says. Swope agreed with Seay, but he also added that he studied global warming with connection to coal industry and didn’t find proof that there is any. “The war on coal has destroyed our coal industry for no reason but political. And it got me upset, cause they destroyed my home for political reasons and it has nothing to do with global warming at all.” Swope says he doesn’t believe coal would grow back to the level it was before, but West Virginians still need to fight to get it cost effective to “keep what coal business we’ve got.”

    The debate became a little more intense when the recent accusation of Swope hiring illegal immigrants was mentioned. Swope said that since he retired four years ago, he couldn’t hire any illegal immigrants. He had a document with him from the Department of Labor in West Virginia saying they have “no record of violation issues or undocumented workers to Swope Construction Company.” Seay questioned Swope, using payroll documents he had with him. The documents showed that Swope Construction didn’t release Social Security Numbers and addresses of some workers while it did for others, which could mean that they were illegal workers. “It goes two ways,” Seay said, “Either these folks are illegal or they don’t have a social security number.” This argument is one of the key points of Seay’s campaign against Swope. Swope answered that all addresses and Social Security Numbers “were provided. Period. […] There was never deficiency with certified payroll ever provided by Swope Construction.”

    At the end of the debate the candidates stayed to shake hands with the audience and answer their questions. Overall, everyone seemed to be pleased with the event. “The moderating was excellent; the candidates did a great job. They were very responsive to the questions. I think it was extremely informative,” says Dr. Sally Howard, Professor of Political Science at Concord University. “I think the debate went really well. I am glad that both candidates showed up. I am glad that both candidates were cordial most of the event,” says Chris Arthur, student here at Concord University and the moderator of the debate, “I think a lot of people got more information than they had on the illegal workers, cause it was a kind of open question in a lot of people’s minds. I think that in a lot of issues people know what candidates stand for now.”

    Both candidates were satisfied with the debate experience at Concord. “I feel great about today’s debate,” says Seay, “I feel like it very clearly illustrated the differences between he and I. I wish I had a clicker every time he said ‘I agree with everything he said’ or ‘he covered it pretty well.’ I think that if you persuade your opponent, then mostly your ideas were pretty good. Most of all what I hope for from this debate, you know, win or lose, I hope it encourages our young people to maybe try to stay in West Virginia and most of all, maybe to hit the call of public service.”

    Candidate Swope said that his visit to Concord was very important for him. “I am asking for the job of representing the people. And I can’t represent the people from the closet somewhere. I have to be out. I have to talk to them. I have to hear what they have to say. I am not here to represent me; I am here to represent all the people in our district and in the whole state of West Virginia.” Swope believes in the importance of being open-minded. He says “This is the thing I enjoy the most about it - is getting to know people. If someone disagrees with me, it doesn’t upset me. They simply have a different point of view; they come from a different place, grown up with different experiences. And if they have a point of view on something different than mine it simply means that I haven’t heard it yet. It doesn’t mean it is wrong, or that I am right. You have to listen.”

    Overall, the event was well-organized and left the audience and the candidates satisfied with the results. On his website, Swope posted the link to the video of the debate, available on YouTube, with a comment “For those of you who are undecided and still need to hear both of our points of view, I’d encourage you to take a moment to review this video of the debate last night.” It should be a nice feeling for the faculty and students of Concord to know that their university hosted such successful event.