Jan. 1, 2006
 
EDITORIAL: WV GOP Should Start New Year Right
 
Everyone, even the most cynical observers who have seen it all, appreciate seeing an individual or even a political party acting consistent with their stated beliefs. Hypocrisy, on the other hand, has no friends.
 
This is why the West Virginia Republican Party, long the standard- bearer for traditional family values in this very family values state of ours, should bring every bit of persuasion and force to bear on one of their own--before he manages to wreck the whole train in the 2006 legislative elections.
 
We refer, of course, to Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse, who has shown a near total disregard for his fellow Senators and GOP legislative candidates by clinging by his fingernails to his leadership post in the wake of his messy divorce with Amy McKinley, the daughter of former GOP Chairman and gubernatorial candidate David McKinley of Wheeling.
 
But wait, there's more. Aside from this being Sprouse's third divorce, this particular situation Sprouse has caused is a mockery of any semblance of traditional family values, which he himself has run on and tried to defend from time to time.
 
In this case, Sprouse left his pregnant wife only a little after a year of marriage, some say just long enough to get him through his last election cycle. To leave a woman in the middle of pregnancy to fend for herself is not the kind of "leadership" Republicans come to expect from their Senate Minority Leader.
 
Moreover, the continuing consequences of Sprouse's early decision to leave this marriage continue. The couple's little boy, Max McKinley, was born with serious problems as a result of being afflicted with CHARGE Syndrome. Only through the heroic efforts of Amy McKinley, her family, and the child's doctors is Max able to come home for Christmas after several months of touch-and-go in a Seattle children's hospital.
 
Since all this is getting more and more known across the state, it is hard to believe that the Democrats won't seize upon this political gift, given them courtesy of Vic Sprouse. Sprouse is safe this year, having won his last election with Amy McKinley giving him quite a boost.
 
But you can bank on it that the State Democratic Party will make much of Sprouse's hypocrisy on family values in the other legislative races in an attempt to discredit the WV GOP, perhaps even taking away from them this important plank of their platform.
 
If Senator Sprouse disagrees with this logic, as always, he is welcome to respond. Any response by the Senator will be printed in its entirety. It would be interesting to hear how he justifies this one.
 
The hard fact remains that, through many, many good efforts by Republican candidates and their supporters statewide, the WV GOP is within striking distance of taking over the Senate for the first time in 70 years. For Senator Sprouse to jeopardize this possibility by refusing to simply relinquish his leadership title is the height of arrogance--and shows where his true priorities lie.
 
If the WV GOP has any self-respect, they will demand Sprouse leave his leadership position now, before it is too late to succeed in the 2006 election cycle.