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Editor, News-Register:
Hey West Virginians who used to live in the 1st Congressional District, you have a big election coming up and a lot depends on it. You now live in the 2nd District and the elected congressman in the new 2nd District will represent the Ohio Valley. It is going to be a competitive race with David McKinley facing off against current 2nd District Congressman Alex Mooney.
My name is Tom Burgoyne and after a 33-year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and eight ears as your Ohio County Sheriff, I think many of you know I am a registered Democrat and in no small part because I grew up in a Democratic family with my dad having worked intensely on the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy. I also think I know people pretty well.
Politics is a very unique process and remember, once you vote you cannot change your mind an hour later and try to re-enter the polls and try to change your vote.
Just consider what David McKinley has done, not only for our area, but for our statewide efforts during the past two years of COVID. We need direction from our leaders and McKinley has gotten things done. I know many of you have visited his offices throughout the District attempting to resolve a family, business or civic issue and I trust that David and his staff have always "answered the bell."
In politics I believe we should always vote for the best man -- and not because he at one time was aligned with our former president. What did that former president do for our district during his tenure? Not much I can assure you.
McKinley stays close to state leaders whatever their political affiliation is in order to prioritize how we will spend our portion of the $6 billion-plus which West Virginia will expect to receive in the next decade. This money emanated from the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill passed in November, 2021. Keep in mind that some of this money is paid for partly by COVID relief money left over and gives what McKinley knew West Virginia needed and what this money could mean to our state. He did not want to play "the waiting game" and knew the time was right to move forward. Leaders have to lead by example and McKinley has always been first in line.
I certainly do not agree "eye to eye" with the mindset of David on all occasions, but as a supporter of his I know he can be trusted and is a man of his word. The jury is out on his opponent who only moved to our state to run for Congress.
When McKinley was first elected as a delegate in our state, he was heavily outnumbered by the opposite party, so he had to learn to "hash out" delicate areas and still does so. He is a seventh generation West Virginian and not a pre-first generation office seeker. He is an engineer and a businessman and knows what it takes to "keep the doors open."
We are a "romantic" state in my estimation, so let's not forget "to dance with the girl who brought us." It is a very important dance. Our future in the next decade depends on it. So let's get out to vote and show the state that from Wheeling to Parkersburg, across Central West Virginia to Martinsburg, that we know and recognize the great job that David McKinley has done.
Thomas F. Burgoyne
Wheeling