 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(June 2024) |
Logan County, West Virginia, has a long and colorful history of political scandal and corruption.
| | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(June 2024) |
Logan County, West Virginia, has a long and colorful history of political scandal and corruption.
Logan County has been notorious for over a century for political machines that control virtually all aspects of elected office. Allies of candidate John F. Kennedy once famously asked local political boss Raymond Chafin how much money he wanted so that Kennedy could carry southern West Virginia in the 1960 presidential election, and Chafin replied "thirty five," meaning $3,500. Kennedy's men returned with a suitcase full of $35,000, making it one of the more famous instances of miscommunication in the greasing of political palms in Logan history. [1]
During the 2004 election season in the town of Logan, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in a controversial move, had four-term mayor Thomas Esposito run for the West Virginia House of Delegates in order to ferret out corruption in Logan County politics. Officials in neighboring Lincoln County were also charged.[ citation needed ]
Other public figures were charged with federal crimes and forced to resign. The following men were implicated in the sting:
Although Esposito was a sham candidate controlled by the federal government,[ citation needed ] he received 2,175 votes in his faked bid to be elected to the 19th District of West Virginia's House of Delegates.[ citation needed ] Greg Campbell, Perry Harvey's attorney, argued unsuccessfully before District Judge David A. Faber that Esposito's faked campaign interfered with an election and disenfranchised everyone voting for him. Judge Faber took thirty minutes to decide that the votes were irrelevant.[ citation needed ]
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