McGeehan makes state Senate run

CHESTER - Armed with the idea that less spending and less government means more freedom and more liberty, Pat McGeehan has decided to run for a West Virginia Senate seat.

McGeehan (R-Chester) currently serves in the West Virginia House of Delegates representing Hancock County. He withdrew his name from the Delegate ballot Saturday and, instead, filed his candidacy Sunday in the state Senate race.

"There are very few senators with this policy in our state, and this is what I intend to push," McGeehan said Sunday about limited government.

"The web of bureaucracy in West Virginia regulates by force nearly every bit of our economy into poverty," McGeehan added. "Only through the practice of freedom and liberty will we ever see our economic situation reverse, and this is the only way we can attract investment and jobs to the Northern Panhandle. I've been working on this since I've been in the House."

For instance, McGeehan pointed to his work on a coal-to-liquid fuel plant investment for Weirton.

"I think this is the next major avenue for job creation in our community, but we have to do much more in the long term," McGeehan said. "To give our kids opportunity, we have to enable economic growth through a wide variety of changes."

McGeehan said he believes the bureaucracy in West Virginia "micro-manages nearly every industry we have" and to the point that the bureaucrats keep jobs out of our state. "This needs to change," he said.

The bureaucracy's negative influence comes under the disguise of regulation, McGeehan said. "This only helps to serve special interest groups because they can regulate away competition. Big business in all different types of industry has helped to manipulate the law for their own purposes," McGeehan noted. "This has destroyed jobs in our state."

The bureaucracy shows itself in the utility industry and impacts residents in the Northern Panhandle, McGeehan said. Residents can only purchase natural gas from one company.

"Higher utility bills are the result," McGeehan said. "This is a prime example of monopoly politics at work."

One possible solution is the use of term limits, according to the Republican candidate.

"Term limits on career politicians is one major solution in the long term," he said. "Terms limits break up long standing affairs between politicians and special interest groups."

McGeehan introduced a term limits bill this year, and, if it is not taken up, he said he will continue the fight in the Senate.

"This Senate seat belongs to the people of the Northern Panhandle, and I intend to return it to them," McGeehan said.

In his first term as Delegate, McGeehan will face Larry Tighe, a Republican from Wheeling, in the May primary. The Republican primary winner will face the Democrat challenger in November.

Dan Greathouse and Orphy Klempa are the Democrat candidates for the May primary.

A graduate of the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, McGeehan served as an Air Force Intelligence Officer.

He is currently employed as a business representative in the Ohio Valley for White Machine and Manufacturing out of Zanesville, Ohio.