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The Tap: Sunday, May 15, 2016

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #17 of The Tap, which was published on May 21, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

State

  • Lisa Hopkins was appointed by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (D) to serve as the interim auditor of West Virginia. She is a longtime employee of the auditor’s office. Hopkins replaced Glen Gainer III (D), who resigned on May 14 to take a position in the private sector. Gainer had served as auditor since 1993. He replaced his father, Glen Gainer Jr., who had held the position from 1977 to 1983. Gainer Jr.’s cousin had also held the position from 1960-1972. There was speculation prior to the May 10 Democratic primary contest that Gov. Tomblin would select the winner to serve as interim auditor in order to give his party an incumbency advantage going into the hotly contested 2016 elections; Mary Ann Claytor, who spoke out against that possibility, won the nomination over party favorite and Tomblin cabinet member Jason Pizatella. Choosing Hopkins as interim auditor instead, Gov. Tomblin has left the 2016 election wide open. After decades of Democratic control, the Republican Party could win the race for auditor this election cycle. West Virginia currently has a divided government; however, if Republicans win the governor’s seat in November, they will gain trifecta control of the state.


Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #16 of The Tap, which was published on May 14, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.