This article is the second of a two part series on the progression and death of Logan’s Law in the 2006 Legislature. I strongly recommend you read part one first.

In the last article I told how the bill passed the Senate with 18 for, 5 against and 1 absent. Learning that the Democratic leadership and the governor were not happy that 15 Democrats voted for the Republican amendment, the Democrats went on instant spin control trying to say the bill was too expensive. Then the Democrats accidentally left a top-secret document in plain view that urged their members to “reclaim the issue.”

Now the bill was in the House of Delegates.

The day the Democrats were caucusing, perusing their top-secret talking points, and trying to persuade their weaker members to follow the party line and not support Logan’s Law, the West Virginians Against Abuse were holding a press conference urging the House to pass Logan’s Law without amendments.

West Virginians Against Abuse is not a fancy organization. They are not professional lobbyists, big-money donors, or fancy speakers; just normal West Virginians who did not want their children abused like Logan Goodall. Some of Logan Goodall’s family, including his grandmother and aunt, were there to tearfully take their stand. Every news organization within a 100-mile radius of the capitol was there to record the event. It struck me as I watched them be interviewed how much gumption it took to be there. The capitol can be a daunting place, especially for those who are inexperienced. Yet here they were, tearfully and skillfully holding a press conference and fighting for what they believe is right. I know from experience that is something few try.

I think the media felt the same. As I watched the news that evening and read the morning’s papers, they got a fair report.

The event was open to any politician who wanted to speak. Unfortunately, not one of the 93 Democrats in the legislature felt it necessary to attend.

The bill passed the Senate on March 1st, ten days before the session ended. Because the Democrats had issues with the fact that every sex crime, not just ones implicating children, was addressed in the bill, the House Democrats prepared an amendment that changed some minor provisions. On March 9th, two days before the session’s end, we received an unofficial copy of the House’s amendment. We were pleased with the changes and could accept them. Our Minority Counsel wrote a 7-page synopsis of what the amendment would do and we had it on the desks of all of the Republican members on the morning of the 10th.

March 11th, the last day for the regular legislative session, finally arrived.

I was there for a portion of the House’s debate long enough to hear Carrie Webster stand up and express some of her concerns for the bill. She was afraid, she said, that if a 17-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl were caught — as she termed it — “necking,” that the boy could get 20 years to life.

That is completely ridiculous, I thought. It is just like a liberal to turn stiffer penalties against violent sexual predators into something to avoid.

Webster’s concerns must not have been strong enough for even her because she joined the House as they unanimously passed Logan’s Law with 98 for, 0 against and 2 absent.

The House added the amendment as we expected and the bill came over to the Senate.

When a body of the legislature passes a bill, they send notification to the other body via a “message.” We asked the Senate Clerk’s office if they had received the House’s message that Logan’s Law passed. They said yes. It was approximately 4:00 PM: 8 hours until midnight and the end of the session.

Knowing that the bill passed with the amendment as expected, we then put the summary our Minority Counsel had prepared two days ago on the desks of all the Senators – Republican and Democrat – so they would know exactly what the bill did.

The Senate started their final session of the night at 8:00 PM.

9 o’clock passed and Logan’s Law still wasn’t brought up. The Senate recessed for 15 minutes.

I walked to the front of the Senate where Senators Sprouse (R-Kanawha) and Kessler (D-Marshall) were discussing the bill as the minority counsel and Judiciary Committee counsel looked on. As I listened to their conversation, I realized that Kessler was definitely not going to let this bill pass.

Delegate Patrick Lane (R-Kanawha) walked into the chambers. He had worked tirelessly for Logan’s Law well before the session started and had been in meetings all day Saturday trying to get the Democrats to accept the bill.

Lane had left a jubilant group in the House who thought Logan’s Law had a chance. He was surprised to see the bill getting a cold shoulder from the Senate Democratic leadership.

The recess was over and the Senate started again. Lane, now joined by Tim Armstead (R-Kanawha), was by a side door talking with Kessler. The governor walked on the floor and he joined the discussion.

10 o’clock passed and still no Logan’s Law.

The Senate recessed for a few minutes. Lane told us it didn’t look good.

11 o’clock. No Logan’s Law.

The Senate then took up a bill that deregulated beaver trapping.

11:15 PM: I knew something was up so I walked out the back of the Senate chambers and turned right into a side hallway that led to the door where Lane, Armstead, Kessler and the Governor were again discussing Logan’s Law.

I edged close enough to hear. The discussion was pretty much over by then. With 45 minutes left in the session, the governor proposed they deal with the issue in a special session.

I met up with Lane as he told us the synopsis of their discussion. Kessler and Governor were having issues with certain portions of the bill. Kessler was worried that if a 17-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl had sex the boy would be sent to prison for 20 years to life.

Lane offered to amend that provision, saying he was willing to compromise as long as the bill passed. Kessler and the governor would then bring up another problem they had with the bill. Lane, again, would compromise. The two democrats would then address another problem. As the discussion went in circles, it was obvious they wanted the bill dead no matter what.

I walked back to the Senate floor and waited.

11:30 PM: No Logan’s Law yet.

11:40 PM: With only 20 minutes left, the Democrats finally decide to deal with Logan’s Law.

Senate Majority Leader Truman Chafin (D-Mingo) moved that the Senate refuse to concur with House amendment. If his motion passes, the Senate would send a message to the House and give them the opportunity to yield to the Senate. If the House refused to yield, the bill would go to conference committee where 3 members from each body would meet to iron out the details. Obviously, with only 20 minutes left in the session, there was no time left to haggle and the motion was given so that the bill would die.

Sprouse then stood up and asked Senator Kessler if this motion would kill the bill.

“I certainly hope so,” Kessler replied. He proceeded to explain why. He was concerned about the 17-year-old provision. “Boys will be boys and girls will be girls,” he said. Sending the boy to prison for 20 years to life is outrageous.

Of course, he failed to mention that Lane conceded the point and Kessler would not amend the bill.

He then said that he had only had the bill for a few minutes and had not had the time to read the amendment fully. There is no telling, he reasoned, what is in the bill. We need to be deliberative.

Sprouse then said that we knew of the amendment for several days. Long enough, in fact, for our minority counsel to write a seven-page summary and have it on the desks of our members. He then pointed out that the same summary was now on the Democrat’s desks and they could read it if they wanted to and see if there was anything wrong in the amendment.

He also said that the Senate had the House message since at least 4 o’clock when we checked and that the Senator had plenty of time to review and amend any provisions unsuitable.

Sprouse then challenged Kessler’s excuse that prosecutors would send a 17-year-old to prison for life. Prosecutors have sole discretion, Sprouse said, and they could charge the boy with statutory rape if they wanted to. The penalty is one to five years in prison.

Kessler stood to reply. It was roughly 11:45PM and there were 15 minutes left. Kessler is usually an eloquent speaker, but as he talked he started to repeat himself as he stammered along.

Oh no, I though, he’s filibustering.

Sprouse recognized it too. There is a rule in the Senate that any member addressing the body has to keep his eyes directly on the Senate President at all times. If the member speaking ever takes his eyes off the President — even for a second — another member may stand and wrest the floor away.

As Kessler spoke, he was turned and facing the rest of the Senators. The Senate President was not in his gaze and hardly in his peripheral vision. Sprouse recognized the fact and stood to take the floor away.

“For what purpose does the Senior Senator from the eight arise?” the President asked in the precise language required in the Senate.

“Mr. President, I….”

The President cut him off. “Senator, the Senator from Marshall [Kessler] still has the floor.”

The President clearly disregarded the senate rules so that Kessler could continue to filibuster.

It was getting closer to midnight.

Suddenly, Senator McCabe (D-Kanawha) rushed over to Kessler and whispered something in his ear. McCabe must have also realized that Kessler was filibustering and he wanted him to stop. McCabe has one bill that he has put much of his energies into and that bill was immediately after Logan’s Law. If Kessler filibustered, McCabe’s bill would also die.

So Kessler ended and the motion by Senator Chafin to not concur with the House amendment was put up for a vote. A vote for the motion would kill the bill and a vote against it would save Logan’s Law.

The voting board lit up and the motion passed with 26 for and 8 against.

Unfortunately, 5 of our Republican members listened to Kessler’s implausible excuses and voted with him.

So why did the bill die? From what I hear, Kessler was unhappy that the Democrats did not vote with him and against Logan’s Law at the very beginning when Sprouse successfully amended it into the governor’s bill. Ever since then, Kessler has been on a warpath to kill it.

Kessler wasn’t the only one daubing on the war paint. The governor was upset that his sex predator bill was overlooked and Logan’s Law was chosen instead.

In the end, both men killed it for the sake of their pride.

The session was over in minutes and I stood up and walked to the center of the Senate floor, sick to my stomach. A good bill died because of two men’s egos.

Outside the chambers, the media had caught up with West Virginians Against Abuse and were interviewing them. The family of Logan Goodall was obviously shocked and angry.

A few minutes later I sauntered down to the governor’s offices to see if he would hold a press conference like he did last year. The room was dark so I took it the answer was no.

I then found the governor in the rotunda on live television with Beth Vorhees of PBS. I was not the only who found him: a large gathering of the West Virginians Against Abuse was waiting for the governor to finish.

As soon as he wrapped things up he approached the families. We tried, he said, but it failed. He urged them to not get frustrated with the processes. He promised to sit Kessler down and learn exactly what he did not like in Logan’s Law and they would fix it.

He failed to mention how he fought the bill for weeks through bogus figures, a top-secret memo to the Democrats, and finally in the back corridors of the Senate. Suddenly “we” were fighting for the bill and “they” killed it.

Thankfully, the family of Logan Goodall and all the West Virginia mothers and fathers were not fooled. They had harsh words against the governor and the democrats and republicans who killed the bill.

One member of the WVAA, who was abused as a child, commented to the press that she felt like she had been violated again.

I think most West Virginians who have children, as well as those who fought so hard for this bill, felt violated as well.

As I drove home late that night I wondered why I work in politics. If you can’t get enough people to get tough on violent sexual offenders without their precious little egos getting in the way, what can you accomplish?

The governor and the Senate Democrats won, but this is not the end of the story. There is still a sex predator bill that needs passing and there is an upcoming election where the voters can have the final word.