BECKLEY — Gov. Joe Manchin seems to be the obvious choice as West Virginia’s next U.S. senator.

The governor is smart, good-looking, fit and charismatic. He’s presided over an economically difficult period in the nation’s history, yet he has helped West Virginia fare better than many states with many more resources. West Virginia ended July with an unexpected additional $24 million. California is flat broke.

Manchin has a positive national image based on his responses and high profiles at the Sago and Upper Big Branch mine disasters. He is the chairman of the National Governors Association.

He is the obvious choice to everyone except Ken Hechler, who opposes him in the Democratic primary Aug. 28. Maybe even Hechler thinks Manchin is the obvious choice, but the former congressman and secretary of state is running anyway.

It seems ludicrous to replace the recently deceased 92-year-old Robert Byrd with the 95-year-old Hechler, especially when the person sitting in the seat now, Carte Goodwin, is the youngest U.S. senator at age 36. After Byrd’s death, some debated whether he had truly been able to serve well in his later years.

Hechler certainly qualifies for the good ’ol boys club of the U.S. Senate, mainly because he’s plenty old. However, age tends to be a virtue in Appalachian culture. It’s one cultural aspect that mirrors American Indian culture — seeking wisdom from the elders.

Beyond his age, Hechler offers a well-rounded resume. He has served in state and national elected offices and in two federal agencies. He is a best-selling American political and military history author and former university professor. He worked for President Harry Truman, he of “Give ’em hell, Harry” fame.

Maybe that’s where Hechler got his drive and his willingness to step out alone.

Since the 1980s, he has supported a true severance tax on extractive industries, a tax that former Gov. William C. Marland proposed. Marland believed companies that took things out of West Virginia should pay for the privilege of doing so to maintain the state’s roads, schools and other infrastructure. One wonders how different the state would be today if Marland had succeeded.

Just last year, Hechler was arrested for protesting mountaintop removal mining.

Ten years ago, he was shoved and spat on for marching to commemorate Blair Mountain. It is where West Virginia miners fought and died for the right to unionize and where federal troops took up arms against American citizens. The president even had Gen. Billy Mitchell and a squadron of bomber planes on standby to blow the miners off the mountain.

Hechler said he is running on a single issue — against mountaintop removal mining. A couple of pundits have said that isn’t much of a campaign. Look deeper.

In West Virginia, everything seems to flow from coal mining. When viewed through that prism, Hechler’s candidacy is well more than a single issue.

Coal mining has an effect on the environment through sludge ponds and underground acid drainage. Clear cutting to open underground and above-ground mines affects soil quality, erosion and water quality.

Mining has an effect on aesthetics and quality of life in the case of mountaintop removal mining. It has an effect on state infrastructure. The large, heavy equipment damages roads and presents quite uneven odds against passenger vehicles if a collision occurs.

The lack of a true severance tax means schools, libraries, senior centers, etc. continue to do without vital funds. The drawn out brouhaha over replacing Marsh Fork Elementary is a downright farce. A Massey Energy coal silo sits in the school’s back yard. Can anyone fail to see the disaster waiting to happen there?

Until West Virginia’s leaders look beyond the terminal resource of coal to other industries and jobs, the state will continue to be a raped runt. If Hechler can open eyes wider with his single-issue campaign and perhaps election, mountaineers will be all the better for it.

Legislators funded by coal interests will not stand up to those interests. Hechler has shown he will.

Coal mining is a large contributor to the state, but it’s also a large taker. Just ask the families of the miners killed at Sago and Upper Big Branch.

West Virginia owes more choices to its men and women than their lifetimes spent in a hole in the ground.

— Young is a Register-

Herald columnist. E-mail: ynerissa@verizon.net.

© 2010 by Nerissa Young