My Name Is Earl....

by, Jack Swint

Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, pictured to the left, doesn’t get visibly upset or loud to often. But his anger was heard and witnessed back in early April 2008 when Governor Joe Manchin shot down House Bill 4307. That piece of legislature would allow him to keep a promise to his father, who is also named Earl Tomblin.
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This specific bill was orchestrated in order to build dad his very own, brand new, state of the art greyhound dog training facility. Something that Earl Sr. has openly been bragging to his friends about for some time. "My son is gonna build me a training facility for my dogs." Manchin vetoed the bill April first because of pending civil litigation in CA-06-C-2368, Burdette v. Sidiropolis. This law suite could directly affect the outcome of the bill. For once, Manchin was correct in his veto actions.
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After Manchin vetoed the first bill, close sources report that Earl Ray Tomblin was actually overheard ordering the governor to have the bill re-submitted and passed even if it took invoking his Executive Order privileges. Then, Manchin was to ensure they moved the legislation swiftly through the special legislation. The Governor obeyed.
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Why is Earl Ray being so persistent and demanding of the governor? Because there is 2 million dollars sitting in the breeders association bank account and Tomblin needs it to build the training facilities. If Kanawha County Judge Charles King would side with the Breeders Association, Poppa Tomblin and Roger White do not get to build their facility.
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Several word changes were made to the legislation and the bill was pushed through and now sits on Manchin’s desk waiting his signature. But, even if the governor does not sign the document, it can still become effective after 30 days. Manchin needs to veto the bill for the exact same reason he did in April. There is pending litigation in civil court. Plus, it happens to be the right thing to do.
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In Earl Ray and his dads mind, this is a done deal. Lobbyist Roger White already has plans drawn up, a contractor picked out named Tim Bell and they reportedly have a piece of property in mind on route 35 in Fraziers Bottom. All of this is done without the proper feasibility reports, bidding or approval from the racing commission or breeders association. But, this is just the tip of the iceberg to what is really going on. They could not build just one training facility. There has to be two because the Wheeling dog track feels left out.
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Senator Tomblin, his dad and Roger White want the breeders association funds to pay the two million dollars for both tracks. Even though the National Greyhound Association claims other state of the art facilities like these only cost approximately two hundred seventy thousand dollars apiece to build.
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West Virginia breeders, and even the national association question why these facilities are even needed when the two current tracks in cross lanes and wheeling are free to the dog owners and trainers once a week. Tomblins plan will cost each breeder a fee every time they use the mandatory track. Additional expenses most say they can not afford considering all of the other cuts in profits occurring. The breeders association even conducted a poll and found the majority of members don’t want, or need the facility. The Tomblins and Roger White do want it.
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Tomblin, in his official capacity as Senate leader has instrumentally taken profits away from the breeders association who are being forced to pay off 11 million dollars in bad debt from the former defunct workers compensation division that was under Greg Burton, who is now over BrickStreet. The breeders receive their money from both the purse from the dog’s winnings, and approximately 14% of all monies generated from the slots at all four tracks. But, the state cut that down to 7% in order to help pay off workers compensation losses.
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How did Earl Senior even get into greyhound racing? According to long time greyhound enthusiast, Don Dodd of Dallas Texas, "I got Earl his first dogs and booking in greyhound racing back in the mid-eighties at the Cross Lanes track. He all but swindled Bill "Snapper" Stewart of Cape Coral Florida out of his dogs. Stewart thought he was dying from a brain tumor at the time. Earl senior bought 30 some dogs for around $30,000 +. Bill Ellis promised that Earl would pay me $10,000 as a finder’s fee. Earl never paid his debt and if Bill Stewart hadn’t believed he was dying, Earl would have never been able to buy those dogs so cheaply"….
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Earl Sr. lost his licenses as a breeder and any association with racing after being convicted of a felony years ago. His wife and son are listed on the secretary of states records as the owners even though everyone knows Earl is still in control. It’s reported that Senator Tomblin, is the kennels bookkeeper and has a direct connection to the business.
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Roger White is another greyhound owner and reported lobbyist for the breeders association who told one source for this story that White personally bragged to him "I got the Senate President & House Speaker in my pocket." This author actually overheard White talking this past Wednesday evening bragging how he was going to go to the statehouse and circuit court and demand that he be heard now instead of the July 31, 2008 hearing on his recent motion to try and intervene on the law suite against the racing commission. White has said that he is "a hell of a lot smarter" then the county judge, racing commission and current president of the WV breeders association Sam Burdette.
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The smaller breeders feel that members like Tomblin and White are trying to force them out of business. According to one kennel owner, "Those two men would just as soon cut their noses off to spite their face just to gain full control of the breeders association." And that both Tomblin and White have large kennels, farms and retirement money coming in. "The legislators keep peeling away at out profits from both the purse monies and breeders association funds every chance they get."
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Bottom line, being able to tell the governor what to do, priceless, providing personal perks of allowing Earl senior parking in areas clearly designated as racing commission only (photographs available upon request) along with a reserved table 7 days a week is not that serious. Unethical and maybe an abuse, but it is not fair to the other breeders, or even the guests at the track. But, using your politcal power and position to force pass legislation just to get to two million dollars to build training facilities that aren’t even needed, is an abuse of authority.

The mere fact Tomblin is trying to slide this bill through knowing there is a civil law suite pending that could block the money is criminal intent.
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Earl Ray Tomblin has forgotten the most important thing of his politcal position......

http://www.wvsos.com/execrecords/appointments/oaths.htm

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Senate1/Members/senatorsinfo.cfm?input=President%20Tomblin
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In all fairness, not everyone feels Earl Ray Tomblin is of questionable character. The Logan Standard Newspaper, sings his praise as an "Icon" in their two part interview in early 2008.
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http://loganstandard.com/main.asp?SectionID=15&SubSectionID=15&ArticleID=58&TM=51951.5
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End Of Story....
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Jack Swint-Publisher

West Virginia News

E-Mail: WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com

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