General Election: Tuesday, November 5, 2024 Recently, THORNTON COOPER, the 2024 Democratic candidate for WEST VIRGINIA SECRETARY OF STATE, was asked by a community organization a number of questions about his decision to run as the Democratic candidate for West Virginia Secretary of State. The following questions and answers are based upon what he told that organization: Thornton Cooper, what public office are you seeking in 2024? West Virginia Secretary of State Mr. Cooper, what will be your number one priority if elected? If the members of the Legislature concur, I would work to make it easier for a registered West Virginia voter to vote in any of three ways: (1) voting early by mail without having to submit an excuse for doing so, (2) voting in person before Election Day at designated locations in the voter's county, (3) voting in person on Election Day at the voter's precinct. We should also make it even easier for West Virginians in uniform who are deployed overseas to vote early. To ensure the integrity of our elections, we need to protect poll workers from intimidation and harassment by political extremists. Mr. Cooper, please tell us about your professional background and how it would help you serve in office. I have extensive experience in the executive branch of state government, having served about 29 years before retiring at the end of 2005. For most of that time, I was an attorney and administrator for the Public Service Commission of West Virginia (PSCWV). Before that, I worked for the West Virginia Department of Highways and the West Virginia Human Rights Commission. I am a native and resident of South Charleston, West Virginia. I graduated from South Charleston High School, Yale University (B.A., Political Science), and the WVU College of Law (Juris Doctor). An active member of the West Virginia State Bar from 1978 to the present, I have argued cases and/or submitted briefs before the PSCWV, several circuit courts, the state Supreme Court of Appeals, West Virginia's two federal district courts, and one federal appeals court. The Secretary of State is the Chief Election Officer of West Virginia. It is important for the individual who serves in that office to understand the election process. I certainly qualify in that regard. A long-time activist, I have been participating in political campaigns (either as a volunteer or as a candidate) since I was a teenager. I have also actively opposed or supported many proposed state constitutional amendments. I have been a party in a number of election-law court cases involving prior Secretaries of State. From 1981 to the present, I have been developing redistricting plans. Mr. Cooper, what is your plan for the position and term you are seeking? First, I shall try to comply with all of the constitutional and statutory requirements imposed upon the Secretary of State. These involve such varied topics as administering the state's extensive election law; registration of corporations and limited liability companies; proper filing of state rules and regulations; and regulation of notaries public. The Secretary of State needs to lead by example. There are many requirements administered by the Secretary of State that are imposed upon members of the public. For example, candidates for public office and managers of corporations and limited liability companies are required by law to file many reports and forms with the Secretary of State. It is important that the Secretary of State himself or herself file all the reports and forms that he or she is required by law to file and to supply all information on those forms that the law requires. I have no desire to run for another office while I am serving as Secretary of State. For the past several decades, previous occupants of the office have been candidates for other offices. I would also like to operate the office in a nonpartisan manner. I think that most employees in the Secretary of State's Office should be under Civil Service. IT IS ORDERED that copies of this RESOLUTION, as adopted, be transmitted and distributed to newspapers and other media throughout the state of West Virginia. Why did you choose to run for public office? (1) If the voters of West Virginia honor me by electing me as West Virginia Secretary or State in 2024, I believe that I would be the most qualified individual in West Virginia to serve in that office (except for a few individuals, such as, Joe Manchin and Natalie Tennant, who have already served in that position). (2) The reason that West Virginians still have the opportunity to elect a Secretary of State is that I, among with many others, helped defeat a proposed state constitutional amendment in an election held on September 9, 1989, that would have denied West Virginia voters the right to vote for Secretary of State, state Treasurer, and Commissioner of Agriculture. I spent many hours working to defeat that proposed amendment. (3) At the beginning of the 2024 filing period, it was widely believed that no Democrat would file for the office. After working so hard 35 years ago, back in 1989, to preserve the right of West Virginians to elect their Secretary of State, I decided that I could not allow this important office to go to a Republican by default. Mr. Cooper, how can you be a unifier? I have no desire to use the Secretary of State's Office as a stepping stone to run for another office. If elected, I would operate the office in a professional, nonpartisan manner. Thornton Cooper, what plans do you have to enhance the business community? As someone who has incorporated both a for-profit corporation and a nonprofit corporation, I am aware of the importance of the Secretary of State's Office to someone who wants to establish a small business. Under existing West Virginia law, the Secretary of State already works in concert with other state officials to make it easy for West Virginians to start their own small businesses. Please go to business4.wv.gov to access the WV One Stop Business Portal. I shall encourage comments from the public on making that portal work even better. |
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Thornton Cooper is a native and
resident of South Charleston, an
attorney, and a retired state employee.
Between 2006 and 2015 Mr. Cooper
served on the Kanawha County
Democratic Executive Committee
(KCDEC), as a committeeman
representing Executive Committee
District 2-B. Since 2011, he has also
been serving as a committeeman for
his ward on the South Charleston
Democratic Executive Committee
(SCDEC) and as the Secretary of the
SCDEC. He is currently the Acting
Chairman of the SCDEC.
For decades, Thornton Cooper has, as
a private citizen, taken public
positions on dozens of matters of
public interest. He has also
commenced, or intervened in, several
court proceedings on such matters as
redistricting, gubernatorial succession,
the Charleston “user fee”, school
consolidation, and the proper
procedures for amending the West
Virginia Constitution.
Following the 1980, 1990, 2000,
2010, and 2020 Censuses, he
developed proposals for redistricting
West Virginia's congressional
districts, and following the 2010 and
2020 Censuses, he also developed
proposals for redistricting the State
Senate and the House of Delegates.
He has supported raising the minimum
wage, protecting the safety of the
state's drinking water, and preserving
state laws relating to the disposal of
solid waste.
He campaigned against a law passed
in 2014 that allows concealed
weapons to be brought into city
recreation facilities in Kanawha
County. He believes that city
governments should have the right to
ban concealed weapons in such
facilities.
Mr. Cooper, now 74, was born and
raised in South Charleston. His
brothers Tom (now deceased) and
John and he attended public schools
there. After graduating from South
Charleston High School in 1968, he
attended Yale University. In 1972, he
graduated from Yale with a B. A. in
Political Science. Between 1975 and
1978, he attended the West Virginia
University College of Law, where he
received his law degree (Juris Doctor)
in 1978.
His parents, now deceased, were
Thomas R. Cooper, Sr., an electrical
engineer and draftsman at the Union
Carbide Technical Center in South
Charleston, and Virginia Watson
Cooper, who taught English and Latin
at South Charleston Junior High
School, Stonewall Jackson High
School, and George Washington High
School.
Thornton Cooper has two sons:
Jeremy, 42, who graduated from
Charleston Catholic High School,
Oberlin College, and the West
Virginia University College of Law (J.
D. 2013), now practices law in West
Virginia and Pennsylvania and lives
with his wife Lacy, daughter Virginia,
and son Jude in Pittsburgh. Timothy,
38, a composer who graduated from
George Washington High School and
West Virginia University, received his
master's degree from the University of
Tennessee, and worked on his
doctorate at the University of
Hartford, lives with his wife Pam,
daughter Larkin, and son Zane in
Ohio.
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