CAMPAIGN 2014: Storied TV newsmans homecoming includes quixotic congressional bid Manuel Quiñones, E&E reporter E&E Daily: Friday, March 28, 2014 RESIZE TEXT RESIZE TEXT EMAIL&NBSP EMAIL PRINT&NBSP PRINT Advertisement One of this years West Virginia congressional candidates spent time with U.S. service members in Vietnam during the war, ducked bullets during the invasion of Panama, logged months on the presidential campaign trail and told former Cuban President Fidel Castro, to his face, that he should consider stepping down. But the campaign of former national television correspondent Ed Rabel, an independent candidate with strongly progressive views, to replace Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who is running for Senate, is a quixotic endeavor. Rabel, however, figures that with Congress approval ratings in the gutter, and voters at least saying they want different and more independent-minded politicians, why not him? That sentiment echoes the autobiography of a once-obscure presidential candidate whom Rabel followed on the campaign trail: Jimmy Carter, whose book was titled Why Not the Best? Im hoping as an independent, if I can get my message out there, that they would give me a chance, Rabel said in an interview. Im taking no money from big corporations or Big Coal or [political action committees]. I rely on individuals to fund this campaign. After decades as a network correspondent, including with CBS News and NBC News, Rabel, 74, decided about 2½ years ago it was time to go back home to West Virginia. I had a long career in broadcasting. But I always had my eye back here in my home state, said Rabel, who now lives in Alum Creek near Charleston and close to Rabel Mountain, where he still has family. Rabel, the grandson of a coal miner who died on the job in an accident, recounts starting to work in broadcasting at age 15 in the 1950s as a radio disc jockey. He moved on to television news while still attending Morris Harvey College in Charleston. Rabel caught the eye of network executives while working at CBS affiliate WCHS-TV and freelancing on the side. West Virginia often made news back then because of the 1960 election pitting John F. Kennedy against Richard Nixon -- and then with the Kennedy administrations anti-poverty programs. I knew I wanted to be a correspondent for CBS News, Rabel said with both pride and humility. And by golly, it happened. As Rabel was thriving -- covering civil rights struggles, plus conflicts in Nicaragua and Somalia, and later helping the new Iraqi government set up television news services -- West Virginia lost population, with many people looking for better opportunities elsewhere. Not really much had changed in the time that I had been away, Rabel said. He said he would have liked to come back to a more economically diverse and prosperous West Virginia. Rabel recalled the West Virginia of his youth as a red state -- not because it was Republican but because people, Rabel said, valued unions and appreciated government programs. It was far more progressive, he said. Now the chemical industry is not what it once was and coal is significantly diminished. Wal-Mart, not coal, is the biggest private employer in the state of West Virginia, he said. Talk about an Obama administration war on coal, a rallying cry for West Virginia politicians on both sides of the aisle, gets under Rabels skin. I think Democrats and Republicans in Washington and Charleston continue to be able to kind of hoodwink the population by saying theres this war on coal by the administration, he said. And people have bought that line. Rabel blames an undereducated population, totally submissive when it comes to Big Coal, the politicians who continue to perpetuate this notion that the administration in Washington is trying to destroy this culture of coal. Its not the type of talk that will endear him to many residents who have Friends of Coal bumper stickers on their cars. But while other West Virginia politicians compete over who can be the most pro-coal, Rabel says the state must do more to prepare for a post-coal future. Rabels platform calls for a revenue-neutral carbon tax, national clean energy standards and national hydraulic fracturing rules -- all ideas that conservatives oppose. Hes also against mountaintop-removal coal mining. Also unlike many West Virginia politicians, including Democrats, Rabel is not in the business of bashing President Obama. When it comes to health care, Obamacare pales in comparison to what Rabel wants: universal coverage. During a Democratic rally with Sen. Joe Manchin and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin in 2012, Rabel recalls, I was the only person, the only Democrat at that time, who would speak on behalf of President Obama. Nobody else mentioned his name. He added, The hatred for that man is palpable in this region. I recognized there was no place for me in the Democratic Party in West Virginia. Last year Rabel considered running under the Mountain Party banner, which in 2012 had about 1,300 people registered statewide. Its one of the reasons he decided to run as an independent with the goal of reaching a broader audience. Rabel doesnt mind being the candidate of environmentalists. Hes reaching out to them as part of his campaign, which, without major party or group backing, relies on plenty of retail politics. Its going to be difficult. I have no illusions about this, Rabel said about the race. But with this most recent poisoning of our water, I think people are beginning to awaken, Rabel added, noting the recent chemical spill that left roughly 300,000 people in the Charleston area without running water for days. Many Democrats are running to the right in West Virginia, hoping to prevent more losses to the GOP. Rabel is fine staying firmly on the left. I am going to defend Social Security and Medicare until theyre pried from my cold, dead hands, he said. Rabel released his memoirs in 2012, called Ed Rabel Reports: Lies, Wars and Other Misadventures. Now hes about to release a fiction book called Black Gold, Black Death: In Coal Country, Americas President is Marked for Assassination. The hero of the book is patterned after Rabels maternal grandfather, the coal miner. Twitter: @ManuelQ | Email: [email protected]
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 17:53:36 +0000
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