Holler from the Hollers!

Some of Lissa Lucas ‘s media appearances are below. (Media members, to request an interview, please contact us.)

Lissa Lucas HOLLERS in the media!

Lissa Lucas in the West Virginia Observer – April 2018 (page 32)

Excerpt:

Lucas’ account of how she entered politics is a humble one. “It’s not much of a story,” she said. “I’ve always followed politics to be an informed voter. I got mad at the Democrats because no one was running out in Ritchie and Pleasants Counties. There was only one choice even running. Woody Ireland, a Republican who had pushed forced pooling for years, retired in 2016.”

The West Virginia Democratic Party didn’t run anyone in the primary for the open seat, said Lucas. “But I found out in June they appointed someone for the general; however, no one in the party could even take ten minutes to give me his contact information so I could volunteer. I called and emailed the party numerous times. By the time someone got back to me with a physical address—and that wasn’t even the party proper, but from the WVFDW—it was maybe two weeks before the election, and too late for me to do anything for him.”

Lissa Lucas in DeSmog – Feb 28, 2018

Excerpt:

Early in 2017 Hoyer had taken Del. Jason Harshbarger (who works at Dominion, earns oil and gas royalties, and is Lissa Lucas’s opponent) and Joshua Higginbotham (HB 4268 cosponsor) out to dinner. EQT’s PAC has donated $12,500 to House Judiciary Republicans who voted to advance HB 4268…

On December 4, 2017, Harshbarger’s campaign held a fundraising event hosted by a number of oil and gas lobbyists and held at WVONGA’s offices. The lobbyists, as Lucas notes on her website, represented oil and gas firms and utilities Antero Resources, Consol Energy, Dominion Energy, EQT Corporation, First Energy, and Southwestern Energy…

Other prominent oil and gas lobbyists in the state did their part as well. Robert Orndorff, state policy director for Dominion, West Virginia Chamber board member, and former WVONGA president, took several key lawmakers including Harshbarger, Del. Ray Hollen (HB 4268 cosponsor), Del. Ben Queen, and Guy Ward (cosponsor) to dinner in March 2017. Then in May, Orndorff took Harshbarger and HB 4268 cosponsor Del. Charlotte Lane out for $50 lunches…

“What infuriates me,” Lucas told DeSmog, “is the time our legislators spend listening to these talking points, without near the same time listening to the regular people who will lose their property rights … I mean, what do you think the chances are that they’d come to my house and chat with me for hours over venison burgers?”

Lissa Lucas in Newsweek – Feb 27, 2018

Excerpt:

“Our government is not a Democratic government or a Republican government, it’s been a corporate government,” said Lissa Lucas, a candidate for West Virginia Statehouse who was recently removed from a hearing for listing oil-and-gas donations to lawmakers’ campaigns. “I don’t know how serious [Jim Justice] is about this, or what his true motives are, but you shouldn’t have to tie education to gas policy, it isn’t right.”

Lissa Lucas in the Huntington Herald Dispatch – Feb 24, 2018

Excerpt:

“District 7 is where Del. John Shott made Lissa Lucas, a Democrat, the First Amendment poster child. When Lucas attempted to recite public information at a hearing, Shott as chair of the meeting had her forcibly removed. She is challenging Republican Jason Harshbarger in what could well be a Democrat pick-up…”

Lissa Lucas in the Huntington Herald Dispatch – Feb 17, 2018

Excerpt:

Last week’s display of power corrupting and absolute power corrupting absolutely was a shock to any free-speech advocate. That Republican legislator John Shott felt he had the power to silence a critic stating only the facts in a public forum is dumbfounding.

Lissa Lucas, a Democrat running for House of Delegates from the 7th District, is not my cup of tea philosophically. Neither, obviously, is she Shott’s favorite. But neither of us has the right to silence her. In a republic, citizens have a right to express their views.

Lucas was not just stating her views, though. At a public hearing presided over by Shott, she began listing the amount of oil and gas industry donations the delegate and his colleagues had received. All of it was true – all on the public record.

Shott did not like this display of democracy in action. So he told Lucas to stop. She went on. He threatened to have her removed. She continued. He then had two guards escort her out of the House chamber.

Lucas’ comments were not only truthful; they were related to the bill that was the subject of the public hearing. The now-infamous legislation would make it easier for oil and gas companies to drill on private land, with or without the approval of all land owners…

Lissa Lucas Reddit AMA – Feb 16, 2018

Random questions/answers:

MyDudeNak
Was getting thrown out intentional?

LissaForWV | WV House D7
When Dominion, First Energy and all the others came to me with all those thousands of dollars years ago, I kept telling them to give it to John Shott. He thought I was being nice, but it really was a diabolical scheme of my own dark creation. I knew I would someday go to testify about an anti-property rights bill and that he would be forced to throw me out when I decried him for accepting that dirty money.

I mean, no.

Lissa Lucas in The New York Times – Feb 12, 2018

Excerpt:

Ms. Lucas, 46, said in an interview on Monday that she was less concerned with being elected to office than with the issue that caused her to attend the hearing.

“I think politics must suck your soul out somehow,” she said. “I don’t really care so much if I win or not so long as whoever’s representing us is not attacking our property rights.”

Mr. Shott on Monday defended his decision to cut Ms. Lucas off, and said that he did not see why the campaign donations were relevant to the bill.

“I think the merits of the bill is what we wanted to hear about,” he said.

Lissa Lucas in The Washington Post – Feb 12, 2018

Excerpt:

Lucas arrived at the state Capitol before sunrise on Friday — too early; she said she hadn’t been sure of the starting time.

She stood around and chatted with the security guards, she said. She looked over her speech, which was mostly a printout listing committee Republicans and the donations they had taken from donors linked to the oil-and-gas industry.

“I was hoping to make them realize how it looks,” she said. “It’s not just the issue of impropriety. It’s the issue of the appearance of impropriety that’s breaking our government.”

Lissa Lucas in The Intercept – Feb 12, 2018

Excerpt:

She marveled at the idea that simply stating campaign finance data is equivalent to a personal attack.

“They said no personal attacks. Which is a sensible rule to me, you don’t want someone going up there and calling people names,” she told The Intercept. “Delegate Shott construed this public campaign finance information from the representatives’ own campaign finance reporting as personal attacks. And if they feel attacked by mentioning their donors, to me, they just shouldn’t be taking that money.”

Lucas emphasized that the chamber security guards who removed her were polite and cordial, and she has no ill will towards them. But she wonders if Shott’s demand for a campaign donor safe space actually backfired on him.

Lissa Lucas discussed on Reddit (Thread)

Some comments

Lissa Lucas in Newsweek – Feb 11, 2018

Excerpt:

On Friday, members of the West Virginia House of Delegates cut off Lissa Lucas during her prepared testimony on a bill that would allow gas companies to drill on minority mineral owners’ land without their consent. Current law in West Virginia mandates that companies must have 100 percent approval from all owners in a tract of land before they can begin to extract natural gas and other minerals.

Lissa Lucas on the Huffington Post– Feb 11, 2018

Excerpt:

Lissa Lucas on Common Dreams – Feb 11, 2018

Excerpt

“I have to keep this short, because the public only gets a minute and 45 seconds while lobbyists can throw a gala at the Marriott with whiskey and wine and talk for hours to the delegates,” Lucas said.

(Lucas was referring to the Whiskey, Wine and Policy Winter Legislative Reception at the Charleston Marriott Hotel on February 7 sponsored by the Shale Energy Alliance.)

Lucas then began to read the oil and gas donations to the members of the House Judiciary Committee, including the chairman, John Shott (R-Mercer).

“John Shott. First Energy $2,000. Appalachian Power $2,000. Steptoe & Johnson—that’s a gas and oil law firm—$2,000. Consol Energy $1,000. EQT $1,000. And I could go on.”

Lissa Lucas in the Charleston-Gazette Mail – Feb 9, 2018

Excerpt:

Lissa Lucas, the second speaker, who is running for a House of Delegates seat, was escorted off the floor after she spoke about industry campaign contributions.

“I have to keep it short simply because the public only gets a minute, 45 while lobbyists can throw a gala at the Marriott with whiskey and wine and talk for hours to the candidates,” she said before she was removed, referencing the “Whiskey, Wine & Politics” event that took place Thursday night.

Lissa Lucas in the Charleston Gazette-Mail – December 3, 2017

Excerpt:

If there’s one thing I hope West Virginia learns from the weeklong fire at the IEI Warehouse in Parkersburg, it’s that our state and our communities are not prepared for these industrial accidents.

Let that sink in.

We weren’t prepared for the Freedom Industries spill, which cost local businesses $61 million. We weren’t prepared for C-8, which dragged out for years while people died and company execs — who are still wealthy and living it up in not-West Virginia — hid evidence of the danger in order to keep stuffing their pockets. We weren’t prepared for the IEI Ames industry garbage conflagration, which cost about $60K per day.

And we aren’t preparing for the next accident, either.

When you’re looking at a proposal, it’s madness to consider only the benefits, but not the costs…

Lissa Lucas in the People’s Tribune – November 2017

Excerpt:

Welcome to our resource extraction colony, where people are less important than the wallets of wealthy CEOs. Welcome to our chemical fire. Welcome to WV, where that black plume of chemical-smoke can drape across neighborhoods like a shroud, and the concern is more to make sure that the DEP seems like it’s doing something retroactively, rather than to make sure it protects us in real time…

Lissa Lucas in the Charleston Gazette-Mail – November 5, 2017

Excerpt:

It is a disproportionate tax burden on rural workers in West Virginia. Justice claimed that he’d come up to Ritchie to find out why the county voted no, because he thinks “there’s something going on.”

I immediately offered to meet with him to fill him in. Of course, he hasn’t called back, and I doubt he will. But he’s right about one thing: there is definitely something going on in Ritchie County. He just doesn’t want to hear about it — not really. Because it’s something he doesn’t want to fix…

Lissa Lucas in the People’s Tribune – September 2017

Excerpt:

I [decided to run because] I got madder and madder. I call my representatives, but they don’t listen, they don’t care. No one was listening to what I’m saying. You can’t get the time of day from anyone in office – if you can’t pay them to support your policy, they don’t want to hear about it…

Lissa Lucas on Take a Stand with Mary Ann (podcast) – August 2017

Excerpt:

Shane Assadzandi from Morgantown calls into the show to discuss Jim Justice’s party switch and calls for the resignation of West Virginia Democrat Party Chair, Belinda Biafore. Next, [Lissa Lucas] tells us about her plan to help the business environment in the ‘Mountain State’, how to attract workers, and how she plans to help with student loan debt if elected…

Lissa Lucas in the People’s Tribune – July 2017

Excerpt:

The best way to fight that industrial aggression is to make sure we bring good jobs here, not just McDonald’s or Wal-Mart. Most people would much rather work in a good job that doesn’t hurt their neighbors or themselves, jobs that preserve West Virginia for future generations…

Lissa Lucas on WDTV – September 13, 2016

Excerpt:

“I think there’s going to be a lot of sick people, there’s going to be a lot of sick children,” said Lyndia Ervolina, of Doddridge County. “Our way of life is done. I live on (Route) 50, the truck traffic is unbelievable. That’s just the beginning, that’s just the beginning.

“My biggest concern I think is that the process of notification is completely inadequate,” said Lissa Lucas, Ritchie County.

Lissa Lucas in the WV Metro News – September 19, 2016

Excerpt:

“You’re asking us to take the risk,” Lucas said. “It’s a matter of privatizing the profits and socializing the risk. They are concentrating that risk on top of us.”

Kevin Ellis said, in addition to concerns over the future viability of wastewater injection, Antero saw a chance to reduce truck traffic that results from water transportation throughout the state.

“Environmentally, from an impact perspective, this is going to reduce truck traffic because of a central location,” he said. “When you do that, you also attain the other benefits attendant to that, which is less tailpipe emissions and so forth.”

“I’m glad they want a smaller footprint, naturally,” Lucas said. “If you are underneath that foot when it comes down, it doesn’t feel smaller to you.”

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Lissa Lucas video clips

The Young Turks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Young Turks (interview)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Jimmy Dore Show

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Jimmy Dore Show (interview)

 

 

 

 

The Pakman Show

 

 

 

 

 

Mountain to Mountain, WV podcast (audio)

 

 

 

Majority Report with Sam Seder

 

The Rational National

The Ring of Fire

And from back in the good old pre-candidacy days:

Lissa Lucas in Modern Farmer – October, 2014

“Traditional farm breeds may take six months or more to reach full size, and will have run around being chickens for that long,” says Lucas, who adds that “Commercial meat chickens are tender because they’re young and have little space to exercise those muscles. To raise silkies for meat, it would cost way more in feed and time to produce a smaller, tougher bird.”

Lissa Lucas in the LA Times – March 2014

Chickens are popular right now. Why?

Lissa Lucas: People want to have a hand in producing their own food. They want to know where it’s coming from. They want to decide if their birds are vaccinated or not, what they want to feed them or if they want to give them access to pasture. There’s also a desire to reduce the reliance on factory hens. It costs more to have hens, but people are willing to pay to have really delicious eggs that they feel good about.

Other chicken-y appearances and a few fun chicken blog posts:

• Martha Stewart’s blog
• Hobby Farms Magazine
• Chicken Poop Cookies Recipe
• Best Chicken Breed for the Zombie Apocalypse
• Forgetting to shut the coop door antics
• Extra Crispy
• Rodale Organic Life