Reporter’s Notebook: The politics of love | News, Sports, Jobs

(Reporter’s Notebook by Steven Allen Adams – Photo Illustration – MetroCreativeConnection)

The month of June plays a recurring role in my life, which is odd given that my birthday is in July.

For example, storied (and sometimes infamous) Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd died on June 28, 2010. In a way, the death of Byrd was the catalyst for meeting Jessica, who would become my wife.

I had arrived in Charleston five months earlier on a snowy January day to cover the 2010 legislative session for the online news outlet I ran for the Public Policy Foundation of West Virginia, called West Virginia Watchdog.

I was never supposed to stay in Charleston. I was only going to stay long enough to cover the 60-day session then return to Pleasants County where I was living with a roommate. I was already an oddity and eyed suspiciously by the statehouse news reporters of the time. At best, I was written off as a mere “blogger.” At worst, I was accused of being a political provocateur despite a career in local news reporting.

In June 2010, Jessica had just graduated from Marshall University and was beginning work as a special assistant to former West Virginia first lady Gayle Manchin. She was still finalizing the lease on her first Charleston apartment when Byrd passed away. She was immediately thrown into the planning for Byrd’s arrival to the State Capitol Building and the memorial service that saw notable dignitaries, including then-President Barack Obama and future President Joe Biden, come and pay their respects.

I covered the arrival of Byrd’s casket to the southside steps of the State Capitol Building, shooting video that can still be found on YouTube. It was a very solemn ceremony, with bagpipes, military honors, prayers, and speeches. Jessica and I were likely a few people apart at this ceremony and never knew it.

What everyone knew, however, was that then-governor Joe Manchin would seek Byrd’s seat. He temporarily appointed his office’s legal counsel, Carte Goodwin, to the vacancy and began work on winning a special election against Morgantown businessman John Raese. But in the middle of this, later that same summer, I received a news tip that the U.S. Justice Department had arrived at the Governor’s Office with subpoenas.

Manchin was allegedly not the target of these subpoenas, but federal officials were looking into issues with the state Department of Transportation, Aviation Division, and former chief of staff Larry Puccio. Beyond some low-level person facing any charges, nothing came of any of this. But I was the first to report about the subpoenas for West Virginia Watchdog, a story that was picked up nationally, including by CNN.

My future wife had no idea who I was. But when WSAZ-TV sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Governor’s Mansion seeking records related to the story I broke, Jessica was the one who had to go through extensive records and redact private information. When she asked what this was all about and told it was due to a story I wrote, she cursed my name.

The first time I met Jessica was a few months later at a bar with friends. She was friendly but guarded. She assumed I wanted to talk to her and get information about the Manchins. I just wanted to talk to a pretty girl. Slowly but surely, a friendship was created.

We eventually had a first date. I made spaghetti, or, more accurately, I boiled some noodles, cooked some ground beef, and heated a can of sauce on the stovetop. I was entirely too honest with her: I was a college dropout with bad credit, no drivers’ license, student loans in default, and back taxes owed, etc. You know, typical poor journalist stuff. We decided to just stay friends.

(Full disclosure, but since that first date I did began driving again, got out of student loan default, paid my back taxes, and raised my credit score. The things one does for love.)

By June 2011, we went on a second first date, taking part in Charleston’s ArtWalk and ending with watching the HBO John Adams mini-series at my apartment. And we decided then to begin a relationship. We moved in together a year later. Then on June 9, 2014, Jessica reached down to help our cat get off a collar that was irritating her, finding an engagement ring. She said yes!

We were married on June 11, 2016. I was a communications specialist for the West Virginia Senate at the time. Jessica was a lobbyist for Orion Strategies. We were married in front of the Senate chamber doors in the Great Hall of the upper rotunda of the State Capitol Building.

Incidentally, the wedding took place on the final day of a special session for the fiscal year 2017 general revenue budget. It was the second year of the new Republican majorities in the Senate and House of Delegates, and those bodies were fighting with former governor Earl Ray Tomblin over the budget. The Senate had passed the budget Saturday morning, but the House met that afternoon, during our wedding, to concur.

In fact, the bell to call House members into the chamber went off right in the middle of Jessica reading her vows. The wedding was also notable for the number of lawmakers, some invited and some not, who observed our wedding. We had four people who served as senate president/lieutenant governor at our wedding: Jeff Kessler, Bill Cole, Mitch Carmichael, and Craig Blair.

Ten years later, we own our first home in Charleston with two of our fur children. June marks my eighth year as the statehouse and politics correspondent for Ogden Newspapers and this newspaper. Jessica now does good work with the state Department of Veterans Assistance helping to profile our great military veterans. We just got back from Top Sail Island where we celebrated our anniversary. All revolving around our love for politics.

Happy 10 years, Jessica. I love you.