Don Blankenship of West Virginia was nominated on Saturday, May 2, 2020, during the national Constitution Party’s telephonic convention. Blankenship was one of five candidates seeking the nomination. He was a speaker at the Independent American Party state convention on February 22, 2020 in Las Vegas.
Blankenship has a second residence in Henderson, Nevada. He has had an ongoing battle with the Federal Government and went to prison convicted of a misdemeanor for a year. Similar to what happened to Cliven Bundy in Nevada a Federal Judge recommended that Blankenship’s conviction be voided for prosecutorial misconduct. See the story below
William (Bill) Mohr was chosen as the Vice-Presidential candidate. He is the State Chairman of the Michigan U.S. Taxpayers Party, the state affiliate of the Constitution Party. He is built a vibrant party in Michigan under his leadership
National officers elected for the next four years include: National Chairman, James Clymer from Pennsylvania, Vice-Chairman-Doug Aden from Colorado, Secretary, Paula Hospelhorn from Arizona, Treasurer Gerald Kilpatrick from Colorado. Regional Chairmen (listed first) and Co-Chairmen who serve on the Executive Committee included: Eastern Region, David P. Kopacz from Massachusetts, Nicholas Sumbles from Maryland, Southern Region, Thom Holmes from Oklahoma, Kevin Hayes from North Carolina, Mid-West Region, John Blazek from Missouri, Matthew Shepard from Michigan, Western Region, Janine Hansen from Nevada, Kirk Pearson from Utah.
Don Blankenship’s remarkable story.
Don Blankenship was born on March 14, 1950 in “Coal Country”—in a town with 200 residents called Stopover, Kentucky. His first home was a camper that cost $750. It had no indoor plumbing and sat alongside the mainline of the then Norfolk and Western railroad track.
Forty years later Don became President of the largest and the most successful coal company that ever operated in “Coal County”. In that role he oversaw the mining of more coal that anyone in the regions history. Enough coal to fill a train of railroad cars that would encircle the world three times.
In 2009, when Barrack Obama took office, he started what came to be known as the “war on coal”. Obama named a former lifetime employee of the United Mine Workers to head the United States Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). MSHA subsequently required one of the hundred mines under Don’s management to make changes which cut the mines airflow in half. Just a day after the airflow reduction was fully completed the mine exploded killing twenty nine miners.
President Obama declared just hours after the last perished miner’s body was removed from the mine that “we do know that the tragedy was first and foremost the responsibility of management”. MSHA went further declaring, “the operator blew up the mine”. Both of these statement were made prior to any investigation beginning.
Four years later Don personally funded a documentary which exposed to the public that MSHA had cut the mines airflow in half prior to the explosion. Senator Joe Manchin soon after issued a press release demanding that Don be indicted and saying that he believed “Don has blood on his hands”. A few weeks later Don was, in fact, indicted by a federal grand jury. But Don was not indicted for having caused the explosion. Rather he was indicted for allegedly lying to the public and for “conspiring to commit mine safety violations”.
Don’s criminal trial was held in West Virginia not far from where the deadly mine explosion occurred. The trial Judge was an Obama appointee and the prosecutor was the son of one the five federal Judges in the same federal courthouse. Prior to trial US Senator Jay Rockefeller (who had sponsored the Judge’s confirmation by the US Senate) released a statement saying essentially that a fair trial was more than Don deserved.
Despite the public emotions, biased media reporting, two US Senators having signaled their views that Don was guilty, the trial being held with the perished miners families in attendance, the prosecutor being the son of a federal Judge, an Obama Judge presiding over the trial and far worse the jury found Don not guilty of all the felony charges against him. Making it even more amazing that Don was found not guilty was that prior to the verdict, when the Judge was told by the Jury foreman multiple times that they were deadlocked, she ordered them to continue deliberating anyway. Finally after three weeks the Jury reached a guilty verdict but only on a misdemeanor charge.
Don’s attorneys were confident he would be granted a sentence of probation. But the federal Judge sent Don to a federal prison housing twenty four hundred felons and just one misdemeanor—Don. Don spent ten months in the prison and then was sent to a halfway house for another year. All in all Don’ s freedoms were limited for more than three years and he paid a $250,000 fine for a “misdemeanor”.
Despite the fact Don was only convicted of a misdemeanor and had served his maximum prison time he continued to appeal and fight the conviction. In the process Don and his attorneys uncovered that the government had destroyed documents, withheld evidence, lied to the Judge, and threatened witnesses.
Finally after five years a Federal Judge recommended that Don’s conviction be voided and that it be fully erased from the record due to “prosecution misconduct”. But still the Obama Judge, five months later, has not voided the conviction.
During this five year fight to void the conviction Don ran for the United States Senate as a Republican from West Virginia. Throughout the campaign Don was subject to the rules of a Halfway House in Las Vegas which confined his campaign efforts at times. No one gave Don any chance of winning the Senate seat while serving time in a Las Vegas halfway house.
Fox News was so intrigued by Don’s campaign and situation that they decided to have a nationally televised debate between Don and his two career politician opponents. Don entered the debate with a Fox poll and other polls showing that he was eight points behind. The day after the debate polls showed Don to be up by as much as eighteen points.
Over the remaining seven days before the election Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and other media outlets as well as Republican political operatives like Karl Rove told their audiences that Don was a felon, a convicted felon, a moron, a racist, an imbecile, a person responsible for the deaths of twenty nine miners and more.
Don lost the election. He has sued dozens of media outlets, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Donald Trump Jr. for defamation. His lawsuit is pending in the same federal courthouse where he was falsely convicted of a misdemeanor.
Don is writing two books the first of which he hopes to release in the next few months. This first book will make clear that the government was responsible for the coal mine explosion. The second book, to be published sometime late this year or early next, will tell how United States Senators conspired to stop Don from winning a United States Senate seat.
I am running for President of the United States as a Constitution Party member in the hope of opening Americans’ eyes. It is time for Americans to vote for America and not for a Republican or a Democrat. Elections must be about helping America win not about helping a politician win.
William Mohr Background:
William (Bill) Mohr was born in 1959 and raised in Byron Center, Michigan. He was one of six children, three sisters and two brothers. He is married to Cheryl and is a father to six children, four step children and 18 grandchildren.
Bill has worked at a number of jobs over the years including over-the-road truck driving and managing a food production plant. For the recent 10 years Bill has been self employed in the housing industry.
Bill spent six years as a Precinct Delegate with the Republican Party, but switched his affiliation to the Constitution Party in 2005. For eight of the last ten years, he has Chaired the State Central Committee of the US Taxpayers Party of Michigan (Michigan’s affiliate of the Constitution Party), and the party has experienced solid and consistent growth under his leadership.
William Mohr’s Campaign Statement
These are very uncertain times in our nation.
The American people have been perplexed with very poor governance; unconstitutional law, regulation and actions by every level of government. They have found themselves powerless to get it corrected. Tea Parties have come and gone, leaving few fragmented groups around the country. Political action organizations abound, but don’t seem to be able to get the foothold needed to make the changes necessary.
The answer to good governance simply lies in the solely in the election of good candidates. It is not a team sport. I plead with my peers, the American people, to leave the party politics in the past and vote for candidates that are worthy; candidates who understand the obligation they have to legislate within the confines of the Constitution.
Don Blankenship and William Mohr fit that bill. We will take our oath of office very seriously and fully expect the American people to hold us accountable to it.
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