He says he made his money the old-fashioned way, by inheriting it, so why not use it to buy some support?
Despicable! That's the best description of how readers should feel about John Raese's attempt to buy their opinion.
Raese, the Republican candidate for the unexpired term of the late Sen. Robert Byrd, is offering to pay a West Virginian in each county who submits the most published letters to the editor in support of his candidacy, which can only be seen as ethically disgusting and insulting to those who truly have a political opinion they wish to share with newspaper readers. The "contest," as Raese's spin doctor called it, makes every letter received by a newspaper questionable as to its motive for being written.
Raese, a perennial candidate in West Virginia (he's run for Governor and Senator various times since 1984), is yet another global warming denier, anti-government Republican who wants to do away with the Department of Education and the minimum wage (after all, low-income workers should be earning their money the old-fashioned way, like he did).
Raese now sees his opportunity to finally get into office, and he's going to use his vast inheritance whichever way he can to do it. I wonder if he's paying his letter-to-the-editor writing "supporters" minimum wage.