CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – With the sudden resignation of Kanawha County Commissioner and candidate Kent Carper Friday, the timing of all of this is a huge coincidence, as Friday was also the day WOWK 13 News scheduled a profile of this year’s county commission race.
Embattled County Commissioner Kent Carper, a Democrat, was trying to win his eighth term in office, but now he has stepped down. Carper did have a primary challenger in former Democrat Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, so she will be the presumed nominee.
Carper resignation effective Sunday, no further action to be taken
On the Republican side, it’s former State Senator Chris Walters facing off against developer Dewayne Duncan in his second try for public office. Recently we sat down with three of the candidates, to talk about their priorities and goals if elected.
“I found many parallels between the Secretary of State’s office and County Commission, when it comes to economic development, helping people get jobs, and looking towards the innovation and ideas that we can have for the future,” said Natalie Tennant, (D) Candidate for Kanawha County Commission.
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“You know what, I have my experiences, Mark, that I’m bringing to the table. My development experience here in town, my business experience, my educational experience, so that I think that will be very helpful to the people of Kanawha County,” said Dewayne Duncan, (R) Candidate for Kanawha County Commission.
“We keep losing population. We see businesses move away, and there is a lot we can do to change that. And I want to take some of my ideas and implement them, focused on different regions of the county, to try to improve our county to the future,” said Chris Walters, (R) Candidate for Kanawha County Commission.
WOWK 13 News reached out to incumbent County Commissioner Kent Carper with four separate phone call invitations to be interviewed for this candidate profile, but he never returned our calls. It may be that knowing he was going to resign today, there was no point.
Carper came under state and federal investigation after a woman claimed he indecently exposed himself to her at Charleston’s Daniel Boone Park last May. Again, Carper has resigned and will not be charged in that matter.
Shortly after that incident, Carper’s family issued a statement saying what happened in the park was an “awful misunderstanding,” and that Carper was having serious medical problems.
He in fact had a heart attack, a stroke, and then open-heart surgery, later that week.