CHARLESTON – Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, issued the following statement today regarding the Supreme Court's decision that Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin must appoint a Republican to the vacancy in the Ninth Senatorial District:
"We applaud the Court’s decision today, and we appreciate that they agree with what we believe is clearly spelled out in this section of code – that the Ninth Senatorial District replacement was to be a member of the Republican Party. Our task at hand now is to move forward, and to get to work to address our state’s troubled economy, our budget which is in crisis, and our workforce which is in critical need of a jump start. Without further distraction, we plan to get to work. I urge Governor Tomblin to quickly appoint this replacement, and allow him or her to begin representing the residents of the Ninth District without further delay."