"I think the amount of money that people spend on these races is obscene ..." But the facts contradict the words that Shook used to try to confuse the reader.
I checked the secretary of state's Web site (wvsos.org) to research these campaign funds. The only "obscenity" found was the amount of money that Democrats Shook and Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, spent in the 2006 race.
Fleischauer raised $116,416 and spent $97,261. Shook raised $82,880 and spent $79,231. And this does not even include the extensive advertising by his law firm, repeatedly mentioning his name to the public.
By all measures, he far outspent the Republican incumbent, Cindy Frich, in the race to unseat her. Ironically, the other advocacy groups supporting Shook and Fleischauer spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to misinform voters that the Republican was allegedly "bought" by one laughably small donation of $2,000.
Indeed, Fleischauer and Shook were West Virginia's top campaign spenders in 2006. Did you ever wonder where they got their money, or why?