West Virginia Citizen Action Group

WV CAG criticized U.S. Senator Joseph Manchin (D-WV) for worrying about the “boogeyman of inflation” due to Sen. Manchin’s delay of a decision on the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, a scaled-back version of the “Build Back Better” plan, expanded government-run health care, increased taxes, and adopted left-of-center climate policies. ²

In a call to action WV CAG repeated the quote, “We are disgusted by the callous disregard forced birth legislators have shown for the lives of West Virginians women and people who can become pregnant.” ³

WV CAG affiliates with groups such as the Sierra Club, AFL-CIO, ACLU, NAACP, ActBlue Civics, People’s Action, and Working Families Party. ^{4 5 6 7}

Background

West Virginia Citizen Action Group (WV CAG) was founded in 1974 as a community organizing group. ⁸ WV CAG is a politically active left-of-center organization that creates trade names, coalitions, and collaborations to influence state and federal legislation via newsletters, press conferences, opinion editorials, rallies, action calls, and signing petitions.  WV CAG also files lawsuits to change public policy. ^{9 10 11}

Affiliated Organizations

In 2002 the 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliated organization West Virginia Citizen Action Education Fund (WV CAEF) was formed.  As of September 2022, Gary Zuckett is the executive director of both organizations. ¹²

WV CAG is a state chapter member organization of the national group People’s Action, the lobbying arm of the left-wing People’s Action Institute, a left-wing advocacy organization. ¹³

Trade Names

WV CAG forms groups that are “doing business as” for specific advocacy purposes. WV CAG trade names include AWARE (Artists Working in Alliance to Restore the Environment), West Virginia New Jobs Coalition, West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization, West Virginians for Affordable RX, West Virginians for Democracy, and West Virginians Unite for Social and Economic Justice. ⁹

Donor Organizations

Donor organizations that made grants to WV CAG include the Sierra Club, which granted $63,000 for “environmental support” in 2019; ¹⁴ All Hands On Deck Network, Inc., which granted $20,000 for “general support” in 2018; ¹⁵ People’s Action, which granted $22,500 for “affiliate state programs support” in 2018; ¹⁶ and Sixteen Thirty Fund, which granted $50,000 and $55,000 respectively for the purposes of “civil rights, social action advocacy” and ‘health” in 2017 and 2018. ^{17 18}

Activism

WV CAG collaborates with other nonprofits, such as Americans for Financial Reform, a left-of-center political alliance of 200 left-leaning organizations seeking stricter regulations on the financial industry; Health Rights Organizing Project, an alliance of 34 groups that promote left-leaning health care policy; and Wood County Indivisible Group, part of the 501(c)(4) Indivisible Project created in 2016 “to resist the Trump agenda.” ^{19 20}

WV CAG is a member of the West Virginia Climate Alliance, a coalition of 20 organizations focused on transitioning from coal and other conventional fuels and “a significant reduction in greenhouse gases” in support of the Green New Deal. ²¹

WV CAG is a founding member of WV for Energy Freedom, a coalition of organizations that supports weather-dependent energy via power purchase agreements (PPAs). ^{22 23}

WV CAG partners with organizations, such as Americans for Tax Fairness, a project of the New Venture Fund that purports to be a coalition comprised of 420 organizations, which advocates for left-of-center tax policies such as higher tax rates for individuals, increased corporate taxes, and the repeal of tax breaks introduced by the George W. Bush administration and the Trump administration. ^{24 25}

WV CAG forms groups that are “doing business as” for specific advocacy purposes to influence legislation. ⁹ For instance, the trade name West Virginia New Jobs Coalition (WV NJC) was effective December 6, 2021. In 2022 WV NJC “partnered with WV CAG”; WV Working Families Party, a state party to Working Families Party (WFP) funded by labor unions to pressure Democratic Party candidates to take union-friendly stands on economic issues; SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH, a health care and social service union in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio; and the Sierra Club to plan projects related to unionized jobs, health care, and the environment. ^{26 4}

WV CAG forms coalitions. For instance, WV CAG, the Council of Churches, and the AFL-CIO formed West Virginians for Affordable Healthcare to send the West Virginia senators the message that repealing Obamacare was not good for West Virginia. ⁷

Campaigns

In 2020 WV CAG was a co-sponsor of WV Climate Action, an idea generator of to-do projects to raise awareness of climate issues supporting the Green New Deal and regulation of carbon dioxide emissions. ²⁷

WV CAG has requested donations through ActBlue Civics, a 501(c)(4) arm of the left-of-center pass-through political action committee, to support the 2021 For the People Act, which federalizes election administration. ²⁸

In July 2022 WV CAG had a call to action due to the West Virginia House of Delegates passage of a bill limiting abortion access quoting the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia stating, “We are disgusted by the callous disregard forced birth legislators have shown for the lives of West Virginians women and people who can become pregnant.” ³

In August 2022 WV CAG promoted the People’s Action petition demanding Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra circumvent Congress “to cut prices and increase access to life-saving medicines.” ²⁹

In 2022 WV CAG was one of 16 West Virginia groups to sign a gun restriction resolution to pass “red flag” laws, add further age restrictions, and ban magazines that exceed 10 rounds.” ^{30 31}

Communications

Executive director Gary Zuckett frequently writes opinion editorials in the WVGazette and on its WV CAG website detailing events, townhalls, trainings, press conferences, press releases, rallies, action alerts, and discussions on topics such as voting, elections, redistricting, health care, pro-abortion, environment, gun control, and increasing taxes. ³²

In a July 2022 newsletter WV CAG stated that their communications with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) “appear[ed] to be an abject failure” due to Sen. Manchin’s delay of a decision on the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, a scaled-back version of the “Build Back Better” plan, expanding government-run health care, increased taxes, and adopted left-of-center climate policies.  WV CAG criticized Manchin for worrying about the “boogeyman of inflation.” ²

WV CAG also considered the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in the West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency “two BIG steps back.” The Supreme Court agreed with WV Attorney General Morrisey that the EPA did not have the authority to apply the Clean Air Act to carbon emissions because in doing so it was legislating and that should be the job of Congress.” ^{2 33}

Leadership

As of October 2022, Gary Zuckett is the executive director for WV CAG and has served in this capacity since 2006. Zuckett joined WV CAG in 1995. ³⁴ As of October 2022, he works in several capacities. He is the executive director for WV CAG and WV CAEF. ³⁵ He is chair of West Virginians United for Social and Economic Justice Coalition. ³⁶ He is director for Southern Appalachian Labor School Foundation Incorporated. ³⁷ According to LinkedIn, he has been associated with USAction (now People’s Action) since 2003 and a state affiliate through USAction (TrueMajority merged with USAction) since 2006. ³⁸ He is a lobbyist for West Virginia Consumers and Victims Coalition. ³⁹ He is the owner of New Energy Products which was formed March 1988. ⁴⁰ He is the co-founder of Energy Efficient West Virginia (EEWV), which was formed January 2018. ^{41 42} He is the treasurer for West Virginians for Affordable Health Care. ⁴³ He is an advisory committee member for Always Free WV. ⁴⁴

He is the president of West Virginia Fund for the Environment, which was formed in 2014. ⁴⁵ He is the treasurer for West Virginia Future Search, which was formed in 1996 and voluntarily dissolved in 2006. ⁴⁶ He is the director of Community Shares of West Virginia, which was formed in 2003 and revoked in 2010 due to failure to file its annual report. ⁴⁷

Julie Archer is the project manager and lead lobbyist for WV CAG.  She is a lobbyist and coordinator of WV Citizens for Clean Elections. ⁴⁸ She is a member of the board of directors for WV Environmental Council and WV FREE, which is a community organizing group advocating for the right to abortions. ⁴⁹ She is also an author for West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization. ⁵⁰

Eve Marcum-Atkinson is the communications coordinator/office administrator and blog writer for both WV CAG and WV CAEF. ^{51 52}