Coal miner from Fairmont attends address with McKinley

By Sean McNamara Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT — With President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, a local congressman felt it was a perfect opportunity to give a member of his constituency a chance to view this firsthand.

For the State of the Union, representatives are allowed to bring one guest, and this year, U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., chose to bring Larry “Smokey” Gore, a coal miner from Fairmont.

“What we’ve done the last four years, we’ve tried to bring someone in that is special back in the district and give them a chance to experience what’s going on at the State of the Union address,” McKinley said. “We’ve had two veterans. We’ve had the teacher of the year. This year we thought it would be special to have one of my favorite subjects, and that’s a coal miner.”

Gore is a superintendent at the Leer mine in Grafton and has worked nearly all his adult life in the coal industry.

“Since I’ve been 18 years old,” Gore explained. “I graduated in July and went to work for my dad maybe two months after that.

“I got the invite and have been very excited about it,” he said via phone Tuesday afternoon prior to the address.

For McKinley, the decision to pick a coal miner this year was not difficult.

One thing McKinley likes to do is to take his staff out of the office and go out and see what it is that the people of West Virginia are concerned with. In this case, that concern is coal.

“I want them to understand firsthand what we’re talking about,” he described. “It’s one thing for me to come back after I’ve been underground or been around the coal industry to try and explain what it’s like. It’s far more important to take our staff out of Washington, get out of the beltway and see how real life is.”

During one of these trips, the congressman took four members of his staff to the Leer mine in Grafton, where Gore was their tour guide.

“Larry did such a great job explaining a lot of the operation,” McKinley said, explaining how his staff appreciated Gore’s hospitality and wanted him to be the guest to go to the State of the Union. “They wanted him to come here. It was a pretty easy decision. ... The fact that he showed so much courtesy to our staff, we thought to turn around and invite him to come to this event.”

Doing activities with his staff is something McKinley feels gives them, as well as members of his constituency, a feeling that they are all on the same team.

“We’re not special people here,” he said. “I’m a civil engineer, and I’ve been hired to do this job. I’m doing the best I can for four years. But we do our best when we make sure that we are interacting with the hardworking taxpayer.”

One such hardworking taxpayer McKinley is getting the chance to interact with is Gore, and McKinley is looking forward to getting the chance to not only see what he feels is important before the State of the Union, but also get the chance to hear his reaction afterward.

“People like Larry Gore, to sit down and talk, to interact, to find out what it is, what are the things that they’re facing so we can be their voice on the floor,” McKinley explained.

“They’re fighting for the future of this country, and I’m honored to be their voice. For Larry, it was a perfect fit to be here (Tuesday night).”

Neither McKinley nor Gore knew exactly what would be said at the State of the Union address leading up to it, but Gore had a couple things he said he was interested in listening for.

“I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say about climate change,” Gore said. “I want to hear what he has to say about clean energy and hear what he has to say about coal. Where do we stand?”

“It’s always a unique experience,” McKinley added. “There’s always a surprise that the president will come out with. More importantly, it’s just being part of the atmosphere about how the system works over here.”