I really wasn’t expecting to have to write, in essence, an obituary for former lawmaker and politician Doug Skaff last Tuesday.

The accident that killed him remains under investigation, but by all reports it was a freak accident on I-79 near Weston. Skaff’s SUV went into the back of a semi-truck and despite trying to brake in time, it was too late.

Skaff was only five years older than me at 48. I had known him since his first stint in the House of Delegates in what was once the largest of the multi-member districts covering Kanawha County. He was a rising star in Democratic politics after taking office in 2009, seen as a younger Joe Manchin, bound for the Governor’s Mansion one day.

Instead of seeking a fourth term in the House, Skaff decided to run for the state Senate’s 17th District to succeed former state senator Brooks McCabe. Skaff came in second to Dr. Tom Takubo, who won as part of the 2014 Republican wave that saw the GOP take the majority in the House and Senate for the first time in more than 80 years.

After a four-year break, Skaff returned to the House in 2019 and in 2021, Skaff became the House Minority Leader, succeeding Harrison County Democrat Tim Miley. He served in that role leading the shrinking House Democratic caucus until the summer of 2023, when he stepped down from the role. Not long after that, Skaff resigned from his House seat.

In the Fall of 2023, Skaff switched his party registration to Republican and announced a run for Secretary of State. That put Skaff in an awkward position, though, having advocated for very liberal election laws when serving as a Democratic lawmaker, including same-day voter registration and ballot boxes. Going into a GOP primary against the brother of the previous Republican Secretary of State didn’t help. Skaff came in second in that primary to Kris Warner, who went on to win the general election.

Besides being a politician, Skaff was a proud West Virginia University alumnus who started several traditions as student body president that remain today. He was active with local charities, including the YWCA. And he was a businessman, who most recently helped save Fazio’s, a local Italian eatery in Charleston.

He also became president of HD Media, the owner of several newspapers including the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Skaff invited me to participate in this year’s HD Media Outside the Echo Chamber program during the recent legislative session. I also worked with Skaff in his role as interim executive director of the West Virginia Press Association.

Skaff was a complicated person, as we all are. I can’t say I agreed with every decision he has made. Skaff was a political moderate regardless of his party affiliation, so sometimes I agreed with him on politics and sometimes I did not. But Skaff was an eternal optimist and very rarely did I see him not smile. And he could give one heck of a passionate floor speech and stand up for his caucus.

I had just talked to Skaff on the phone last Monday and told him my wife and I would be at Fazio’s in two days for our ninth wedding anniversary dinner. He was very excited about the work being done at Fazio’s. My wife and I still went to Fazio’s last Wednesday, to honor our nine years of matrimony but also to honor the life of Doug Skaff Jr. He will be missed.

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I was tipped off prior to last week about a letter that went out to West Virginia’s elites from Gov. Patrick Morrisey that they would be losing their numbered license plates. These are plates, up to 2,000 plates from what I understand, that sitting governors get to give out to friends, supporters, current and former lawmakers, lobbyists, and other politically connected people.

My friend T.J. Meadows with WV MetroNews Talkline reports that the Governor’s Office is walking back rescinding most of those specialty plates. Beyond the simple prestige of having the numbered plate and the possibility of getting out of a ticket from the West Virginia State Police, I honestly don’t understand the point of these plates.

Lawmakers already get their blue-and-white plates that identify them as members of the House and state Senate. The governor traditionally gets No. 1, and the Senate President/Lieutenant Governor gets No. 2. I could see members of the Board of Public Works getting the remaining numbered plates between three and eight. Otherwise, no one else really needs to be blessed by the current or future governor with a numbered license plate. Go pay for a vanity plate like the rest of us must.

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A correction: The three members of the state Health Care Authority apparently do not get an annual salary anymore. A bill passed by the Legislature in 2017 eliminated the $80,000 annual pay for the designated chair and the $70,000 annual salary for the other two HCA members.

That’s what I get for relying on the West Virginia Blue Book and not going directly to State Code.

Another correction from my article last week on Skaff, who was a 2026 pre-candidate for state Senate District 17. I had said state Sen. Anne Charnock, R-Kanawha, was appointed to the district seat held by current State Auditor Mark Hunt, who previously represented the 8th District. She was appointed to succeed former state senator Eric Nelson, who was tapped by Morrisey to be his Department of Revenue secretary.

Since Nelson was just re-elected last November, that does mean that Charnock’s seat will be on the ballot next year for a special election alongside the regular election for the senator she shares a district with, state Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha.