Candidate Exposes Corruption Before Removal From Hearing (Video)

Lissa Lucas is not afraid to speak truth to power.

On Feb. 9, the Cairo, W. Va., woman went to the state Capitol in Charlottesville to testify at a public hearing against an oil and gas industry-sponsored fracking bill (HB 4268) that “allows companies to drill on minority mineral owners’ land without their consent,” Common Dreams reports.

“I’d … like to point out that the people who are going to be speaking in favor of this bill are all going to be paid by the industry, and the people who are going to be voting on this bill are also often paid by the industry,” Lucas said from the podium on the House floor. “I have to keep it short simply because the public only gets a minute 45 [seconds], while lobbyists can throw a gala at the Marriott with whiskey and wine and talk for hours to the delegates.”

Lucas then started listing how much money legislators supporting the bill have received from the oil and gas industry. Before she could finish, the presiding official of the hearing, Republican John Shott, asked security to remove her for reciting public information.

On Friday, the bill Lucas opposed passed.

Don’t be surprised to hear more from Lucas. She is running as a Democrat from Ritchie County for West Virginia’s House of Delegates, a place the fracking industry has overrun. Prior to her public action, she had raised $4,000 for her campaign. After her address at the Legislature, she raised another $50,000, more than double the $17,498 “raised by all three candidates in 2016,” The Intercept reports.

The show of support for Lucas could be a sign of a progressive revolt stirring in West Virginia.

Watch Lucas call out legislators at the public hearing in the video above.

Watch video below of political comedian Jimmy Dore commenting on the incident.