Bob Henry Baber

Bob Henry Baber (born December 15, 1950) is an American writer and politician. He is an Appalachian poet who was the first member of the Mountain Party to be elected to office when he became mayor of Richwood, West Virginia in 2004. In 2011, Baber was unanimously nominated to be the Mountain Party's candidate for the special gubernatorial election in October 2011. In the gubernatorial election he placed third out of the five candidates with 6,083 votes making up for 2.02% of the votes cast. In 2012, Baber ran for the position of US Senator in West Virginia under the Mountain Party label against the Democratic incumbent in a three-way race. He was included in the only Senate debate in 2012 and he received 16,951 or 3.02% of the total vote. Baber ran for U.S. Senate once more in 2014.
Career in politics
During his first tenure as mayor, Baber repaired sidewalks, remodeled the Richwood Depot, gave pay raises to city employees, repaired streets, purchased new computers for city workers, secured grants for two new police vehicles, and helped double the size of the nearby Cranberry Wilderness. His efforts to double the wilderness were universally voted against by both the City Council and the Chamber of Commerce. Baber's most significant contribution was securing a 3 million dollar grant from the State of West Virginia and the Federal government to clean up the Cherry River. At the time Baber took office, 90% of the City's sewage was going directly into the river. Subsequent to the initially secured 4 million (the citizens voted to assess 1 million to be paid at 0% interest over 30 years), the city received nearly 2 million more from the Obama Administration as a "shovel ready' project. Now built, the new system has reduced the pollution of the Cherry by approximately 75%.
In May 2007, he and the mayor of Lewisburg, West Virginia, John Manchester, received the 2007 Environmental Hero Award of The Wilderness Society.
During his mayoral tenure, a small group of individuals (including City Recorder, Myles Caldwell) began an investigation on ethics charges and election fraud. As part of the investigation, the WV State Police explored 1971 charges (where a Los Angeles "Love In" was categorized by LAPD as a "riot"). After extensive investigations, all charges were dropped. Caldwell and others pushed for impeachment but in August 2007, one week before these allegations was to be tried before a Nicholas County Court, Baber resigned. He identified the financial need to support two children in college in his decision to accept a position at Glenville State College where he served as grant-writer and developer.
Baber was later elected to a second term of mayor of Richwood. Following an investigation into his use of taxpayer money, Baber was removed from office on July 20, 2018, by a three-judge panel.
Publications
His publications include "A Bedtime Rhyme" for children. He co-edited an anthology. Old wounds, New words : poems from the Appalachian poetry project and is the author of Swamper File.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu