Republican Candidate for West Virginia attorney general Dan Greear kicked off another round of forums Wednesday night at Musselman Middle School.  Greear spoke for six minutes and was not given questions because his opponent, incumbent democrat attorney general Darrell McGraw, declined an initiation to participate.  Greear highlighted some of the changes he would make if elected, including vigerously enforcing consumer protection laws while protecting businesses and returning settlement proceed to the state for appropriation by the legislature.The three candidates for Berkeley County Commission followed.  Incumbent republican Steve Teufel, Democrat Tony Petrucci and Mountain party Klaus Heitmann answered questions about a variety of issues over the course of the evening.  The topics ranged from dealing with affordable housing to the failed zoning ordinance, but the biggest topic of the evening seemed to involve money and how the county is dealing with the nation’s economic downturn.Teufel pointed to the work the current commission ahs done to lower taxes for citizens and decrease the levy rate.  Petrucci said that the county does not have the money it does not spend.  County agencies need to continue to do their part according to Petrucci, and the county will simply need to “buckle up” and try to cut costs.  Heitmann said the county could look at holding off on making improvements to infrastructure and maybe even get rid of unnecessary buildings owned by the county.Wednesday’s event was Maria Lorensen’s last official act as editor of the Journal.  She was presented with a dozen roses at the close of the forum.Next week’s forum will be on Wednesday, October 8^th at Washington High School and will feature candidates for the Jefferson County Commission from the Kabletown and Harpers Ferry Districts.  The program begins at 7:00pm.         

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