HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — Brenton (“Brent”) Ricketts of Harpers Ferry today announced his candidacy for State Auditor on the ticket of the Libertarian Party of West Virginia.
The Libertarian Party of West Virginia (LPWV) will hold its state nominating convention on Saturday, May 7, at the Sutton Days Inn and Conference Center in Flatwoods. The LPWV anticipates nominating a full slate of candidates for the six statewide races in West Virginia this year as well as candidates for Congressional and state legislative office.
Ricketts becomes the sixth Libertarian to announce for statewide 
office this year, joining Moran of Preston County for Governor, Kolenich of Upshur County for Attorney General, John Buckley of Hardy County for Secretary of State, West of Wood County for Treasurer, and Buddy Guthrie of Monongalia County for Commissioner of Agriculture. The Libertarian Party of West Virginia is now the third-largest political party in the state in terms of registered voters.
“The foremost obligation of any public servant, and the fundamental job of State Auditor, is to ensure that the public’s hard-earned tax dollars are spent efficiently and honestly. Revenue must be collected according to law, subject to the disinfecting scrutiny of public oversight,” said Ricketts. “If you want a neutral, fiscally responsible conservative overseer of the public finances, you can’t do any better than a tight-fisted Libertarian,” he added.
“I’ve evolved over the years from a political observer to a Ron Paul libertarian-Republican to Tea Party member to registered Libertarian,” said Ricketts. “As Auditor, I will apply my libertarian philosophy as a relentless watchdog over the public’s money,” he promised. “I’ll work hand-in-hand with our new Libertarian Governor, David Moran, our new Libertarian Treasurer, Brent West, and our new Libertarian Attorney General, Karl Kolenich, to root out waste, inefficiency, and corruption.”
A resident of Jefferson County on the Eastern Panhandle, Ricketts was a small business owner in Charles Town. With a degree in technical sciences, he’s had over 20 years’ experience in project management, ranging from Architectural design, sales and operations management for a motorsports business, estimating and account management in such varied fields as architectural millwork, metal design and fabrication, to residential and commercial construction. Married, with three children and 2 grandchildren, Ricketts has side interests in restoring automobiles, DIY home projects, his middle school son’s wide-ranging academic and athletic activities, and his daughter’s considerable community theatre participation.
“I’ve always been a ‘natural’ libertarian,” Ricketts explained. “Let other people do their own thing, let me do mine, and as long as we respect that, we can all get along just fine.” “As a political Libertarian,” he added, “I believe the United States in general and West Virginia in particular would be better off if the government were smaller and our tax burden much lower.”