MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When it comes to license plates with low numbers, it’s all about who you know.
And to get plates numbered 4 to 2,000 in West Virginia, you need to know Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.
It is accepted practice that low numbered license plates are assigned to top state officials. After those are assigned, it is up to the governor to grant requests for low-numbered plates.
Tomblin has plate No. 1. Plate No. 2 is registered to State Senate President Jeff Kessler, and No. 3 is registered to State House of Delegates Speaker TIm Miley.
Beyond that, his office refuses to discuss who has the other numbers or how they are selected to receive them.
“There’s a process. It’s just not something we discuss. It’s at the governor’s discretion,” said Chris Stadelman, the governor’s communications director.
Stadelman said “several hundred” of the 2,000 plates are currently not assigned, and a number are renewed each year, “some going back to Gov. Moore’s administration…
