一位想获得中国公民身份的美国参议员候选人
西弗吉尼亚州基瑟——作为一名有着阿巴拉契亚背景的骄傲的西弗吉尼亚人，唐·布兰肯希普(Don Blankenship)正在竞选美国参议员，但他的主要居所是坐落在拉斯维加斯附近一幢价值240万美元的别墅，带有棕榈树和无边界的泳池。
Blankenship, a Republican loyalist of President Donald Trump, is running an America First-style campaign and calls himself an “American competitionist,” but he admires China’s state-controlled economy and has expressed interest in gaining Chinese citizenship.
布兰肯希普是一位忠于唐纳德·特朗普总统的共和党人，他目前正在开展一场“美国优先”风格的竞选，自称是一位“美国竞争者”，但他却仰慕中国由国家把控的经济，并表示有意获得中国公民身份。
The former coal mining executive is widely known for spending a year in prison for his role in a mining explosion that claimed 29 lives. Yet he is running as a champion of miners and has bought TV ads that challenge settled facts about his role in the disaster.
很多人都知道，这位前煤矿高管因为一起煤矿爆炸事故而入狱一年，那次事故导致29人丧生。然而，他仍然作为一名煤矿工人的捍卫者参加竞选，而且还购买了电视广告时段，对他在那场灾难中所负责任的公认事实发起了挑战。
And even as Blankenship seeks to join the Republican majority in Washington, a super PAC linked to the party establishment is attacking him as a “convicted criminal” and a hypocrite.
此外，就在布兰肯希普谋求加入华盛顿的共和党多数派的时候，一个与共和党建制派有关联的超级政治行动委员会正在攻击他是“已被定罪的罪犯”和伪君子。
No Republican candidate in the 2018 midterms embodies so many contradictions as pointedly as Blankenship, who was found guilty of conspiracy to violate mine safety standards in federal court and yet has plenty of supporters in coal country.
没有哪位2018中期选举的共和党候选人像布兰肯希普这样，身上汇聚了这么多尖锐的矛盾，联邦法院判他密谋违反煤矿安全标准，他却在煤炭县有着众多支持者。
He is one of three leading Republican contenders heading into the May 8 West Virginia primary, even though he is lugging around enough political baggage to disqualify a candidate most anywhere else.
他是进入5月8日西维吉尼亚州初选领先的三位共和党候选人之一，尽管拖着在其他任何地方都无法获得候选人资格的政治包袱。
That Blankenship retains a political hope is a consequence of West Virginia’s sharp shift to the right, driven by seething hostility to the Obama presidency, both its social changes and its perceived “war” on coal. The emergence of a former coal boss with a criminal record as a potential Senate nominee seems partly an expression of many West Virginia voters’ desire to poke a thumb in the eye of the Washington establishment, Republicans very much included.
布兰肯希普仍然存有政治希望，是西弗吉尼亚急剧右转的结果，对奥巴马总统的强烈敌意起到了驱动作用，包括该任期内发生的社会变革，以及围剿煤炭的“战争”。一位有着犯罪记录的前煤炭老板成为潜在的参议院提名人，在一定程度上体现了许多西弗吉尼亚州选民对华盛顿建制派的不满，共和党人当然也是包括在内的。
Blankenship offers no apology for his many contradictions and personal and business decisions, some of them previously undisclosed. Though he lives a baronial lifestyle thanks to a fortune built on coal scratched from West Virginia’s mountains, he says the size and origins of his wealth are no one’s business. He is the only candidate in either party in the Senate race who has not disclosed his personal finances as required by law to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. There isn’t “much of a penalty” for flouting the law, he explained in an interview, justifying his refusal.
布兰肯希普对于自己身上的许多矛盾之处，以及个人和商业上的决策从未作出道歉，其中一些决定此前还从来没有公开披露过。尽管过着贵族般的生活——这要得益于他从西弗吉尼亚的山里搜刮来的财富，他说自己的财富规模和来源不关别人的事。在参议院选举中，他是两党唯一一个未根据参议院道德委员会(Senate Select Committee on Ethics)规定披露个人财务状况的候选人。蔑视该规则“不会受到多少惩罚”，他在一次采访中为自己拒绝披露的做法辩解道。
“I don’t personally think anybody should have to disclose private information,” he said while awaiting the start of a “meet the candidates” event last week in Cabin Creek, West Virginia.
“我个人认为，任何人都不应该披露个人信息，”在上周西弗吉尼亚卡宾溪举行的“见见候选人”(meet the candidates)的活动上，他在候场时说。
National Republican leaders are alarmed that Blankenship could emerge as the winner of the primary, which they fear would cost them a winnable seat in November against Sen. Joe Manchin, a vulnerable Democrat.
共和党的全国领袖担心，布兰肯希普可能会赢得初选，他们担心这样的结果会让他们在11月针对参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)的竞选中损失一个原本能够拿下的席位，曼钦是一位不难打败的民主党人。
In a highly unusual move, a super PAC linked to Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky senator and Republican leader, began saturating the West Virginia airwaves last week with an ad attacking Blankenship for poisoning local drinking water from his former coal mines. The nearly $745,000 campaign of TV and digital ads is meant to boost the chances of two conventional Republicans in the race, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Rep. Evan Jenkins. A Fox News poll conducted last week found a fluid race, with Blankenship trailing his rivals but about one in four voters undecided.
一个与肯塔基州参议员、共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)有关的超级政治行动委员会，做出了极度不同寻常的举动，上周开始铺天盖地地推出了一条攻击布兰肯希普的广告，说他此前的煤矿污染导致当地饮用水有毒。这个耗资近74.5万美元的宣传活动包括电视和数字广告，意在增加竞选中两位传统共和党人的机会，这两人分别为总检察长帕特里克·莫里西(Patrick Morrisey)和众议员埃文·詹金斯(Evan Jenkins)。福克斯新闻上周的一项民调发现，这场竞选胜负难料，布兰肯希普紧追在对手之后，但每四个选民中就有一人尚未决定投谁。
On Monday, responding to the attack ads, Blankenship brought up McConnell’s marriage to Elaine Chao, the secretary of transportation, and questioned whether the majority leader faced a conflict of interest in foreign relations. Chao’s father is “a wealthy Chinaperson,” Blankenship said, speaking on a West Virginia radio show, adding, “And there’s a lot of connections to some of the brass, if you will, in China.”
周一，布兰肯希普在对攻击广告作出回应时，提到了麦康奈尔与交通部长赵小兰(Elaine Chao)的婚姻，质疑这位多数党领袖是否在外国关系方面存在利益冲突。布兰肯希普在西弗吉尼亚一档电台节目中说，赵小兰的父亲是一位“非常富有的中国人”，并且补充道，“而且如果要说的话，与中国身居高位的一些人有着许多联系”。
“I read in books that people think he’s soft on China,” he said of McConnell.
“我在书里看到，人们认为他对中国的立场软弱，”他如此评价麦康奈尔。
China, as it happens, is a topic of personal interest to Blankenship. His fiancee, Farrah Meiling Hobbs, was born there. The two met on a flight from Atlanta to Las Vegas about eight years ago, Blankenship said. According to the website of an international trading company Hobbs founded, she is “a former Chinese professional basketball player and part-time model” who moved to the United States in 1996.
碰巧的是，中国也是有关布兰肯希普个人利益的话题。他的未婚妻法拉·梅玲·霍布斯(Farrah Meiling Hobbs)生于中国。布兰肯希普说，他们两人在八年前相识于亚特兰大飞往拉斯维加斯的航班上。根据霍布斯建立的一家国际贸易公司网站，她曾是中国专业篮球运动员、兼职模特，于1996年搬到美国。
It was purchased just before Blankenship began a one-year prison sentence following his conviction on a misdemeanor count related to the 2010 explosion at Upper Big Branch mine, the deadliest U.S. mine accident in 40 years.
在布兰肯希普开始一年的服刑之前，他们购置了这栋房屋。他因2010年Upper Big Branch煤矿爆炸事件被判轻罪，这是美国40年来死亡人数最多的矿难。
Though Blankenship stepped down that year as chief executive of Massey Energy Co., he exited with his sumptuous earnings intact. Massey paid him $17.8 million in his last year. He gained an additional $86.2 million when the company was later sold, by one estimate.
尽管布兰肯希普在那一年辞去了梅西能源公司(Massey Energy Co.)的首席执行官职务，但他带着丰厚的收入全身而退。最后一年，梅西公司付给了他1780万美元。后来公司出售时，有人估计他额外获得了8620万美元。
Part of Blankenship’s assets are now paying for some $2 million of TV and digital ads — far more than his rivals — that seek to muddy the picture of his 2015 conviction by painting him as a victim of a politically driven “Obama judge” and “Obama prosecutors.”
布兰肯希普的部分资产现在正用于支付200万美元左右的电视和数字广告——远远多于他的竞选对手。这些广告试图搅浑他2015年的罪名，将他描绘成了受政治驱动的“奥巴马法官”和“奥巴马检察官”的受害者。
In his campaign, Blankenship positions himself as a West Virginia populist, an “American competitionist” who stands for unfettered capitalism. The heart of the government’s case against him at trial was that he rapaciously sought profit while ignoring mine safety.
在竞选活动中，布兰肯希普把自己定位为一个西弗吉尼亚民粹主义者，代表着自由放任资本主义的“美国竞争主义者”。政府在审判中对他提起诉讼的核心便是他贪求利益，却忽视了矿场安全。
Yet he identifies the new frontier of uninhibited capitalism as China. In a telephone conversation he recorded in 2009, introduced at his trial, Blankenship said he might move to Asia where governments enforce fewer regulations.
但他认为无拘束的资本主义新领域在中国。在审判中拿出的一段2009年的电话录音里，布兰肯希普表示他可能会搬到亚洲，因为那里的政府管制较少。
“I’m actually considering moving to China or somewhere and being more like George Washington if I can get citizenship,” he said. “I can probably get citizenship in India. I’d rather be in China.”
“我实际上正在考虑搬去中国或是其他地方，要是我能获得公民身份的话，就更像乔治·华盛顿，”他说。“我可能在印度获得公民身份。但我还是宁愿在中国。”
In the interview, he repeated this sentiment and freely discussed his financial history in China, though he said foreign citizenship was no longer a priority for him — perhaps dual citizenship would be useful, he mused.
在采访中，他重申了这个观点，并洋洋洒洒地谈论了他的未婚妻在中国的财务历史，尽管他说，外国公民身份已经不再是他的重点——但又若有所思地说，或许双重国籍身份有所帮助。
He expressed admiration for how Beijing exercises central control over its economy.
他对中国政府如何对其经济实施中央控制表达了钦佩。
“Americans confuse the words communism and dictatorship,” he said. “The Chinese are running a dictatorial capitalism and it’s very effective. That’s the way corporations are run. Corporations are not a democracy.”
“美国人混淆了共产主义和独裁专制这两个词，”他说。“中国人搞的是独裁资本主义，它非常有效。这就是企业运营的方式。企业并不是一种民主体制。”
Although Blankenship maintained in numerous court proceedings that his principal residence was Nevada, he still owns a home in West Virginia, in Mingo County not far from where he was raised. He said he paid property taxes in West Virginia but not income taxes.
尽管布兰肯希普在多次诉讼程序中都坚称，他的主要居住地是内华达州，但他还是在西弗吉尼亚的明戈县拥有一所房屋，那里离他长大的地方不远。他表示，他在西弗吉尼亚缴纳房产税，但没缴纳所得税。
There is nothing legally barring him from seeking a Senate seat from the state if he declares a primary residence elsewhere.
就算他声称自己的主要居住地在别处，法律也不会阻止他寻求该州的参议院席位。
He scoffed at the notion that voters might regard him as an outsider, even a carpetbagger, because he lives mostly in Nevada.
对于选民或许会因为他主要居住在内华达州，而把他视为一个外来者，甚至是一个手提包政客的观点，他嗤之以鼻。
“Many people have two homes,” he said. “Most coal miners now have one in Tennessee and one in West Virginia.”
“很多人有两个家，”他说。“现在大多数的煤矿工人都是田纳西州一个，西弗吉尼亚州一个。”
