By MATT COMBS
The Register-Herald
FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — In a last-minute push, Gov. Jim Justice paid a visit to Fayette County in attempt to get his proposed “Roads to Prosperity” plan passed through a referendum on Oct. 7.
Justice spoke to a gathered crowd of around 50 Thursday afternoon, just two days shy of the referendum vote.
High above the New River, in the dining room of Smokey’s Steakhouse, Justice urged those that haven’t voted early to get out the vote on Saturday.
Justice told the crowd that internal polling showed that a voter turnout of at least 11.5 percent was needed to ensure that the referendum would pass.
“I will challenge anyone here to tell you that it’s (not) the biggest election that this state has ever had,” Justice said.
With the low voter turnout so far, Justice’s town hall speech quickly turned to what Justice believes would be the negative impact of the referendum not passing.
“What’s the impact if this(the referendum) doesn’t pass,” Justice asked the crowd. “Well, I’m going to tell you; it’s going to be a catastrophe.”
While the governor said that some of those who have voted or will vote against the referendum may be related to the fact that he recently switched political parties, he rested the majority of his disdain on what he believes is misinformation about tax increases.
“That’s hogwash,” Justice told the crowd. “Complete, total hogwash. All the funding is in place and that is absolute hogwash.”
Another concern that has made its way to the governor’s ear is the concern of West Virginian workers not taking a lead role in road construction.
While Justice said the state’s Jobs Act only protects jobs not tied to the federal government.
The governor told the crowd that the Jobs Act will apply to “probably” two-thirds of the proposed projects.
While the Jobs Act requires the state to hire resident workers, that requirement is tossed away if those workers cannot be found.
“Just to be honest, if you’re trying to find 48,000 people today, that’s tough to do,” Justice said.
The governor went on to say that he believes one of the greatest resources the state has is citizens that have gone elsewhere to find work and said that the projects associated with the referendum were a good way to bring those citizens back.
“We can bring them home,” Justice said. “We can put families back together.”
Citing a lack of revenue in the state, Justice painted a dire picture of West Virginia he believes will happen if the referendum fails to pass.
“Is anyone foolish enough to believe, if it (the referendum) fails, you’re going to get your roads fixed,” Justice asked the crowd.
While the governor pushed what he believes would be the impacts if the referendum failed to pass, he also highlighted what he believes will happen if voters chose to pass the referendum on Oct. 7.
Justice said that the projects will create at least 48,000 jobs, some directly tied to construction but others tied to the service industry.
“The multiplier effect of this is unreal, it’s absolutely unbelievable,” Justice said.
The governor also compared the $3 billion in proposed projects to the over $200 million that the state received from President Obama’s stimulus package in 2009.
“This is instant, massive jobs,” Justice said. “This is, fill this place to the rims and get people going down the river like you can’t even imagine and have people realize how good we really are.”
When asked by a member of the audience whether roads were the priority that the state needs to be looking at, Justice governor signaled roads were the first step.
“There’s a lot of projects we could be doing within our state that would be really beneficial, no question about that,” he said. “You’ve got to start somewhere.”
Of the over $3 billion in projects, $1.6 billion is dependent on the road bond referendum.
The counties of Raleigh, Wyoming, Fayette, Greenbrier, Nicholas, Monroe and Summers would be in line for 119 projects totaling nearly $500 million.
Voting begins at 6:30 a.m. and ends at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Voters can vote at their regular precinct.
Email: [email protected]; follow on Twitter @mattcombsRH
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