Watch the first W.Va. Gubernatorial Debate, Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting, commercial TV stations and newspapers websites
By Lacie Pierson
The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – When it comes to setting their sights on the future of the Mountain State, candidates seeking to become the next governor of West Virginia have a four-letter word on their minds — jobs.
With West Virginia’s labor force participation rate at 53 percent, meaning that little more than half of the state’s working-age population actually was at work, those vying to become the next leaders of the state talked about what steps could be taken from the executive branch to create more jobs and workforce participation in the state.
There are five candidates seeking the seat in the Nov. 8 general election, and four out of the five responded to questionnaires from The Herald- Dispatch and talked with members of The Herald-Dispatch editorial board in the past month.
Incumbent Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin cannot seek another term because of term limits.
The candidates:
Jim Justice, 65, of Lewisburg, is the Democratic candidate for governor.
Justice is owner of The Greenbrier resort as well as 83 different companies in the coal, agriculture, medicine and tourism industries. He coaches boys’ and girls’ basketball at Greenbrier East High School. Justice received his undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in business administration from Marshall University.
William “Bill” Cole, 60, of Bluefield, is the Republican candidate, and he is currently president of the West Virginia Senate.
Cole is the owner of Cole Automotive Group in Bluefield and Bill Cole Automall in Ashland, Kentucky. Cole received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northwood University in Michigan. Cole first was elected to the Senate in 2012. He also was appointed to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 2010, serving a seven-month term following the resignation of Del. John Shott that year.
Charlotte Pritt, 67, of Charleston, is the Mountain Party candidate for governor.
Pritt is a former high school English teacher with experience teaching at the higher education level. Pritt served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1984 to 1988 and in the West Virginia Senate from 1988 to 1992. She previously ran for governor in 1992, losing to Gaston Caperton in the Democratic primary, and in 1996, when she defeated now-U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin in the primary but ultimately lost to Gov. Cecil Underwood in the general election.
David Moran, of Eglon in Preston County, is the Libertarian candidate for governor.
Moran is a retired engineer, having spent his career working for the Navy in the field of oceanography and on ship designs for special operations. He currently is an adjunct professor at West Virginia University and a sheep farmer in Eglon. He has a doctorate in hydrodynamics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He previously ran for governor in 2012.
Phillip Hudok, 66, of Huttonsville in Randolph County, is the Constitution Party candidate for governor.
Randolph County Schools. He also is the owner and operator of Century Photo, a photography and video business. He has a bachelor’s degree in physics from West Liberty University and a master’s degree in educational computing from the University of Charleston. He currently is the vice chairman of the Constitution Party of West Virginia.
Hudok did not respond to an email from The Herald-Dispatch seeking comments about his candidacy.
Seeking office:
Each candidate identified the Mountain State’s economy as a motivation for seeking the office, saying their experience would be most relevant to bettering the economic outlook in the state.
Justice said he was tired of seeing West Virginia come in last in various nationwide rankings, saying he wouldn’t accept the $150,000 annual gubernatorial salary if he were elected.
“Our people are hurting, and I couldn’t just sit on the sidelines knowing that I can make a difference,” Justice said. “We need jobs. I’m a businessman; creating jobs is what I do. I’m not running for me; I’m running for the families of West Virginia. Our state needs someone who can think big and has experience creating jobs in coal, tourism and agriculture. The politicians just can’t get it done.”
Cole said his experience in the Senate and as a business owner let him know the scope of the state’s problems and he wanted to take on a bigger role in solving them.
“West Virginia has full-time problems that require full-time solutions,” Cole said. “It takes a full-time governor that is going to be dedicated 24/7 to moving this state forward, and that’s why I think I’m the man for the job.”
Pritt noted she had more legislative experience than all gubernatorial candidates combined, and she said her personal, professional and legislative experience gave her a unique background to lead the state through challenging times.
“More importantly, the time I spent in the legislature, I advocated for the people and the issues that hang in the balance today. I served on the finance committee in the House making budget decisions that put people
first. Because of my legislative, personal and career experiences, I may be the only person who … can lead us through these challenging times.”
Moran said his goal is to provide more modern, enlightened leadership in order to bring economic and educational prosperity to West Virginians.
“West Virginia is one of the two poorest states in America. We have the highest unemployment rate in our southern and central counties,” Moran said. “We suffer from one of the highest income tax rates of all the states. The median family income in the U.S. is $56,000. In West Virginia, it is half that amount. We have one of the worst educational systems in the world, but we have an abundance of qualified and talented educators. What we are lacking is the motivation to improve and the leadership to show the way.”
Jobs:
These candidates are seeking to lead West Virginia as the state slowly emerges from a recession, according to researchers at West Virginia University.
In September, WVU researchers said economic indicators showed West Virginia was emerging from a recession, but noted the recovery has been lackluster compared to previous business cycles because of the devastating floods in June and other economic issues.
WVU’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research director John Deskins said it remains uncertain if stronger economic growth will occur in the coming months.
That uncertainty seemed to give gubernatorial candidates a wide open plane on which to explore the state’s economic potential in the wake of a decline in production of coal and natural gas as the demand for the state’s resources has died down and the prices for them have dropped dramatically.
As “diversifying the economy” has become one of the buzzworthy phrases of the state’s 2016 election cycle, gubernatorial candidates elaborated as to how they viewed that diversification.
Cole described the need to provide good-paying jobs to West Virginians as the single biggest issue in the state in 2016.
He said legal reform and tort reform passed by the GOP-led West Virginia Legislature in the past two years would help pave the way for some outside business investments. He said the reforms already were the
catalyst for lowering insurance rates in the state, as insurance companies favor having a more predictable legal outcome in the state’s court system.
Otherwise, Cole said he wants to focus on more Career Technical Education and training, bringing more research dollars into the state through its higher education system and bringing more manufacturing jobs through the state’s natural gas industry.
He wants to create the West Virginia Economic Development Corp. to create a public-private organization to bring in people from industries and help them establish relationships with state government in order to determine what steps should be taken to harvest a more diverse economy.
“There would not only be business people sitting around that table, but we’d bring in the branches of state government necessary to promote economic development, whether that be highways, from an infrastructure standpoint, public education, both K-12 and higher ed or (the Department of Health and Human Resources),” Cole said. “When the interaction ceases to be bureaucrat talking to bureaucrat, and in fact is business people interacting with state government, you get partnerships going very quickly.”
Justice said he wanted to run the state more like a business. He said he wants to bolster the state’s tourism industry with investments in marketing, support agriculture by finding West Virginia’s “niche crop” and find different ways to support the state’s coal and natural gas industries, including incentivizing power plants to burn only West Virginia coal.
“The potential is there; we just need a governor who has the experience and the connections to make it happen,” Justice said. “I will market the strength of our central Appalachian coal. The price for metallurgical coal has gone up significantly and created new opportunities for our state. I’ll work on attracting a cracker facility that will create new markets for our natural gas industry. I will grow tourism by promoting our state to a larger audience and attract more tourists here. I think we can attract the next Disney-type resort to West Virginia. We can host a national shooting competition, horse race, winter sports championship and more major conferences here in West Virginia. I’ll look for ways to cultivate public- private partnerships to expand our existing state attractions.”
Pritt said diversification of the state’s economy should be sustainable and renewable, equitable and ecologically sound.
Pritt wants to use federal dollars to assist West Virginia citizens in communities hardest-hit by the downturn in the energy sector, and she said she would work for the legalization and decriminalization of industrial
hemp as well as medical and recreational cannabis. She also said she wants to implement support for agriculture and tourism in the state with an emphasis on keeping state contracts and investments with in-state companies.
“My top priority for a recovering economy places West Virginians in the driver’s seat by using West Virginia taxpayers’ dollars to support and finance West Virginia workers and businesses,” Pritt said. “Reinstating the prevailing wage and mandating West Virginia-owned businesses and workforce be used on all projects using West Virginia taxpayer dollars puts West Virginia tax dollars back in the hands of West Virginians.
“A diversified economy based on the identified needs of a specific community involving the voices of all parties impacted creates lasting results and empowers the people of local communities rather than leaving them helplessly dependent on only one industry.”
Moran said West Virginia is well-suited to lead a new manufacturing revolution that is focused on more localized manufacturing that eliminates expensive and pollution-creating aspects of global shipping and transportation.
“West Virginia has all of the resources necessary, energy, minerals, networking, etc., to lead this revolution for the nation and to set the example for the global economy,” Moran said. “This is the first chance that we have had in over a century to take the lead and build a new economic reality for the state. Our colleges and universities need to take the educational lead. Our legislators have to reduce and eliminate every legal impediment to making this future a reality. We need to invite the world to join us in the building of the next future economy while preserving the beautiful aspects of our mountain culture. We can make all of this happen through leadership and the excitement of making our future prosperous.”
