MORGANTOWN – Two House of Delegates candidates met with The Dominion Post Editorial Board to field some questions on the issues.
Republican Gino Chiarelli is seeking the open 78th District seat. Incumbent Democrat John Williams is one of five 51st District delegates and seeking the seat representing the new 80th District in the newly drawn 100 single-member district House.
Their respective opponents, Democrat Jeffrey Budkey and Republican Justin White, did not meet the deadline to respond to the virtual meeting invitation.
Chiarelli is a WVU graduate who worked for Child Protective Services in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He is now a now substance abuse counselor.
He’s seen what people struggling with abuse go through, he said, and some need a hand up. “A lot of people just need a little bit of a push in the right direction. I think, with the right amount of assistance, and if they have somebody speaking for them in the Legislature, I think that this state could do a lot of great things.”
Williams is a financial adviser, husband and father of a 5-month-old son, and seeking his fourth term. “I’m proud of the work that I have done and the way I’ve been able to do it,” he said. As a member of the minority he is able to work across the aisle to get projects done, without sacrificing his beliefs or his allegiance to his party.
He particularly likes to focus on economic development, having successfully pushed for such things as modernizing alcohol laws for distilleries and breweries. He said his proudest accomplishment was a road funding bill that passed both houses but got vetoed. “It doesn’t mean we’re going to stop trying to improve the road conditions in our area.”
They were asked their views on the rival tax cut plans: the Senate’s property tax plan and the governor’s and House GOP’s income tax cut.
Williams said he doesn’t favor the Senate plan, which could ultimately favor large corporations and leave small businesses behind. It makes counties wards of the state depending on legislative appropriations. Counties should remain autonomous.
The House plan is regressive, he said, favoring higher-income residents; he supported a plan to give money to lower- and middle-class folks. But he’s willing to talk about the income tax plan and making it more beneficial to the middle class.
Chiarelli answered briefly, saying he leans toward the Senate plan but doesn’t think he could get on board with either. It’s important to make sure the voters get the benefits.
The budget surplus topped $1 billion for the last fiscal year and the candidates were asked how they would spend the available surplus (the portion not committed to the Rainy Day Fund).
Chiarelli said his work as a substance abuse counselor allows him to identify barriers to treatment. He would use some money to expand medication assisted treatment programs and make clinics more accessible to rural residents – including providing better transportation services staffed by full-time state employees to make the service more reliable.
Chiarelli also said medication-based treatment should be provided in prisons. Offenders who are addicts often go into prison and come out addicted to something worse, he said.
Williams said the surplus should be invested in infrastructure and education. Higher education has taken hits in past years when the budget needed balancing. There should be new investments too, including addressing the drug epidemic.
“With our infrastructure challenges,” he said, “I don’t think that there is a dollar amount that someone cold conceivably say that I could say that’s too much going into roads.” He’s also interested in creating a state bank that could provide affordable loans for businesses.
Following the recent passage of updated abortion law, the candidates were asked what the state should do to support mothers.
Williams favors a variety of measures such as maintaining and boosting TANF and other welfare programs, providing paid maternity leave to help moms raise their new children, and full need healthcare for women.
“We need to make motherhood the blessing that it is and the good thing that it is, if a woman chooses motherhood, and make it so that it’s not hard and she doesn’t have to go back to work at McDonald’s three day after she gives birth,” he said.
Chiarelli said he is Catholic and pro-life but believes mothers need support. The state should encourage families, encourage mothers to have children, he said.
“I would love to ee our state get to a point where we can subsidize, if not completely cover prenatal care to birth, and postnatal care.” There needs to be a culture shift so people don’t feel inconvenienced when they choose to become parents, he said.
