MORGANTOWN – Two of the three candidates aiming to succeed Joe Manchin in the U.S. Senate met with The Dominion Post Editorial Board to discuss the issues they’d face in office.
Democrat Glenn Elliott recently finished his second term as Wheeling mayor. He worked as a staffer for Sen. Robert Byrd for five years back in the 1990s, he said. “I really learned a lot from him,” including how to work across party lines.
A Wheeling native, he returned in 2009, he said, and joined the effort to revitalize downtown. “It’s really a success story.”
Republican Jim Justice is completing his second term as governor. “I’ve said it 10 million times: I love our state beyond good sense.”
He continued, “There’s nothing about D.C. that fascinates me in any way. All you’ve got to do is lean back and judge me by my deeds, and I’ll stand by that forever.”
They took a question on the nation’s and state’s energy future.
Justice said, “The bottom line is this country does not have an energy policy, do we?”
It’s preposterous to say we can do without fossil fuels, he said. “Maybe someday, but surely not today. We need an energy policy.” And, he said, we need to lead the world in energy production. He said revenue from that would help make a dent in the $35.4 trillion national debt, and countries that have an adequate energy supply benefit in every way.
Elliott said West Virginia has doubled down too much on fossil fuels and missed out on other opportunities. Coal has been a mixed blessing for the state, he said.
“It’s given us a lot of good jobs, but it’s also left some cities like Welch behind.” He said we need to be embracing an all-of the-above energy policy. West Virginia has geothermal, hydrogen wind and solar that aren’t fully being exploited. “The future’s going to happen whether we’re along with it or not.”
We need to be prepared and diversify now and be made whole for all the sacrifices the state has made.
On the topic of immigration and reform, Elliott said he won’t support the Biden-Harris immigration policies. “Things got too lax down there and we needed to strengthen the border.”
He said, “We have to have a compassionate but stern immigration policy. We have people that want to come here to work.” We need to streamline the process to prevent people having to wait in long lines, he said, which encourages illegal crossing.
Justice said the open border and mass migration “is absolutely a travesty beyond belief,” asking why we let millions flood across the border.
He cited the example of the town of Springfield, Ohio, that has just over 50,000 residents and has seen 15,000 to 20,000 Haitian immigrants pour in, with the demands that has put on the city. “It just absolutely strains every single part of all of us.”
The candidates took a question on the issues Justice has faced as owner of The Greenbrier.
Elliott said, “For me it’s been a little bit of a distraction.” People want to talk about that instead of other issues, he said. “I’d much rather talk about the different policies out there. I’d rather talk about the 55 counties and the people we’ve visited on the way. The challenges we have across the state.”
Justice began his answer with a question: “Would we have a Greenbrier today if it weren’t for Jim Justice?”
He and his family own and run multiple businesses that employ thousands, he said. “From time to time you come on a bump. … Is there reason for alarm?” It’s functioning fine and problems are being taken care of, he said, contending that if he hadn’t saved it, it would have become a chain brand that employed far fewer people. “It would have been a travesty and a loss for the people of West Virginia beyond belief.”
The candidates were asked their thoughts on the U.S. Department of Justice plan to move marijuana from Schedule I (highly addictive and lacking medical value) to Schedule III (indicating a moderate to low risk of dependency.” DOJ said this “will not legalize marijuana but will mark a significant move towards reducing federal limitations and recognizing the potential for cannabis’s therapeutic and medical benefits.”
Justice said he’s not well versed on the issue but knows some argue it can be a gateway drug. The state is still wrestling with the opioid crisis, and illegal fentanyl. “I am a firm believer that we’ve got to be progressive in our thinking, but we’ve got way more important problems that we’ve got to deal with.”
Elliott said he’s met and spoken with people about marijuana and its medical benefits. He agrees with the rescheduling, saying it doesn’t make sense to criminalize a drug that doesn’t make people violent or carry a lot of detrimental health effects.
Libertarian David Moran is also running for this Senate seat. The longstanding Editorial Board policy is to invite only the candidates of the two major parties for interviews.
