Legendary Marshall football coach Bob Pruett was in the audience Monday when his WVU counterpart, Don Nehlen, introduced West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice during a re-election town hall at the Morgantown Mariott at Waterfront Place.
Both men know a winning team when they see one, Justice said, explaining that’s what West Virginia has in himself and President Donald Trump.
“We’re killing it right now, but we’re only starting on our way,” Justice said, explaining the state was languishing economically when he took office and coming off six straight years of cutting budgets.
“We’ve maneuvered ourselves onto the launch pad. We’re ready to go, finally. We’ve produced surplus, after surplus, after surplus, and we’ve got ourselves, in some rankings, first in the nation. If you could have seen the books on day one, you’d have never believed it, not in ten million years.”
But, he warned, that progress could be quickly undone.
“If you don’t re-elect your governor and we don’t re-elect our president, we’re the craziest people in the history of the universe,” Justice said, before launching into a free- wheeling question-and- answer session that touched on topics ranging from roads — first and foremost — to addiction, fossil fuels and the state’s business climate.
Cheat Lake resident Ed Warnick asked Justice if he would commit resources to address the undersized and overmatched roads in what he explained is the highest per capita income district in the state.
“You’ve got my word. Absolutely, we’ll get dead on it,” Justice said.
Others, representing Preston County, wondered why the state seemed so gung ho to address the county’s dire road conditions for a short time before things eventually fell back to the status quo.
Justice was asked directly when he planned to visit Preston County and see the roads firsthand.
“First of all, I’ll come next week. That’s what I’ll do,” Justice said, calling Transportation Secretary Byrd White to the microphone.
Justice said he’s committed to fixing every road that needs it, but it’s going to take time.
“I’m not saying your roads are not terrible, but I’m telling you we’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars to try every way we possibly can, and we won’t quit until they’re all fixed — every last one of them,” Justice said.
While Justice was speaking largely to supporters, the evening wasn’t without a bit of drama, which began when one commenter expounded at length about his thoughts on the state of West Virginia’s teachers and how the state’s schools are being used to push ideology on children.
Monongalia County Board of Education President Ron Lytle took exception, first booing, then offering his own remarks before walking out.
“I really have a hard time with someone attacking our teachers like that. We have, absolutely, the best teachers in the state of West Virginia in our classrooms and they’re performing every day,” Lytle said, adding, “I hope there’s no teachers in the room because you just verbally attacked them, right here. And there were people clapping for you. Congratulations.”
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