MORGANTOWN — The candidates for the 52nd and 53rd House of Delegates districts met recently with The Dominion Post Editorial Board to field question and air their views. Here are some highlights.
In the 52nd District, Republican incumbent Terri Sypolt faces Democrat challenger Junior “JR” Wolfe.In the 53rd, incumbent Republican Buck Jennings faces Democrat challenger Corey Chase. The 53rd District race is somewhat of a rematch of 2018 when Jennings took 59.51% of the vote to top Chase (34.28%) and a Libertarian challenger.
Sypolt, a former longtime Preston County assessor, is seeking her third House term and introduced herself as someone who believes “God should be allowed in our classrooms. … we should take care of those who take care of us,” such as parents, seniors, veterans and first responders.
She supports the right to have a gun to protect ourselves, our families, our property. Welfare recipients, teachers and legislators all should be drug tested. Men dressed as women shouldn’t be allowed in bathrooms with little girls.
Wolfe said he retired from 33 years of government service and subsequently, through volunteer service became aware of issues and looked to see how the Legislature and governor were dealing with them.
He said he was disappointed to see attention wasted on a lot of peripheral issues and wants to be a part of getting the attention focused back in the right direction: foster care, the drug crisis, education and teachers, infrastructure. He found like-minded individuals in the progressive West Virginia Can’t Wait team, created by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stephen Smith.
Jennings was appointed to his seat in 2017 and won it in 2018. He chairs the Homeland Security Committee. Looking at his experience, he said, “If you go down there with an agenda you’ll accomplish nothing.” You have to build relationships. “You don’t always get everything you want.”
As an example of doing the best to get what you can, he cited a recent education bill that brought $2 million to Tucker County and nearly $2 million to Preston. “Your responsibility is to the people that you represent.” He’s worked as a fire fighter, EMT and paramedic. “I’ve always been a big believer in giving back to the community.”
Chase is a Tucker County native who grew up on cattle farm where, he said, he learned a strong work ethic. A massage therapist, he’s owned a small business for 17 years. Exporting the state’s resources and government corruption have driven people away.
We need to invest in infrastructure and education for our kids’ future, he said, regulate lobbyists and prosecute political and white collar criminals. He advocates for drug law reform and addiction treatment.
The candidates took a question on the districts’ poor roads and what needs to be done.
Jennings said the Legislature has moved a lot of money to deal with decades of neglect. There are challenges; for instance, it’s difficult to trim away the canopy, which prevents snow melt and tears up the roads. “Those are the kinds of things we need to look at.”
Roadwork and bridge repair and replacement are going on. “You have to figure out a way of paying for it to get them fixed.” The Legislature has done a good job with what it has but needs to do more.”
Chase said the chief problem is low Division of Highways wages. Workers get trained then move to the better-paying private sector. “If we don’t raise their wages they’re not going to be staffed well.”
Meanwhile, contract labor has to be held accountable for its work, he said.
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Sypolt said she regrets that Randy’s Dream, a roads program introduced but Sen. Randy Smith, R-Tucker, died – falling first to a veto and dying in committee the second time.
There have been improvements, but she invited Senate Transportation chair Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, to Preston to tour the roads. “He could just not believe what shape the roads were in.” A DOH engineer also came to Preston to see the bad roads in person.
Wolfe said there’s been a longtime systematic effort to get rid of the DOH. Politicians tend to not like agencies because they tend to act independently sometimes; they prefer doling out contracts to cronies.
It’s better and cheaper to do the work in-house, he said. Right now, though, 1,100 open DOH positions is a real problem. Additionally, the pay is too low and many applicants can’t pass drug tests.
Another question dealt with expanding broadband access across the state.
Wolfe said big companies aren’t going to solve the problem because of the state’s topography and lack of a financial incentive to serve low-density populations. What’s needed is grants to incentivize small companies to extend last-mile service. “It’s just a matter of coming up with the funds.”
Jennings said the Legislature has passed several broadband bills in recent sessions. “That is one of their top priorities.” He agreed that the state’s topography and low population discourages big-company investment.
He cited the failure of Frontier, which took over the statewide BTOP broadband program from Verizon in 2010, “Routergate” and the millions of dollars of misspent money and state mismanagement that resulted. “They just let us down; they pretty much robbed the state in my opinion.”
In the midst of talking about last-mile service, his connection dropped. When he got back on, he said, “I want you to think about trying to teach kids like this. This is horrible.”
Chase said there needs to be research on which legislators got kickbacks from Frontier. Truly expaning broadband will require will take investment, through taxation, and federal grants. “There are kids that are just falling through the cracks right now because of this pandemic.”
He proposes using tax-increase investment and federal grants to build a public fiber optic middle mile network, devoting $250 million over the 10 years, which would spur last-mile development. “Cities are becoming obsolete. People can work from home.”
Sypolt’s connection cut out frequently during the entire virtual meeting and she didn’t get to say much on this topic. “I am as disgusted with the internet as anyone else.”
She cited some of the recent legislation, such as the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and the Connect America program that is going out for bids.
Tweet David Beard@dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
