MORGANTOWN — Gov. Jim Justice and Democratic challenger Ben Salango met recently with The Dominion Post Editorial Board to field questions and discuss issues pertaining to their election campaigns.
The meetings were virtual and because of schedule conflicts were held at different times. Here are some highlights.
Justice is seeking reelection to a second term. “I’ve prided myself all along on trying to tell people the truth. I’m really hung up on that,” he said.
Justice said the state was bankrupt when he entered office but he turned that around. Under his administration the state has paved roads, cleaned ditches, provided for pay raises for state employees and put $100 million-plus into PEIA.
Perhaps his proudest achievement, he said, has been leading the state through the COVID pandemic. But he’s also led progress in the economic and tourism arenas. “West Virginia is poised to really move forward. … I am a realist but I am a dreamer. Hyperloop is testimony of that right in front of us.”
Slango is a Kanawha County commissioner. He grew up in Glen Morgan, Raleigh County, where his parents started a weekly advertiser. “That’s how I learned my work ethic. I watched my mom and dad work night and day to make that little classified paper a success.”
Salango is a WVU alumnus, earning his undergrad and law degrees there. His wife, Tera, is also a WVU law grad and one of sons is a WVU freshman.
Salango worked for one of West Virginia’s major law firms before stepping out to start his own personal injury firm, Preston & Salango, in 2006. He also owns 304 Tees, an apparel company.
State COVID-19 response and CARES money
Salango contrasted the Kanwaha County Commission’s response to the pandemic with Justice’s. The commission put its Emergency Operations Center into operation before the state’s first case, made plans and made calls.
“The only person we could not get on the phone was Jim Justice. … I think early on the governor’s lack of response, lack of preparation really hurt West Virginia.” In some cases, the state adopted many Kanawha County practices after the fact, he said.
Salango alleges that more than $1 billion of the $1.25 billion in CARES Act money is still sitting unspent. He would have quickly gotten money out to small businesses, such as the Monongalia County bars and to restaurants struggling to stay open at 50% capacity. He wouldn’t have used $50 million to patch potholes.
He would have sent out more money, he said to keep schools safe and for rapid testing. And Justice pledged$150 million for cities and counties but only gave out $22 million and then closed the program.
“My plan would have been very different,” he said, For instance, he would have worked on a school plan starting last spring.
As a commissioner, Salango said he sent Justice a letter suggesting Justice let each county administer its own business program. He criticizes Justice for allotting sole proprietorships and small businesses of 1-35 employees just $5,000.
“That doesn’t go very far,” he said. “I would have gotten that money out to keep people employed rather than reserve it for when they’re unemployed.”
Justice said, “We moved very prudently and quickly in shutting down schools, canceling the state basketball tournament.” He stopped nursing home visitation and led the nation in testing nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
“West Virginia’s become a beacon and a leader in the world and absolutely in our nation,” he said. Others are adopting the state color code system for counties and schools. “We have complete transparency. … This is a very fluid situation and you have to adjust on the go.
Moving forward, “I think that we have got to continue the program that we’re on, to test and test and test.” And find the spreaders, minimize deaths and live with the virus until there’s a vaccine. He can’t let things go to where the state is broke and kids have lost a year of school. “We’ve got to manage it and that’s what I’m doing.”
He outlined in detail his CARES Act spending. “You’ve had a business guy that’s done it right.”
Among all the line items, he allotted $100 million to K-12 education; $50 million to highway projects to be able to get people to a hospital in a more expeditious manner; $50 million for education for PPE and testing; $150 million for small business loans,of which they received less than $50 million worth in applications; $25 million for public works; $200 million for counties and cities; $10 million to reopen Fairmont Regional Medical Center; $50 million for broadband; $25 million for public service districts; $4.3 million to volunterer fire departments and EMS services; $57 million to reimburse the state for COVID-related expenses and $21 million to reimburse the Governor’s Contingency Fund.
As far as Worker’s Comp, the fund’s $278 million was drained. He set aside $678 million from CARES to fill the hole and leave $400 million in reserve. The spared businesses a tax hike, he said. And it’s not likely WorkForce West Virginia will need all of the $400 million so he’ll be able to find other uses for it. “A far as sitting on a bunch of money that’s just garbage.”
(The Dominion Post has reported that Morgantown has received just over $6.9 million in CARES Act reimbursements thus far and expects an additional $1 million per month through the end of the year. Monongalia County only recently made its first CARES request, for just under $2 million for the sheriff’s department and MECCA, for salaries. Funds will also be used to reimburse expenses tied to protective gear and sanitation supplies.)
Post-pandemic state budget
Many say challenges still lie ahead as the state recuperates from COVID. Justice is optimistic. The state finished Fiscla Year 2020 with a $28 million surplus despite 25-year record low severance income, the pandemic and the income tax date pushed back to July 1. “The single biggest accomplishment from my end, period.”
At the end of the first quarter of FY 2021, the state had a $90.4 million surplus and, due to the postponed income tax collections, $297.8 million cash on hand.
“West Virginia is teed up economically. There will not be any qualm whatsoever about balancing the budget.” And no tax hikes will be needed.
Instead, “I want us to start us to start a very serious dialog about how we get rid of the state income tax in West Virginia.” That won’t be an overnight event. The discussions would be about how to phase it in and make it work.
The Dominion Post pointed out that Senate Republicans have tried and so far failed to phase out the business personal property and inventory tax and ask if the income tax effort would necessitate abandoning the business tax quest.
He said the tax structure has to be looked at in its entirety and they can;t just get rid of them all tomorrow. It may be too difficult to get rid of income tax. “I don’t think that in a state that continues to flourish, it is too difficult.” But he just wants to start a serious conversation.
Salango said there are two ways to balance a budget when money falls short: cut expenses or increase revenue. Increasing revenue doesn’t mean raising taxes but finding new tax sources.
That means bringing in new business and developing small business. He proposes a regional economic development plan through the Commerce Department, tailor to each regions strengths and needs.
He said he wants to get Roads to Prosperity money out there fixing roads and bridges and tap into federal money for broadband and connectivity.
“Those are the things businesses want when they come to the state. … When I pick CEOs up at the airport and I’m dodging potholes on the way to a prospective site, it’s difficult to sell West Virginia when we have terrible roads and our connectivity is bad.”
The drug epidemic is another challenge and Justice has no plan in place to fix those problems, he said. His plan to tackle to drug crisis pairs long term recovery with career training and placement.
Infrastructure and broadband
Salango claims only about $200 million of the Roads to Prosperity money has been spent. “He’s been sitting on it. We’ve got to spend it.”
Water is a critical part of infrastructure, he said, and there are still places without clean water. Keystone in McDowell County, for instance, has been under a boil-water advisory for six years.
He has no set broadband plan yet, to take advantage of any federal dollars that may flow in. “I want to make sure that whatever we do, the technology is right.” He would defer the choice of deployment to the Legislature.
He mentioned that in India, the government built towers and leased them to cell phone companies. That’s just one option to explore.
For Justice, completing Corridor H – from Elkins to Wardensvill and into Virginia – and the Coalfield Expressway to open up southern West Virginia are priorities.
Meanwhile, all kinds of projects, such as improving the airport outside Clarksburg, are in the works. “We are the diamond in the rough that everybody missed.”
He’s awaiting passage of the next federal infrastructure pacakge to finish $8 billion worth of road projects to complete arteries across the state.
“West Virginia is going to end up, especially on my watch, as the state that has all the good things that we have wanted, that other states have wanted, that we just couldn’t have. And maybe a lot of the bad things that they have we don’t have. And we’ll still be able to look out our windows and live in paradise.”
To the board, Justice teased an announcement that he made Wednesday concering Big Jim’s Broadband Plan for Prosperity. The initiative would be funded from three sources of money. One, $50 million per year for three years, to be appropriated by the Legislature
Two, $50 million in federal CARES Act money that Justice has already dedicated from the state’s $1.25 billion allotment.
Three, up to $766 million in federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund money that could be awarded when the FCC puts project bids across the nation up for auction Oct. 29. He knows of six providers planning to bid on projects for the state.
Tweet David Beard@dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
