No, Gov. Jim Justice, the criticism regarding the New Year’s party at The Greenbrier Resort — which he owns — is not a political hit by Democrats. (Did he miss the entire country turning on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for getting a haircut?) It’s a perfectly reasonable response from policymakers and average citizens alike to the hypocrisy of a leader whose business seems to think it’s exempt from the rules that apply to everyone else.
A video circulated widely on social media showed unmasked revelers crowded into The Greenbrier’s ballroom for a New Year’s Eve party. Justice protested that he does not have anything to do with the day-to-day operations. But he is still The Greenbrier’s CEO and still the governor of the state, and the question remains why the establishment he owns — though run by his daughter — felt confident it could flaunt COVID-19 restrictions without consequence. And so far, there have been no consequences.
As citizens and business owners alike have pointed out on social media, if that video had been of any place other than The Greenbrier, the health department would have descended upon the resort in a wrath of public-safety-fueled fury and shut the place down. That is, after all, what happened to Monongalia County bars after a photo of unmasked students waiting outside to enter a bar went viral (no pun intended). One photo caused an entire county’s bars to be closed for months, and yet a video of a far larger — not to mention indoor — gathering without masks has elicited a lukewarm response from the governor and the Greenbrier County Health Department.
“I’ll promise you these people knew the protocols. If something was just missed, it was just missed,” Justice said Monday. Defying the 25-person limit on indoor gatherings and the indoor mask mandate is a pretty big thing to “miss.” And GCHD released this statement: “The staff at Greenbrier County Health Department has spoken with representatives from The Greenbrier Resort and reviewed their policies regarding COVID-19 guidelines. We have pinpointed some issues of concern that have since been addressed.”
That’s an oddly demure response considering Mon County Health Department slapped local bars with code violations and fines for similar infractions.
Justice asked (rhetorically) if the public wanted him to shut down the historic resort and put 1,500 people out of jobs. If we were vengeful, we would say yes, that’s exactly what we want, considering his extended bar closures put a similar number of people out of work. But we’re not so petty as to wish that on The Greenbrier’s employees. But we’d be less likely to call the governor a hypocrite and the GCHD his lackey if similar fines and penalties — made proportional to the size of the establishment and the number of individuals in attendance — were leveraged against his billion-dollar business as were given to much smaller bars and restaurants.
The widespread outrage has nothing to do with Justice’s party affiliation and everything to do with the seeming abuse of his political position to benefit (or rather, in this case, protect) a business he still owns. If Gov. Justice wants to dispel any claims of impropriety, all he has to do is ensure The Greenbrier Resort is held to the same standard — and the same consequences — as all other businesses in the state.
