Republicans in the majority in our state legislature are solely responsible for all of West Virginia's economic problems. So says Democratic Gov. Jim Justice.
That would be the Republicans who have been in the majority for the last two and a half years, the Republicans who gained control of the House of Delegates and the Senate in 2014 for the first time in 80 years..
You recall how everything was hunky-dory in West Virginia until 2014, right? Eighty years of Democratic leadership in the legislature had made our state a paradise. The economy was booming, people from all over the United States were flocking here to share the good times, and two terms of the Obama administration only made things better.
Then, there was that sudden downturn in 2014 and everything went sour, remember?
Of course, you don't, and neither do we, because it never happened. The reality was quite the opposite. Democratic legislatures, Democratic governors, and Democratic judges have been running our state into the ground for longer than most of us have been alive.
“The West Virginia Legislature keeps twiddling their thumbs while our state continues to stay locked in an ‘economic death spiral,’” Justice said in response to a CNBC report ranking West Virginia as the worst state for business in 2017. “The Legislature allowed West Virginia to sink even further down the list of worst states for business because they completely failed to adopt my vision of change.”
What's his vision? A return to the eighty years of paternalism and dependency that got us where we are today. No, thanks.
Reforms enacted by Republicans in their first term as the majority are just beginning to take effect, and we're only just now feeling the positive impact of the pro-coal attitude of the new administration in Washington. This is a real vision of change.