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West Virginia’s Future is on the Ballot… On That We Agree · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Elections have always been ugly, but comparatively speaking, this primary,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: long in the making, built on manipulation and distortion, maybe
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the nastiest West Virginia has seen this century. Ads spun
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: from the digital ether, stripped of context, and unconcerned with
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: presenting the full truth, are now cheap to make and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: even easier to spread. They're everywhere, and meanwhile, serious policy
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: discussion has nearly vanished. This election has become less about
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: governing and more about power, not how to use it
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: to improve West Virginia, but who gets to wield it.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: In many ways, this race has become a referendum on
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  Speaker 1: Governor Patrick Morrissey. He made it that way when he
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: chose to politically target conservatives not aligned with him, branding
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: opponents as rhinos or worse. The implication is simple, disagreement
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: becomes disloyalty. That's not how it should be. At the
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: same time, the governor has struggled to build a productive,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: working relationship with much of the legislator. But our system
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: was never designed for one branch of government to dominate
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the others. Governors are executives, not executives, and lawmakers rolled
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: into one. And then there's the money out of state
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: money millions flowing into West Virginia politics from Utah, Pennsylvania, Florida,
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  Speaker 1: Wall Street and beyond, flooding mailboxes and television screens with
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: attack ads and social grievance messaging. But many of the
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: issues dominating those ads are already settled in West Virginia.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Abortion is already illegal here. Boys competing in girls' sports
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  Speaker 1: has already been addressed in state law, and now awaits
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: court rulings. School choice, the Hope Scholarship isn't going anywhere,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: even if lawmakers continue reviewing the cost, like every other
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: government program ever created. Meanwhile, the issues that actually define
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: West Virginia's future barely get discussed at all. Economic growth,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: population decline, workforce participation, long term opportunity, child welfare are
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: the real challenges. Governor Morrissey often points to more than
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: twelve billion dollars in investment announcements across the state a
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: way to say we're on the right track, But many,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: if not most, of those projects were already underway before
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: he took office. The first energy gas plant proposal predates
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: this administration. The Kindle and Blackstone natural gas project was
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: already moving. The Fidelis development in Mason County predates Morrissey
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: as well. Google's Putnam investment was moving about a year
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: before Morrissey took office, and the company relied primarily even
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: then on legislators. To be fair, the governor deserves some
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: credits on the Penzance project, but so too do local
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: economic developers, which brings voters to the real question before
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: them Tuesday. Do West Virginians want leaders obsessed with ideological
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: warfare about issues already decided that resulted in conservative outcomes?
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  Speaker 1: Do they want outside money trying to buy elections and
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  Speaker 1: constant mud slinging. Or do they want lawmakers focused primarily
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: on economic growth, investment and long term prosperity, lawmakers who
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: have made payrolls ran companies and know how to close
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: economic development deals. That decision belongs to voters, But it
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: seems an easy one to make this Tuesday, at least
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: to me,