Charleston Gazette-Mail. March 15, 2024.
Editorial: Justice’s deadbeat practices hurt real people
Sometimes, it’s easy to get lost in the spectacle of whatever it is that’s happening to the business empire of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, who also is a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.
When Justice was elected to his first term in 2016, his net worth was estimated at somewhere around $1.3 billion from the likes of Forbes magazine. But Forbes yanked Justice from its billionaires list not long after, when report after report surfaced concerning Justice’s mounting debts, some of them personally guaranteed by the governor and members of his family, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. There also were unpaid taxes, government fines, legal settlements and legal fees.
Then, a bank that hadn’t gotten anywhere with Justice or his businesses sought to garnish his salary as governor to recoup losses, while another was authorized by a federal judge to seize and sell a company helicopter to recover debts owed. Justice (or someone working for him) having the helicopter moved to another state before the initial seizure was supposed to take place added a farcical element to the whole thing.
The picture that emerges is one of Justice limping from room to room as a mob of debtors nips at his heels, with the film sped up and “Yakety Sax” providing the soundtrack, a la “The Benny Hill Show.”
What gets forgotten, especially with the sheer volume of cases and incomprehensible amount of money involved, is that this isn’t just about faceless creditors or financial institutions that might already be amply wealthy getting stiffed (not that such a thing should excuse someone like Justice from paying what he owes). Justice’s business shenanigans hurt real people.
Last week, Gazette-Mail reporter Mike Tony wrote about how frequent lapses in health insurance coverage at Justice’s coal businesses often left a former employee receiving chemotherapy treatments in the lurch. In fact, that former employee, 70-year-old Pinkey Mullens, told Tony there had been disruptions in his health insurance prescription coverage for years. Mullens said he worked for Justice “like a dog” at Double Bonus Coal Co., and feels the way the governor has handled his businesses and what it has done to employees is, at the very least, very disrespectful.
“I do not feel sorry for him,” Mullens said of Justice’s current financial woes. “I hope he has to pay every penny, plus penalties. That’s what I hope.“
The inability or, perhaps, refusal of Justice-owned interests to pay property taxes has also hurt communities in the southern part of the state, where economies are already pretty much a bust, thanks to the decline of the coal industry.
Tony reported that Justice owed more than $400,000 in delinquent taxes on hundreds of properties that were eventually sold at auction last year. The delinquencies represented a lot of lost revenue for these communities. Many of the properties were in McDowell County, which has one of the highest poverty rates not just in West Virginia, but the entire United States.
Failure by Justice and his businesses to pay fines and fees on mining violations also hurt the state’s environment, which affects not just wildlife but the people living near those mines.
Sure, there’s a lot to gawk at when it comes to Justice’s situation. But there’s a whole lot of fallout that people don’t always see. It might not be as fascinating as a train wreck, but it’s just as bad — if not worse.
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The Herald-Dispatch. March 16, 2024.
Editorial: Surprise (not)! Most WV counties continue to lose population
At this point there’s not much left to say except maybe to ask if we’ve been looking at it all wrong.
Thursday morning, the Census Bureau released its county estimates of population for July 1, 2023. The numbers weren’t surprising. Only six counties in West Virginia showed a likely population increase since the 2020 census. One of them, Monroe County, gained an estimated four people, so it certainly was in the margin of error for the Census Bureau’s methodology.
The other five counties were all in the northern part of the state. Monongalia County grew in population, as did four counties that border on northern Virginia: Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan and Hampshire.
Otherwise the historic trend of counties having fewer people as years pass continued. Kanawha and Cabell counties had the largest net losses, but that was to be expected, as they are the two most populous counties south of U.S. 50.
Other counties in this region that lost population were Logan, 1,747, or 5.4%; Mingo, 1,550, or 6.6%; Wayne, 1,302, or 3.3%; Boone, 1,233, or 5.7%; Lincoln, 755, or 3.7%; Mason, 686, or 2.7%; and Putnam, 479, or 0.8%.
McDowell County continued its freefall. The 1950 census counted 98,887 people there. The head count dropped to 19,155 people in 2020. The bureau estimates the county lost another 1,676 residents in the three years since for a total loss of 82% in the past 73 years.
More people are dying or moving out than are being born or moving in. As the coal industry shrinks, there is less and less reason for people to live in the southern counties. Most of the large-scale private investment south of U.S. 50 has been in flat areas close to the Ohio and Kanawha rivers. The coal fields don’t have the flat land or the number of people that attract the attention of multinational companies.
There’s no end in sight to the trend of population loss, and that’s bad. But there’s another way of looking at it. Maybe West Virginia’s population is rightsizing, and the process isn’t finished. The state has the number of people its economic activity can support. Or, given social problems that come with lack of economic opportunity, it still has too many.
The solution is to create an environment that attracts investment. That’s far, far easier said than done, and the saying has been minimal. Oh, we talk about it, but there have been few proposals that create a reason for investment away from the big rivers.
You would think the candidates running for governor this year would have a few ideas, but so far any such talk hasn’t gained much attention. If only one candidate would step forward with one idea. Talking about who is the biggest fanboy of a presumptive presidential candidate excites the voting base, but it doesn’t put food on the table or kids in schools.
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The Intelligencer. March 20, 2024.
Editorial: National Guard Owed Debt of Gratitude
As state officials begin to see an end to the use of West Virginia National Guard members to fill non-inmate-related jobs in the state correctional system, it is a reminder of just how much the Guard does for our state.
“We’re continuing to draw down on the National Guard, which has been a tremendous savings for us going forward,” said William Marshall, commissioner of the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “We’re hopeful by the end of April or the early part of May that we’ll be able to have all the National Guard drawn out of our facilities.”
These men and women stepped in during a state of emergency that saw a statewide vacancy rate for correctional officers of 30%. Some facilities saw vacancy rates as high as 60%.
Guard members, along with some officers from the Division of Natural Resources, got the job done while the DCR and lawmakers tried to figure out what to do about vacancies and other problems in the agency.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what an awesome and excellent job they’ve done for us,” Marshall said. “They are so professional and so regimented. They look great. They are so positive.”
It’s no surprise. Whether it be flooding, a pandemic, trouble in other states or a worker shortage, the West Virginia National Guard is always ready and willing. Some Guard members even became so good at the DCR jobs that they are going through the Corrections Academy to become full-time officers.
We are fortunate, here in the Mountain State, to be able to rely on such citizen-soldiers. We owe them our gratitude. So, the next time you see them carrying out another mission on our behalf, remember to tell them “Thank you.”
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