Commentary: Steve Roberts

This Election Is About Fixing W.Va.


Charleston Daily Mail, March 27, 2004

Supreme Court candidate Warren McGraw is name- calling and vilifying so-called "out-of-state companies" in his re-election bid. Voters deserve better. West Virginia is facing serious challenges, and candidates need to focus on solutions. This year's election is about restoring balance so our state can compete with our sister states -- and foreign countries -- for jobs and new investment.

As the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce has outlined over the past months, the state is out of step in a number of key areas. We need to elect public officials at all levels who will resolve our "out of step" problems and help restore our state to a place of job growth and economic vitality. Our state's considerable potential for job growth continues to be obstructed by unwarranted burdens and laws that are completely out of the mainstream.

The major problems confronting our state's business and industry include inflated Workers' Compensation costs, a glaring need for civil justice reform, inordinately cumbersome environmental procedures, third-party bad-faith lawsuits, and sky-high business taxes.

Being out of step has cost our state dearly:

• 50,000 jobs lost in the past three years;
• $2 billion in lost household income, which translates into less spending at local businesses;
• $100 million in lost state personal income taxes, further compounding our state's worsening fiscal crisis;
• Dramatic increases in insurance rates for homeowner and automobile policies;
• Continued high levels of poverty, substandard housing and poor health conditions.

West Virginia has lost a generation to places like Charlotte, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, Columbus and Pittsburgh. Some of the best and brightest have departed for good.

We can't afford to lose another generation. We must correct our course.

Ask candidates where they stand on these "out of step" issues, and what they are going to do to restore balance to West Virginia. Demand answers; don't accept sound bites or rhetoric. Many candidates just want to point a finger and blame "faceless forces", or scare citizens with bombastic accusations. We no longer can afford to play the blame game.

Ask politicians how they plan to resolve these problems. The chamber, and its small business membership, will continue to tackle the controversial issues facing our state. We have the courage and fortitude to look squarely at the state's problems.

So I ask candidates to step up to the plate themselves and provide their ideas for how to solve our state's problems and create more jobs for West Virginians.

On behalf of the more than 5,000 employers represented by the chamber, I pledge that we will work diligently to develop grass-roots activism for policies and changes that will restore balance. We will work to help elect conscientious, pro-jobs candidates at all levels of government.

Roberts is president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. His e-mail address is sroberts@wvchamber.com.