Commentary

Election Outcome, Positive Changes Bring New Sense Of Optimism

By:  Steve Roberts, President, W.Va. Chamber
        Paul Arbogast, President, W.Va. Roundtable

The State Journal, December 14, 2004

Recent developments in West Virginia have brought several reasons for a sense of optimism among employers in our state.  Strong progress was made on many fronts, and we are pleased to report that these developments are having a positive impact on the views of business executives both inside and outside out state.  Our organizations have received calls from a wide range of people who are sensing better days ahead for West Virginia.

First, efforts to restoring balance, fairness and integrity to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals were accomplished with the victory of Brent Benjamin over Warren McGraw.  It is anticipated that Benjamin will help to balance the five-member court and steer it away from its judicial activist tendencies of the past several years.  With this change, employers will no longer have to fear that they will be treated overtly in an unfair and arbitrary manner by the high court.

Next, the election of Joe Manchin as our state’s new governor brings a renewed focus to improving the state’s business climate.  Already, the governor-elect’s transition team is working energetically to examine critical areas in our state, including ways to streamline government, reduce expenditures, improve job creation and open West Virginia for business growth and investment.  There seems to be a real sense and commitment to tackle some of the problems that have been holding back our great state.

Governor-elect Manchin’s work should be made a little easier with the election of more moderate and conservatives who comprise the majorities in our state Legislature.  Continuing a multi-year trend, pro-employer candidates fared very well in the election.  Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin and House Speaker Bob Kiss both will preside over bodies that are generally moderate in their fiscal and philosophical mindset.  And, Governor-elect Manchin has included Tomblin and Kiss as key players on his transition team.  This “out of the gate” cooperation and coordination should help to ensure consensus between the Executive and Legislative branches, and move things along quickly when the new year starts.

Finally, West Virginia ’s economy is gaining strength, thanks in large part to the continued economic recovery and the recent resurgence of the state’s energy industry. While certain segments of our state are being buffeted by the effects of continued globalization, the national recovery continues to gain strength.  This renewed economic activity, as well as the boom going on in other countries such as China , has lit a fire under the state’s energy industry. 

As the only state in the eastern U.S. that can truly say it has reliable, abundant, secure and affordable energy, West Virginia is in an enviable situation. Energy is the lifeblood of business and industry, and West Virginia is the eastern “energy heart” of this nation. 

Our state is blessed with vast energy reserves of coal and natural gas and an extensive production capacity for electric generation.  We also have an extensive electric transmission system and widespread natural gas pipeline and storage capacity, which provide not only for our state’s needs but also for the energy needs of much of this country.

One of the most striking outcomes of this reemergence of the state’s energy industry is that it has actually caused a shortage of skilled workers in some situations. In southern West Virginia , billboards have sprouted seeking coal miners.

Imagine how much more success we can enjoy as a state if, by improving our overall business climate, we are able to attract more jobs that provide the basis for every family’s quality of life.  Stop and think for a few minutes about how much better life will be for West Virginia families when we improve household income from 50^th in the nation to somewhere nearer the national average, when we improve the level of education of our citizenry and when our physical health and well-being move closer to the nation’s norm.  Those should be our measures of success, and the table appears set to move in this direction.