GOVERNOR ELECT JIM JUSTICE HAS SET SOME GOALS FOR WEST VIRGINIA, WILL HE MEET THEM?

       I wanted to update this blog, as Governor Justice has officially taken over as Governor now. The updates will be in blue, to find the baseline from when he takes over, to ten months from now, when he says the state economy will be turned around.

      As I'm sure you are aware, Governor elect Jim Justice has said that he will help West Virginia in many ways. He's pretty non specific with his goals, which was consistent through the campaign, but this is what I could find:

1. "As governor, I will put our coal miners back to work. Even in these tough times for the coal industry, I’ve put coal miners back to work." Now, what does that mean? How many coal miners back to work? in 2012 there were 15,00 coal miners at work in WV, now, according to the West Virginia Coal Association, there is 12,000. In 2010 there were 20,000 and in 1990 there were 28,000. So we will see what happens. 12,000 is still accurate according to Bloomberg and the WV coal association.

2. "I will incentivize our power plants to use only West Virginia coal." 

3. He has said that he wont raise taxes, in spite of a projected 500 million dollar shortfall in 2017-18.

4. He has said that he wont cut the budget the state legislature is already talking about cuts.

5. "As governor, Jim will: Stop the flow of out-of-state drug dealers that are poisoning our people." Thats pasted right from his campaign website.

6. "Jim will end the free lunch for politicians by: Requiring more transparency from “dark money” groups who try to influence West Virginia elections."     (Man, I want to believe this one!)

7. Banning all fundraising activity during the regular legislative session for all state government officials.

8. Pay our teachers what they’re worth. (this one is pretty unclear, but Im guessing he wants to give teachers a pay raise)

He has said a lot more than this, but he is vague. So, it will be difficult to prove that he over promised on some things. Just to be clear, I'm rooting for him. I hope he gets West Virginia's economy out of the gutter. He has said that he needs 10 months to succeed. We will be crossing our fingers and watching.

http://www.statejournal.com/story/33622367/gubernatorial-candidate-jim-justice

www.wvcoal.com

www.wvminesafety.org/PDFs/2015%20Annual%20Report%20-%20CY.pdf

http://wvmetronews.com/2016/10/24/tomblin-believes-next-governor-will-have-to-raise-taxes/

http://justiceforwv.com/jims-jobs-vision/

http://wvpublic.org/post/cole-justice-spar-1st-2-gubernatorial-debates

http://www.billcolewv.com/jim_justice_s_bridge_to_wall_street

http://justiceforwv.com/the-bill-cole-roads-plan-more-taxes-and-bigger-government/

http://wvpublic.org/post/jim-justice-expect-see-improvements-10-months
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-01-10/can-west-virginia-s-new-governor-save-coal-country
http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170118/projected-2017-18-wv-budget-deficit-nears-500m