Before I do, let me point out that Governor Jim Justice – a
man misnamed if ever a politician was – made no attempt to hide his political bias
when he made the appointments, ignoring such trivial matters as judicial
experience, honesty, integrity and respect for the rule of law, instead stating
openly and without shame that “both of these appointees are true conservatives…(who)
we need to restore trust to our highest court.”
Never mind that one of his appointees, U.S. Rep. Evan
Jenkins, didn’t even have an active law license when he applied for the job
after losing his primary campaign for the U.S. Senate.
You can read all about the judicial scandal in this state in
this article by Mother Jones or this one by West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
In the meantime, I invite you to read the following article by me, which discusses what I consider to be the unethical and immoral party hopping two-step that cursed us with Governor
Justice in the first place.
* * *
We need a few new laws in West Virginia.
Here’s the first one: If a candidate runs for governor as a
member of one political party – and gets elected primarily because he claims to
represent the platform of that party – it shall be illegal for him to change
party affiliation for at least four years. Further, said governor shall be held
accountable for his actions during those four years and subject to a recall
referendum by voters if he strays demonstrably from the platform that the
voters chose.
There shall also be penalties for violating this new law.
For example, if any governor – let’s call him, say, Jim Justice – campaigns and
is elected as a Democrat and then switches parties before the ink is dry on his
first proclamation, he shall be arrested for election fraud and bound over for
trial in a West Virginia circuit court. I mean, what could be more fraudulent
than intentionally and maliciously misleading voters into thinking you will
support their agenda, then turning your back on them as soon as you have
collected their votes?
What’s even worse, our new Republi-cratic governor has gone
all-in for the pseudo-Republican faux-president of the United States, so much
so that he’s now trying to out-stupid and out-dictator Donald Trump, as if that
were even possible. Want proof?
On Saturday, it was reported that rising prices for
construction materials as a result of tariffs instituted by Trump are
threatening to derail major road projects in the state. A Wheeling bridge
project, for one, is now estimated to cost $100 million more because of the tariff-inflated
cost of steel.
Let me say that again: The project is now one hundred
million dollars over budget.
When House of Delegates Minority Leader Tim Miley sent a
letter to Governor Justice warning him about the effect of Trump’s tariffs,
Justice replied with a Trump Administration talking point. The exchange went
like this:
Miley: “If the trend continues, this will greatly limit the
number of projects that can be completed with funding through the ‘Roads to
Prosperity’ program. I sincerely hope that the public was not misled on the
costs and number of the projects that the state will be able to complete….”
Justice: “Steel price or steel tariffs, they could have
possibly hurt West Virginia and they could hurt in certain ways. However, the
overall net gain in the end will be unbelievable for this country. Our
president, all he wants to have happen is fair play.”
In other words, “Trump good, tariffs good, make American
great and let the people of West Virginia pay the price.” I don’t believe a Democratic
governor who actually was a Democrat would stake out a similar position.
If that isn’t bad enough for you, during the same news
conference Justice came perilously close to endorsing Trump’s “fake news”
fantasy and his “enemy of the people” criticism of the press when he accused
the Charleston Gazette-Mail of
driving people away from West Virginia by printing “negative” stories about him
and the state.
He called an opinion piece written by one of the newspaper’s
editors “garbage,” and attacked the author of the column directly. Pointing to
the “very very tip” of his little fingernail, Justice said, “I would tell you
that I have cared for, done more, and loved more for the state of West Virginia
and its people than this guy will do in his lifetime.”
Does that mean that Justice thinks the writer is an “enemy
of the people” of West Virginia? You can be the judge.
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