Manifesto

I'm working on technical issues for my campaign for Delegate to the West Virginia State Legislature. This manifesto outlines my ideas for the state. I hope you who read this will join in my campaign.


My issues are basically economic. For an economy to work, people must have money to spend. Tax cuts for corporations and the very rich will not accomplish this. West Virginia University is the basis for economic growth in Monongalia County. And yet, the budget has been cut the last few years. To cope, the University has cut classified positions and raised tuition. We need to fully fund the University so that in-state students can afford to go to the state's flagship school. Classified people need jobs to maintain the economic growth of this area.

University employees, school teachers and public employees are being hit with cuts in PEIA, the Public Employees Insurance Agency. Employees will pay more for less coverage, taking money out of the local economy, and potentially causing valuable employees and teachers to leave West Virginia.

The same is true of "right-to-work" laws, which serve to lower wages for corporate profit or executive pay. Skilled workers in the state need to be able to maintain a high standard of living for everyone's sake.

Charter schools seem to be unworkable in a (mostly) non-urban state like West Virginia. More importantly, they remove union protections from teachers, and divert public money to private corporations at the expense of teachers and students. One of our local Republicans proposed charter schools for West Virginia in the last legislative session.

It's no secret that the coal industry in this area is not doing well. We must make sure, however, that miners and retirees don't lose hard-fought for health and pension benefits. Companies declaring bankruptcy should not be able to divest themselves of these costs while paying out million-dollar bonuses to CEOs for cutting labor costs. I have to wonder if these people have any conscience at all. Last year, some safety regulations in the mines were repealed or relaxed in a bill introduced by one of our local Republican legislators. These former standards need to be reinstated to make sure our miners are as safe as they can possibly be. Cost should not be a factor when lives are at stake.

Global climate change is real and affects West Virginia. We must work with the United States Environmental Protection Agency to maintain our health and the health of our mountains and forests. Our university can work on creating jobs to make coal burning cleaner and find alternative energy sources.

I know social issues will be part of this campaign. Sectarian prayer in schools has been outlawed since the 1960s, abortion has been legal since 1973, and same-gender marriage is now legal in all states. Attempts to overturn these laws are futile and a waste of time and money. We all must recognize that there are many different religious beliefs, even in West Virginia, and especially in Morgantown. One of our Republican delegates proposed a resolution to ask for a United States Constitutional Convention to ban any recognition of same-gender relationships. Another Republican delegate supported this resolution. I can only describe this as mean-spirited, exclusionary and colossally useless.

I propose raising money for the state in several ways. First, we should restore the tax money that has been cut from corporate taxes in the last few years. That was supposed to make the state more competitive; instead it has meant that the state cannot cover basic services. We should raise the gasoline tax to cover desperately-needed road repairs. And Mon County needs to demand a fair share of gas tax money. People in other parts of the state have told me that the roads here are worse than in their counties.

In many places there are fees on developers. Homes can't be built until the developer widens and repairs the road where the new development will be. We see development all over Mon County where roads are not upgraded. Could we not implement a plan to make new developments contingent on better roads?

Our economy will grow if we can make sure that the people who work here are making a decent wage, if good jobs are available at our West Virginia University, if teachers have competitive pay and benefits, and if Social Security, Medicare, and the new Medicaid expansion are protected.

I ask for your vote to help me make West Virginia a vibrant economic engine for all our people.

Barry Lee Wendell
November 12, 2015