Far Better to Dare ‘Modest’ Things
Tomblin’s State of State address proposes to keep West Virginia’s
ranking intact
Morgantown Dominion Post
14 January 2011
Someone once said, “Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable and
you will never be asked to do a thing.” If acting Gov. Earl Ray
Tomblin’s State of the State address is any indication of his modest
vision for West Virginia, then we cannot expect a thing. Admittedly,
Tomblin’s unique position as acting governor/Senate president, the
court challenges for a special gubernatorial election this year, the
still-fragile economy and our state’s everyday woes might stifle anyone
from being too assertive. However, anyone who takes on this role — as
our state’s leader — cannot afford to be middling. Especially at the
onset of a regular legislative session. For instance, Tomblin did not
mince words in his speech lauding the potential that the Marcellus
shale drilling industry represents to our state. No one would argue
with that, including our newspaper’s editorial board.
However, he did not once mention the urgently needed legislation to
regulate this new industry in the overall best interest of not only the
state’s revenues, but its environment and its citizens, too.
We had hoped that the acting governor would have come out as strongly
not only about profiting from this industry, but protecting our
resources and residents, too.
He also failed to mention the alarming need to update the state Ethics
Act with legislation that unanimously passed the House of Delegates
last year, but was allowed to quietly die in the Senate, he controlled.
This bill not only curbed public officials from becoming lobbyists for
one year, but required further extensive financial disclosure
provisions of thousands of public officials and posting them on the
Internet.
We do favor Tomblin’s move to cut the sales tax on food to 2 percent.
Yet, we expected more. If not an outright elimination of this
regressive 3 percent tax on the most vital necessity, then at least a
plan to gradually remove this burden altogether, especially off the
poor, in the future.
Although Tomblin was not coy about creating jobs and improving the
state’s economy, his words did not match his deeds. “I will go
anywhere, do anything and spend every waking moment focused on
expanding the number of jobs for the people of our state,” he said.
That just doesn’t jibe with a sales tax credit aimed at attracting
distribution businesses and creating new models of tax-increment
financing districts. Clearly, what the state Legislature does now does
not hinge a lot on Tomblin’s agenda, but we would like to think he was
more capable than this. Maybe, we need not ask him to do a thing.