Will data centers be the downfall of the state Republican supermajority?
A hallmark of MAGA Republicanism has been the hypocrisy of imposing severe cuts to basic governmental services, while spending wildly on extravagances.
Having endured consecutive lackluster legislative sessions, Gov. Patrick Morrisey embarked on an extreme and unprecedented strategy for the Republican primary: He created a slate of candidates, and raised scads of out-of-state PAC dollars to support them and to viciously attack their opponents.
It’s been fascinating to watch the unprecedented influx of upwards of $2 million in mostly out-of-state dark money into Republican legislative primary races in West Virginia, with the majority of spending going for attack ads aimed at more moderate incumbents.
I fear we are witnessing the final decimation of West Virginia.
As this trifle of a legislative session turned into the last-hour horror show in the House of Delegates, I was taken, not by the terrible clock management by House leadership, but by how much influence a tiny faction of voters have over MAGA Republicans in the Legislature and the governor’s office.
As this lackluster, unproductive waste of a legislative session winds down to its final hours, we can blame a leadership vacuum for the Legislature’s lack of direction.
We will look back on the 2026 regular session of the Legislature as the session that fell on deaf ears.
The MAGA crowd views public education and higher education with suspicion, convinced they exist just to indoctrinate students with liberal concepts like liberty, diversity and equality.
By beginning work on the 2026-27 Budget Bill ridiculously early in the session, the Republican supermajority controlling the West Virginia Legislature is waving a white flag of surrender, essentially admitting that few — if any — substantive bills are going to pass this year.
With the 2026 regular session now half over, it’s obvious the Republican supermajority controlling the West Virginia Legislature does not intend to stray from its fallacious belief that it can starve the state to prosperity.
State Democratic Party chairman Mike Pushkin and members of the state Democratic Executive Committee deserve credit for doing an exemplary job finding candidates to run for legislative office this year.
As clichés go, “the silence was deafening” is not a favorite, but sometimes it applies perfectly.
West Virginia has a people problem. From its counties to its cities and towns, and particularly its school systems, the state simply doesn’t have sufficient population for many of these institutions to operate effectively.
“And so it begins.” —Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, “The Pitt.”
As a rule, governors hold their legislative agendas close to the vest, presumably to build interest in their State of the State addresses at the start of each 60-day regular session of the Legislature.
A few years back, I found myself on a train departing White River Junction, Vermont. While the station was not staffed by Amtrak employees, local volunteers assisted passengers.
How today’s politicians respond to tragedy is, unfortunately, all too predictable.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey was remarkably candid this week, conceding that West Virginia families are struggling with a “higher cost of living,” the result of soaring costs for necessities including electricity and groceries.
With Donald Trump refusing to allow the USDA to release contingency funds in order to continue SNAP food benefits (formerly known as food stamps) after Nov. 1, Gov. Patrick Morrisey had any number of options at his disposal to maintain critical benefits for some 275,000 West Virginians — inc…
Just when we thought we were done talking about unpaid taxes and debts owed by U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., and Justice family businesses, a slew of news reports pulled us back in again.
Not to say all politicians are liars, but many are given to fits of exaggeration and hyperbole.
Dismayed by data showing the state workforce shrunk by 7,600 in the past year, and employment in the state has declined for 14 straight months, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce has launched a campaign calling on legislators to stop “scrabbling for cheap and ugly political points,” and t…
Let’s see if I’ve got this straight: Gov. Patrick Morrisey and legislative leaders spent all spring, summer, and now, going into autumn trying to come up with ways to reduce PEIA health insurance costs, and after all that time, apparently have nothing to show for it.
When I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the governor’s office for all Local Economic Development Assistance grants approved in the first six months of the year, I figured I’d probably receive a couple of dozen grants amounting to less than $100,000.
Evidently, Gov. Patrick Morrisey is trying to be a one-man judicial hellhole.
I've frequently pondered why West Virginians in particular and Americans in general consistently elect politicians who don’t have their best interests at heart.
Having spent 15 years of my reporting career exposing the infamous legislative Budget Digest, helping contribute to its ultimate demise in 2006, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that legislators have come up with a new slush fund.
That the most heavily traveled bridge in the state effectively had to be shut down twice in two weeks for emergency repairs to a literally crumbling road surface is emblematic of the sorry state of West Virginia roads.
I’ve often referenced late Gazette publisher Ned Chilton’s credo of “sustained outrage,” the concept of covering an issue thoroughly and frequently until the problem is resolved.
How long can a political party remain in power when it consistently defies the will of a majority of voters?
West Virginians are experiencing the consequences of years of do-little legislatures, a case in point being the recent spate of flash flooding around the state.
Regular readers of this column probably weren’t surprised by Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s outburst this week regarding the poor condition of state roads and bridges – despite a $2.8 billion "Roads to Prosperity" spending spree by his predecessor, Jim Justice.
When the Republican Party was coming to power in the state, one of the key messages was that going to court to readdress grievances was practically unpatriotic.
One of the bedrock principles America is built on is the rule of law. Without adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law, the American experiment cannot survive.
The ink was barely dry on the regular session of the Legislature when Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced plans to call what sounds like a series of special sessions in the coming months.
For yet another year, the regular session of the Legislature wasn’t the worst session ever — merely the worst session ever so far.
It never ceases to amaze me how significant numbers of American voters, and a majority of West Virginians, have been persuaded to believe that the Republican Party is the party of the working class when Republican policies are consistently anti-worker.
Trumponomics delivered a one-two gut punch to North Central West Virginia this week, with notice of closure of the Novelis aluminum products plant in Fairmont, putting 189 workers and additional numbers of contract employees out of work, followed by DOGE chainsaw-style terminations of 200 or…
For reasons not entirely explicable, for the past few years legislative leaders have prided themselves on passing the Budget Bill by the 60th day of the regular session, avoiding the traditional post-session budget conference, when the session would be extended for a few days to work out a f…
With this being my 36th regular legislative session, I would have hoped that the Legislature as a body would have evolved over the years, becoming smarter, wiser and more effective — more of an instrument to improve the lives of working class West Virginians.
Regular readers of this column know I chided longtime Daily Mail statehouse columnist Richard Grimes for his annual 30th day of the legislative session column, when he would declare, “The legislative session is half over, and nothing much has happened.”
Question of the week: Why are legislators so scared of voters?
Back in January, when Gov. Patrick Morrisey first proposed consolidating the cabinet level departments of Commerce and Economic Development and the departments of Tourism and Arts, Culture and History, I noted that while the consolidations would produce some savings, I couldn’t see how that …
Jim Justice was so proud of the Roads to Prosperity bond issue that, in a display of astonishing tone-deafness, on repeated occasions he called for making the day voters approved the bond referendum — which falls on the infamous date of Oct. 7 — a state holiday.
Having now covered State of the State addresses by seven governors, it’s fascinating how the substance, tone and delivery of something so conventional can vary so greatly.
I approach Wednesday’s resumption of the 60-day regular session of the Legislature with much trepidation.
The revelation that Jim Justice left the state, not on a rocket ship ride, but with gaping holes in future state budgets, beginning July 1 and extending out multiple years, gives Gov. Patrick Morrisey all the ground cover he needs to begin, in his words, “rightsizing” state government.
Suffice to say, the Patrick Morrisey era got off to an inauspicious start, having begun with a whimper, not a bang.
Fortunately, a kindly provision in the state Constitution (Article 6, Section 18) gives us a one-month respite from the madness that will be the 2025 legislative session, which will resume Feb. 12.
In nominating Sen. Randy Smith, R-Tucker, to be the 53rd president of the West Virginia Senate, Republicans followed the playbook Donald Trump is using in his cabinet nominations: Selecting not the most qualified candidate (or frequently, on Trump’s part, not even marginally qualified candid…
When Jim Justice leaves office sometime next month, he will be the first West Virginian to serve two full terms as governor since Gaston Caperton — who left office nearly 28 years ago.
To paraphrase John Goodman’s character from “The Big Lebowski,” we are entering a world of pain, at both the state and national levels.
