Editorial: West Virginia Deserves a Jobs Debate
In what would be an otherwise humdrum election this fall,
Campaign 2006 has the potential for some genuine excitement
in the form of the Byrd/Raese matchup for U.S. Senate.
Beyond excitement, a real intellectual exchange on the course West Virginia needs to take into the 21st Century could be presented by the two candidates, both of whom have their own unique set of experiences and talents.
Robert C. Byrd is the quintessential old-time politico: shrewd, very partisan, and a man who has studied the way Congress works for decades. When he achieved a measure of seniority he used his knowledge to bring back federal projects to his home state, as many Senators have done before him.
This was the way the game was played. And whether Byrd mastered the game or it mastered him over the years, he can point to buildings and other projects with his name on them.
But the state he has represented all these years still lags 49th and 50th in all economic surveys. This state's children still leave in droves after high school or college graduation for sunnier skies in states with more jobs.
Indeed, Robert Byrd's West Virginia looks increasingly like
the 88-year-old senior Senator: gray. West Virginia has
become one of the oldest states in the nation while Byrd
has represented us in Washington. We have lost enough
young people to lose not one but two of our members in the
House of Representatives.
So the federal projects have not saved West Virginia at all. They have been nice and we will take what we can get. But only a fool would say that they have gotten us out of our self-made ditch.
John Raese has no buildings named after him, unless you count the Greer Building in Morgantown, named for his grandparents. That building houses Raese's successful private sector radio and newspaper businesses. Another wing of his operations at Greer Industries has developed a limestone business that is the prime supplier of limestone and lime for several surrounding states.
Raese has branched out into the tourism and recreation business, too, taking advantage of the one new industry West Virginia has welcomed in recent times. His total employees in all of his family's industries number roughly 1,000.
Raese's family enterprises have been around even longer than Robert Byrd has been our Senator. Over three generations, Greer Industries has hired tens of thousands of West Virginians, providing good private-sector opportunities--long before anyone ever heard of a federal job.
Raese's family managed to be successful, both for itself and its employees, even in a state that could be tough on business. But the Greer/Raese family had good products made by good employees--and over time, they have no doubt been one of the top revenue generators for the State of West Virginia's Department of Tax and Revenue.
Yet Raese has not been able to persuade quite enough West Virginians in elections past to go with him on a new course for West Virginia's economic development. He has lost--narrowly--twice in statewide elections. He will have to find the common touch to bring in that elusive two percent this year against the always-folksy Byrd.
Is Byrd's model of job development--one that provides employment opportunities from the top down--outdated and even in some cases discredited?
Is Raese's bottom up model of a private sector brimming with capitalist energy realistic in these times? Can West Virginia taste the success of such roaring state economic success stories as North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia?
You, the voters, will have to decide that for yourselves this fall. But we believe a robust jobs discussion, one debating the merits of Byrd's government model vs Raese's private sector model is one that our state has needed for a long, long time.
Byrd and Raese are just the men to represent each side of this debate. West Virginia deserves this debate--and should demand it. Our future as a state depends on our leadership, both in Charleston and Washington.
This is the year for the big chat, the robust discussion, even the fierce debate. But then, let us work together as West Virginians after the election, so as to build up the West Virginia we all want to see: one that has a chance at prosperity, new jobs for our young people, and above all, hope.