Just a few comments on the areas covered by our legislative representatives at the recent Greater Bluefield and Tazewell County Chamber of Commerce Breakfast (Jan. 3).
I am a little surprised that after the release of recent research on the status of our judicial system relative to “tort reform,” Senator Caruth is still using terms like “frivolous and fraudulent.” Surely he is not buying into Steve Robert's hypocritical and mythological claims that West Virginia courts are bogged down with “frivolous lawsuits.” Senator Caruth is better than this. I am wondering if perhaps he was misquoted?
Another comment I am a little surprised by is that “the business franchise tax is simply a tax on success.” I am not sure of the context in which this comment was made. If it was made in the context of “the more money a business makes the more tax it should pay” most of us would say it is simply part of a system of progressive taxes. If however it was made in the context of paying more tax without considering profit margin or capitol reinvestment most of us would probably agree with Senator Caruth.
While there are those who seem to be satisfied with our privatized system of providing for workers who suffer because of occupational diseases, accidents and even death on the job, I am not one of them. Placing workers at the mercy of private insurance companies to me is about the equivalent of giving Daniel a penknife before throwing him in the den. Any legislator who favors total privatization without state oversight, in my opinion, is seriously lacking any understanding or appreciation of the role of government in our society.
Contrary to his stated positions I feel Delegate Frederick is fully aware that there is no such thing as “clean” coal. I am also sure Mr. Frederick is aware that regardless of the process used long-range projections do not support the investment of billions of dollars of public money into coal conversion plants.
The proposal to move our judicial system to a system of appointed rather than elected judges is folly of the highest order. History tells us that any move from a system of open democratically chosen public servants to a system of closed “good old boy” appointments opens the door for more mischief than our laws and the public can tolerate.
Most of us would agree with Delegate Long that an infusion of cash in the form of teacher salaries is needed. What I am wondering is how teachers are rationalizing the fact that they got little last year and the state finished the year with over $90 million in surplus funds. Could it be the powers that be are familiar with the law of recency. Most of us know the shorter the interval between a reward and an expected behavior, the greater the probability the behavior will occur. Get your money; go vote for Joe Manchin. I have never figured out how this differs from just directly paying for votes.
At least teachers are in a position to hope for more money. When they retire there is no guarantee they will ever get more than the amount they received the first month of retirement. They can however be sure that for each year they live their buying power with retirement pay will decrease between three and ten percent due to inflation and that theoretically if they live long enough they might not be able to buy anything at all. West Virginia is one of a very few states that does not provide any kind of consistent cost of living allowance for the retired old and infirm public employee. It is a disgrace.
One last suggestion for Delegate Long: Terminology is important: PERS (Public Employee Retirement System), TRS (Teachers Retirement System), TDC (Teachers Defined Contri-bution), PEIA (Public Employees Insurance Agency).
I am looking forward to a productive legislative session. It would be very helpful if the public knew Delegate Porter's position on most of the above issues. Perhaps the BDT could publish that information.
Bill Morefield is a resident of Princeton, WV
