By TAMMIE TOLER
PRINCETON — Southern West Virginia’s lawmakers and candidates stood before some of the toughest constituents Monday. Seven legislators and hopefuls took the microphone for a meet-the-candidates session at Concord University, where they were interviewed by the students.
Their questions were hard-hitting and concise during the two-hour event that pitted candidates in Senate District 10 and House Districts 24 and 25 against each other in front of a substantial crowd in the College Center ballroom. Business and community leaders were also on hand since the Princeton-Mercer County and Greater Bluefield chambers of commerce had canceled their session with the candidates in favor of joining the Concord forum.
Tax reform and education dominated most of the discussion Monday, after each candidate got a chance to introduce himself or herself to the audience.
The candidates present included:
• Sen. Jesse Guills, a Republican incumbent vying for another chance to represent District 10, started his address, “I am a proud West Virginian, and I always will be.”
The Greenbrier County lawyer and father of two said continued tax reform for both businesses and consumers, affordable health care, highways and finding state funding for higher education would be among his top priorities if voters send him back to Charleston for a second term.
He also called for solidarity among the southern part of the state in order to protect current assets and push for new ones. He vowed to do his best to safeguard Concord and Bluefield State.
“It’s a continuous ordeal for us to do that in Charles-ton,” he said.
Guills also pledged to promote the idea of a joint Bluefield-Princeton equestrian park venture.
And, Guills said it was time to put an end to the Turnpike toll debate.
“We must continue to work on reducing or eliminating the tolls on the Turnpike,” he said.
• Former state senator Fred Parker, Guills’ opponent for District 10, is a retired school teacher who lives in Greenville, Monroe County. He also owns and operates a cattle farm.
Parker, a Democrat, served on the state Senate from 1983—1990, where he was on a number of committees and subcommittees.
Education was Parker’s top goal Monday, as he explained that teaching was a profession deeply rooted in his family. And, many of those relatives he mentioned graduated from CU.
“You can understand, my background’s in education,” he said.
In 1982, when Parker was elected to the Senate, he said teacher salaries were 49th in the nation.
“We were having trouble filling the classrooms with teachers,” he said. “We’re 47th in the nation now for teacher salary.”
He said the state must find a way to pay down the unfunded liability associated with the teacher retirement fund.
Like Guills, Parker added that highway funding is critical to the state’s success.
• Republican Thomas “Mike” Porter, is running for his second term as a delegate for District 25. When he’s not at work in Charleston, Porter makes a living driving a big rig, and he said Turnpike tolls hit him, and southern West Virginia, hard.
“The southern part of the state pays the whole Turnpike burden,” he said, calling for an end to the threat of toll increases.
“I’m sure in January they’re going to hit us again,” he said, referring to fees required to travel the 88-mile interstate.
The Turnpike, which brings in an estimated $57 million in tolls annually, ought to be able to support itself with no increases, Porter said.
He also said the state’s tax structure worried him, particularly the food tax.
Porter said the food tax, currently at 5 percent, generates about $120 million a year, but he said it also costs West Virginia businesses when shoppers seek better buys where taxes are lower.
“We’re losing $90 million in these border counties. We’re losing money across state lines,” he said.
“Let’s bring our business back,” he said.
• Democrat Paige Flanigan, active in local politics for some time, is seeking her first term in the Legislature in the race for one of District 25’s two positions. Before completing a law degree and becoming an attorney, Flanigan attended then-Concord College, where she earned a degree in political science.
While enrolled at Concord, Flanigan said she learned to pay attention to local and world events, think critically, write concisely and speak well.
She said she was committed to a campaign with a positive focus.
Her platform included protecting children from abuse and neglect, as well as focusing on better educational opportunities, to serve as a foundation for future jobs.
Flanigan said affordable health care and technology are also key to her campaign, and the state’s future.
“We shouldn’t have a single child without health care coverage,” she said. “We shouldn’t have people who have to make the choice between paying for their medicine or buying food.”
In closing her introduction, Flanigan said her request of voters was simple.
“I’m only asking for one of your two votes,” she said.
• Del. Marshall Long is the second Democrat running in the District 25 race. The Princeton physician is one of the two incumbents on the ticket, and he said Monday he hoped voters would stick with him for a third term in Charleston.
Long, who attended Marshall University before serving in the U.S. Army, finished his medical studies at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. He worked in Wyoming County, before moving to Mercer County and taking a job as the director of student health services and doctor in Athens.
During his tenure in the Legislature, Long has served on the Judicial, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Health and Human Resources and Education committees.
“I survived the Mezzatesta wars,” he said, referring to embattled former Education Chairman Jerry Mezzatesta.
Looking ahead, Long said his issues were simple: affordable health care for every West Virginian, more jobs to keep more people at home, and mine safety.
He said a lot had happened since he was elected to the House, and he expected more adventures on the way.
• Douglas Quesinberry, a Republican candidate from District 24, was the lone candidate who took aim at his opponent directly Monday, critiquing Del. Eustace Frederick’s history in the state Legislature as a “failure.”
Quesinberry, of Bramwell, began by saying he ran unsuccessfully for the office in 2004, after seeing “a lack of good, quality opportunities for young people.”
When election time rolled around again in 2006, he said, “It was apparent to me that those opportunities I wanted to provide my son and other young people still do not exist in our district.”
The Bluefield College graduate said West Virginia has a lot of potential “that needs to be released.”
“We have lost jobs, and we have lost population year after year,” he said.
Like several other candidates, Quesinberry called for an overhaul on the state’s tax structure.
“It’s simply not right to tax food,” he said. “ ... We need real, meaningful tax reform.”
He attacked Frederick’s focus on the mining of coalbed methane, implying the process has not served West Virginia well and is not promoting economic development.
• Del. Eustace Frederick, a Democrat and House District 24’s incumbent, was the last candidate to speak Monday, largely ignoring the assault from his opponent.
Frederick, the son of two Russian immigrants, was born in Switchback and grew up in coal communities before moving to Mercer County 42 years ago.
He attended Virginia Tech on a football scholarship and completed graduate studies at Columbia University.
After serving as a communications officer during the Korean War, Frederick made his career in the coal industry.
“My goals are jobs, low crime rate and education,” he said, outlining his priorities.
Briefly referring to coalbed methane mining, Frederick said the practice is providing jobs for people in West Virginia, specifically in a business headquartered along John Nash Boulevard in Bluefield that employs 56 people in the offices alone.
“The jobs are real. I doubt those folks out on John Nash Boulevard would be very happy to hear their jobs aren’t important,” Frederick said.
When voters go to the polls Tuesday, residents in District 10 must choose between Guills and Parker. Voters in District 25 will pick two candidates among the four running: Long, Porter, Flanigan and Jonathan Hall, who was not present Monday. Voters in District 24 must choose between Frederick and Quesinberry.
Voters with a question concerning which district they reside in may visit the West Virginia Legislature’s website at www.legis.state.wv.us. There are district maps located online under the Senate and House headings.
