An OPEN LETTER to … The New ‘Hatfields & McCoys’ …
TO: Speaker Roger “Hatfield” Hanshaw and Governor Patrick “McCoy” Morrisey Gentlemen: The state of West Virginia has 55 counties with about 1.75 million residents in six different regions, and the median age (43) continues to increase as the Mountain State’s population continues to decline. Our labor force participation is around 54 percent – the lowest in the country – and about 8,000 residents have died from a drug overdose over the last decade. That’s today’s West Virginia. The median income is under $40,000, only 33 percent of us are college graduates, and nationwide we’re 47th in economy and education, 49th in healthcare, and 50th in infrastructure. That’s why the economy and job creation, the state’s roads and bridges, our senior citizens, public schools, childcare, and healthcare are the top priorities among the residents Meanwhile, no one in our state cares about the repeal of Certificate of Need when they’re having a tough time putting dinner on the family table, and anyone needing dark-money-funded PAC attacks to win a political primary race is part of the bigger problem Mountain State residents are facing today. What’s worse, gentlemen, is that lines have been crossed, and that’s not the West Virginia way. Sincerely, The People Who Pay You Read the full article