Tuesday 07 February 2012 | RSS Feed
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My vision for West Virginia is to fully develop its potential. In order to be successful, three ingredients must be present: product, value and satisfaction. I look at West Virginia as the wonderful product that it is. Geographically, the state is located within a 10-hour drive of 140 million people, which demonstrates tremendous market potential. West Virginia could do many things with this market if we were aggressive and competitive.
The state has an abundance of natural resources, and we must use them to the betterment of all and guarantee a balance between economic prosperity and the environment. West Virginians have a great work ethic. We have people who have been diligent workers all their lives and come from a background of hard-working people. All of this, coupled with the state's natural beauty, makes West Virginia one of the most potentially profitable products on the East Coast.
The next step is to look at the product's value. If businesses cannot get a return on their investments and if government hinders the amount of profit businesses receive for reinvestment and capital expenditures, then we have to fix this problem.
Look at the state's five borders: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland. Why is our economy not competitive with theirs? West Virginia's market is within this border region, therefore, the state must compete and prosper in this market in order to create value. I want to change the way we do business in government so the system can be more efficient. I have implemented a business approach of customer service at the Secretary of State's office, and this system changed the attitude and mentality of how our state employees serve the people. State offices need to have a 24-hour, guaranteed turnaround on services and cross training for all employees in order to ensure a better, more motivated work force who is professional, proud and responsible. Everyone is a customer, and when a customer buys something and spends their money, they do not feel bad about spending money if they are treated well, especially if they were treated with value. If a customer is treated exceptionally well, they cannot wait to tell another person where to spend money because it is such a rare experience to receive exceptional customer service. West Virginia could have its own oasis: a niche in the way we treat people and deliver government services.
If elected, I will take an inventory of state government to find out where we can do better. We will look for every angle possible and will start by evaluating every state agency to outline what their mission is and how they are accomplishing that mission. Once we are able to monitor these measures and get ourselves into a more competitive mode, we will add value to the state of West Virginia.
The satisfaction ingredient enters the equation when these agencies begin treating people properly, as though everyone is a valued customer. Critics say that satisfaction is not government's job. I believe it is. We have more than 40 employees in the Secretary of State's office, and every one of our employees understands that the 1,800,000 people in this state are their customers.
The reason I am optimistic in my vision for the state is because we can change our levels of value and satisfaction. West Virginians have lost hope. We must change our attitude and expectations. When people travel to other locations, I do not hear them talk about the positives of the state. My goal is for West Virginians to be proud of the state's product, its value and its satisfaction. We can do better. We must do better. We will do better.
There has to be more flexibility-one size does not fit all in West Virginia. Each region of the state has different market demands which require different solutions. This means we have to give more autonomy to local governments and local regions. As the state code is written right now, that option would not be permitted, thus greatly limiting the potential for regional development. However, by changing the code to permit waiver provisions, we will be adding a valuable economic development tool that allows us to directly compete with our bordering states. Our regional economic development leaders need to know that state government is in support of creative ideas that can and will implement positive change for West Virginia. Those who are fighting every day on the battlefront need to be inspired not discouraged. They need to know that Charleston is their ally, not their enemy.
Well, first of all, we need to make sure the bill that was put in place works, and I believe our legislators are moving in the right direction. We have to make sure we stop the amount of money going out of the system compared to the amount of money coming into the system.
West Virginia needs a strong fraud unit that investigates from the top to the bottom-to the businesses who have not paid their fair share, to people doing business in this state who do not pay their fair share, to employees who have taken advantage of the system when they do not have legitimate claims. Everyone has to be held accountable and responsible because we all have a stake in this problem. It is not healthy to put the blame on any one segment of society. How do we take care of the $4 billion unfunded liability? We need a dedicated source of revenue. There has to be either growth of this economy or a separate source of revenue that is dedicated to taking care of that unfunded liability to remove the shackles off of the business community and off of the opportunities people need for good paying jobs and health care benefits. When businesses are strapped with the higher cost, they take it from the employee base, and the employee base receives a lower wage or a lower benefit package. We must make workers compensation a priority if we are going to compete and succeed. If we cannot compete with the rates of our border states, how can we prosper? We are looking for different ways to jumpstart our revenue, and I am not referring to generating more revenue by taxation. We cannot tax West Virginians to prosperity.
I see a possibility in the energy market for a new source of revenue. The East Coast needs an abundance of energy, and West Virginia is excellent at producing energy -- we just have to make sure we can transport that energy. If there is going to be an increase in revenue streams from energy sources, then we need to dedicate that revenue to the reduction of our state's current liabilities, starting with workers' compensation.
Health in West Virginia is going to start with children in the school system. When I grew up, we had physical education and different options regarding learning about a healthy lifestyle. Society has migrated away from those electives. Health education starts in the school system. Wouldn't it be nice to give a child a weekly menu to take home to his or her parents giving them examples of nutritional meals? It is important to encourage children to exercise and eat properly. We need to educate children to help them understand that it is their responsibility to keep their bodies healthy, and we must assist them in every way we can.
If someone is elderly in West Virginia, they have Medicare. If they are financially challenged, they are probably on Medicaid or Welfare. If a child is 18 years of age or younger and lives in a household that is in poverty, they have health care through the CHIPS program. The only segment left is the working people who probably do not have health care because of the high cost.
The amount of small businesses operating in our state that cannot provide health care is astonishing. I have a five-point plan that evaluates every opportunity to stimulate small businesses by offering incentives to give health care benefits for every employee, even if it is a single person running a one-person business. Small business owners should be able to form an alliance and custom tailor their health care benefit needs. In order for this to happen, government must offer tax incentives for these small groups. My administration will assess every possibility to make sure every West Virginian has access to affordable insurance.
Education must be seamless and must extend from early childhood to post-secondary or technical studies. Education and economic development should go hand in hand. We should know what the potentials of West Virginia are, what the market conditions will bear, what opportunities we have to ensure we are training the work force for the jobs of the 21st century that should and could be in West Virginia. Today, this process does not happen. Therefore, we need to consolidate efforts between economic development and education. Primary education must work with secondary education, which must work with higher education. The taxpayers of this state deserve a return on their investments. Of all the money we spend in state government, education ranks number one. The best return on that investment is to have a good workplace with a good job that pays competitive wages so the tax base can provide for the entire state. The bottom line is that we have to make sure that our children are being educated and trained for the jobs that should be, could be and will be in West Virginia.
My whole plan is named 'Open For Business,' and it is very appropriate for West Virginia. The state needs an attitude change. We have a wonderful state with tremendous market potential, which is why I am so optimistic. West Virginia can succeed and compete. If I were not confident of that, I would not be asking for the opportunity to be governor. People need to believe we can do better than we are doing now. We can enjoy a better quality of life with more opportunities. When families are hurting, the whole family hurts. We need to rally around and comfort the broken parts of our family and move on. I do not care whether someone is a Democrat, Republican, Mountain Party or independent. We need to pull together as a state, whether it is business or labor. Regardless of your profession, we are West Virginians first.
Getting people involved in the cycle of Democracy will cleanse the system, which is how we will prosper as a state. As Secretary of State, I have been trying to educate children, get them involved, and make sure they talk to their parents to get them involved. This system is ours-there will not be another person outside this state who will help us the way West Virginians will help ourselves. When West Virginians are taking care of West Virginia's problems, we will all prosper.
Our state is not competing; we must change, and I am committed to leading that change. The next few years are going to be very positive for the people of West Virginia, and I'm ready to do the job.
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