Local radio talk show host Hoppy Kerchival has his own nickname for Governor Manchin: Mojo. It seems that everywhere the Governor goes, a tide of momentum inevitably follows. But after a stunning defeat of his pension bond proposal, the big mo is not following anymore. Now this energetic Governor walks alone.
Momentum rarely leaves in an instance. For Governor Manchin, the gradual decline started in the first special session of 2005.
The governor was fresh from a stunning victory over a weak opponent. Heady with his success, he called for a special session in his inaugural speech and outlined what the legislature was to discuss. During the previous year, a citizen activist group caught Democrat Delegate Jerry Mezzatesta in certain improprieties. The legislature, the Governor said, would deal with a bill he authored to stop such corruption.
After the legislature considered and passed the bill, it came to light that it contained a rule that would keep all persons filing a complaint from discussing the case with anyone: including their spouse or the media. The public cried out, saying the legislation would have actually helped Mezzatesta keep his position, while the lawyers questioned the gag order’s constitutionality.
Once the furor broke, the governor’s people went to work blaming the legislators and quickly asserted they would fix the problem in the regular session. Despite the spin, the damage was already done.
In the 2005 Regular Legislative Session, the governor had a clear plan on several issues. One of which was a bill that would allow him to exempt certain counties from rules they found too onerous. The legislature summarily gutted it and replaced it with language that stated the obvious: the governor has authority to change what is currently under his supervision. Period.
Then the governor raised the 911 cell phone fee to a high unequal to any state, gave insurance companies additional freedoms in the name of insurance reform, increased the severance tax to a high that exceeds most states, and to top it all off, increased the judges’ salaries. While the voters strongly objected to each one of these bills, the Democrat-controlled legislature caved and passed them anyway.
By the time the session finally ended on April 9th, the citizens of West Virginia had all they could stomach. But it was not over. The governor had a final idea: he wanted to sell $5.5 billion in bonds to pay off the pension while investing the borrowed money in the stock market.
Unwilling to watch a 21st century boondoggle pass without objection, local businessman Don Blankenship ran advertisements against it. The governor panicked. He obviously was not expecting strong opposition to his bond proposal and had not prepared much — if anything — to counter the dissention. So he personally led a media blitz in support of the bond. Wherever you turned, Governor Manchin was on the radio or television adamantly supporting his plan. Desperate times called for desperate measures: Blankenship was maligned and threatened, teachers and state employees were promised raises if it passed, and everything the governor could do was done.
The issue quickly got complicated. Bond terms only heard in advanced college courses were discussed so extensively, inevitable confusion resulted. Because of the conundrum, most voters simplified their decision: do they believe in Joe Manchin?
The pension bond was different than the rest of the governor’s battles. This was his chance to take his idea directly to the people. This was also an opportunity for the voters to directly tell Governor Manchin what they thought without misrepresentation from the legislature.
On June 25, 2005, the voters finally got their way and the governor lost.
The Governor, who was so public the day before is now curiously silent. His handlers take over, speaking of moving forward and the Governor’s positive plans for West Virginia.
The momentum is gone; the governor struck out swinging. Mojo is now just average Joe; a man who won the election, but has yet to win West Virginia’s confidence.
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Mojo still has the same mojo Hoppy refers to. In fact Governor Manchin has been on and in many media outlets including local and state radio taking the sole blame for the loss of the pension bond issue. He should be credited for having the courage lacking in many who have held public office to try to save the issue by getting involved in it the way he did. It was probably a lost cause when Blankenship organized against it because historically these issues lose in the face of organized opposition.
Manchin could have seen the writing on the wall, turned his back on the effort and ran for cover; but he didn’t—that’s leadership in its rarest form in this state. The outcome of this vote proved nothing except that it saw more votes cast agains the issue than for—but about 85 percent of our West Virginia brethren decided not to take the time to voice their opinions and either stayed home or their apathy caused them to not even think about the opportunity to exercise the important franchise. Could the outcome have been different say 51 percent have voted? Certainly, it could have—what is ironic is that there should have been twice as many votes cast by state employees and teachers than were cast and if any criticism is to be levied, it is that the groups who should have supported the vote because they had the most to gain, simply ignored it—but they will be aksing where the next raise will come from—and hopefully it won’t be from an increase in taxes.
Mojo has faced this issue squarely, in its inception, in the campaign and in the inquest of its dead body. He’s not in hiding and not running, but in the great traditions of some other state leaders is going for the touchdown, even if he doesn’t have the ball. And, how dare you compare a great meal of grits to some heinous latin term we will all have to look up.
Point well made about the governor not hiding. The only time I heard him speak on the subject was when Channel 8 corralled him a day later at a function he was attending. I listened to the morning show and 58 Live and all I heard was his spokesperson Laura Ramsburg. If you say he was personally on the news, I trust you…barely.
I still maintain the governor is losing ground with the people of West Virginia. They do not appreciate greater fees and taxes, and payraises for judges. My barber — I go to a barber that plays country music and talks about politics, not some “hairstylist” whose listening choice is classical music and enjoys discussing the latest Paris fashions, but I digress — remarked today that he took an informal poll from the blue collar workers that sit in his chair. According to him, most said they would vote against the bill and listed the judges’ payraise as the primary reason. Now that’s irrefutable, scientific data.
My sincere apologies to the brethren whose knowledge of ante bellum, southern breakfast foods is greater than their cognizance of Latin terms. What can I say? Magna est vis consuetudinis.