Senator Walt Helmick (D-Pocahontas) wants someone to agree with him that the banking climate in West Virginia is positive. At least he wanted Commissioner Larry Stark of the Division of Banking to agree, but in Tuesday’s Banking and Insurance committee meeting, Stark would not do it.

In a line of questioning with more leading questions by the Senator than answers by the Commissioner, Senator Helmick stated he had heard a lot about how West Virginia was bad for business, but wouldn’t the Commissioner agree that at least when it came to banking, West Virginia was a great state to do business?

Senator Helmick was looking for a simple “yes,” but the Commissioner stammered. Weary of half sentences, Helmick rephrased his question.

The Commissioner then cited a group in Michigan that has a business of investing in advantageous banking markets in the United States. Of the fourteen groups, the Commissioner said, West Virginia is not one of them.

Not to be deterred, Senator Helmick pressed on. Well then, he queried, don’t you agree that if you started a business in West Virginia your chances of success are good?

More mumblings.

Desperate for any concession, the Senator weakened his wording. Wouldn’t you agree, he asked the Commissioner, that if you started a bank at least you would not lose money?

The Commissioner seemed ready to get this conversation over with so he met Helmick in the middle, saying in a gratuitous amount of words that the chances of success are greater than they were previously and that it ultimately depended on the individual running the business.

Seeing it was the best answer he could get, Helmick took the watered down, significantly quantified, overly explained “yes.”

So what is the moral of this story? There is none. It was merely a moment of levity in an otherwise uneventful and drab meeting.