Perhaps you have seen Mark Plants’ signs or heard his commercials as you travel through Kanawha County. The West Virginia native is running against California liberal Erik Wells for State Senate in the 8th District. I got a special opportunity to interview Plants between campaign stops.

The very beginning of Mark Plants’ story is where he first differentiates himself with his opponent, Erik Wells. And it could be said that this one event is why one finds himself opposing the other. While Wells was born and reared in liberal California only to move to West Virginia in the 1990s to further his career, Mark’s beginnings are in the district he wishes to represent.

Born the youngest of four brothers, Mark excelled in the South Charleston High School football program and followed his siblings to West Virginia University with a full scholarship to play under the Hall of Fame inductee, Don Nehlen. It was here Mark got the reputation for being a hard worker, as Nehlen would later recount, on and off the field. After graduating with a major in finance he deferred law school a year to be a stockbroker in Charleston.

Mark married his high school sweetheart, Allison, before entering law school and they had two children, Payton and Grant. He graduated in 2004 and began working in corporate law in downtown Charleston.

So what makes a successful football player and lawyer decide to run for Senate? His two young sons. “West Virginia is dead last in everything that is good,” Plants said. “We are one of the highest taxed states in the United States. In fact we have per-capita more government than any other state or country in North America including Canada and all its provinces. I just want to make a change. I would like to see my kids be able to find good paying jobs close to home and be able to live around here with their cousins and uncles.”

“That’s not going to happen unless we change our business climate. Our business climate needs to attract new jobs to West Virginia and if possible, grow the ones that are here. It’s not going to happen until we change our tax structure and drastically change our tort system. I think the very first thing you ought to do is convince businesses that it is going to be profitable to do business in West Virginia. And those are the two things everybody looks at.”

With the worst tort system in the United States and shrinking job market, Plants says the economy is out of balance. “I have two brothers with master’s degrees in engineering and they can’t find jobs in West Virginia, but you can’t throw a rock without hitting an attorney.”

“Our tax structure is terrible and our tort system is dead last. If you want to change the tort system — you can go to the chamber’s website and read all the things that they have there and all those are great — but if you really want to change it we are going to have curb the number of frivolous lawsuits that are filed.”

Plants’ plan is to not only ensure that the courts are enforcing the laws on the books, but to create a system where, among other things, the loser of a frivolous lawsuit pays for the winner’s fees. His parents know all too well how a frivolous lawsuit can wreck havoc on your life and your pocketbook. They were the victims of a frivolous suit that lasted for over two years and cost $15,000 to defend. It is time and money Plants’ parents will never recover.

The Governor has released his tax proposal, but Plants does not want to stop there. “I think it’s a move in the right direction. I don’t think it is drastic enough. I don’t think businesses will start opening up shop here by decreasing the business franchise tax by .15. On one hand, I’m glad to see we are moving in the right direction, on the other hand, I look forward to really making some more changes hopefully in January.”

The difference between this homegrown West Virginia and his opponent could not be greater. “Erik Wells is very liberal,” Mark pointed out. “The major difference is he pushes universal healthcare and never talks about how to fund it. In all our meet-the-candidates and Gazette and Daily Mail interviews everyone will sit there and talk about cutting taxes and how important it is to stimulate our economy. And then health care comes up and Erik Wells says we need a universal health care system and that he supports all the businesses in the state to pay into a fund. I call that a tax increase and that is the last thing we need to do in West Virginia.”

“We need to fix our high health insurance costs, we need to focus on the 300,000 people who are uninsured and provide them a good paying job with benefits. Once we fix our business climate and get these people good paying jobs, not only will they have healthcare, but also they will be able to put food on the table and tuition money for their kids and a bigger house and more cars. That’s the answer, not bigger government. If you want to decrease the cost of health insurance the last thing you want to do is hand it to a government agency. It’s absurd to think that the government is going to run this program better than the private sector. It didn’t work for workers compensation, why do you think it will work with healthcare?”

“Another difference [between Wells and Plants] is tort reform. I am for drastic changes. We are dead last in our tort climate right now. He [Erik Wells] has made the top 10 list from Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse for politicians who have received the most money percentage-wise from plaintiff attorneys.”

“And this is an issue he does not talk about. I haven’t heard a single idea from him. I think it is fair to say he wants to do nothing because it isn’t a point he has mentioned.”

“And then, generally, family values. I’m pro-life and he’s pro-choice. He has said three or four times that I make an issue out of two ‘minor issues.’ Erik Wells talks about ‘minor issues’ that he is pro-choice and that he would not support a constitutional ban of same-sex marriages. I don’t think they are minor issues especially now given the New Jersey situation. Right now we have a law, but our five Supreme Court justices could hold our law that says a marriage is between a man and a woman as unconstitutional and they can tell us in essence that we need to write benefits for everyone. Why even give them a chance?”

As Plants and his family have hit the campaign trail, Kanawha County voters have been very receptive. “In the last 10 weeks my wife and I have knocked on over 6500 doors. Door-to-door was overwhelmingly positive. We have a strong grassroots campaign and have raised over $60,000 and of course, released Nehlen’s radio and television ads and that has helped create some buzz that isn’t general there for a regular political campaign. I know a lot of what I hear door-to-door — people have either heard my commercials or someone has told them about my commercials.”

The choice is very clear for Kanawha County between a California liberal who wants to raise your taxes to support a program doomed to failure or a son of Kanawha County who wants to address the growing problems with our taxes, tort climate and size of government.

While Wells seems to turn a deaf ear to the needs of our state, Mark Plants not only knows what plagues Kanawha County and West Virginia but also has a solution for it.