Committees formed to work on policy for Governor-elect Jim Justice

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The many members of Governor-elect Jim Justice’s transition policy committees meet for the first time Thursday in the Capital City with just more than a month remaining until Inauguration Day.

Jim Justice

Each policy committee — covering topic areas of public education, healthcare/DHHR, drug epidemic, energy/environment, economic development, infrastructure and tourism — is charged with generating policy proposals for the Justice Administration.

Bill Ihlenfeld, U.S. attorney for West Virginia’s Northern District, is serving as co-chair of the committee focused on the drug epidemic.

He said the Mountain State must develop a comprehensive statewide strategy for responding to the drug threat as it is today. “It’s always evolving,” he noted. “The threat today will be different tomorrow and next month and next year.”

Ihlenfeld said West Virginia could potentially escalate the law enforcement response, improve data gathering and analysis when it comes to out of state drug traffickers, expand access to treatment and add to transition support for those re-entering society after jail and prison time.

Along with longer-term plans, Ihlenfeld sees other potential policies Justice could begin implementing immediately after taking office in the New Year.

“Every second counts. We have to work as hard as we can, as fast as we can,” Ihlenfeld said

When it comes tourism, more investments in “Wild and Wonderful” marketing along with product development are needed, according to Dave Arnold, founding partner of Adventures on the Gorge and co-chair of the transition tourism committee.

“We have to sing our song louder,” Arnold said. “All the research, and there’s lots out there, is when you spend money on tourism, the state gets paid back sometimes in astronomical numbers.”

Here is the full list of members of the Justice transition policy committees:

Public Education

Co-chairs: Jeff Bryant and Miller Hall.

Members: Ralph Baxter, Bucky Blackwell, Bob Brown, Owen Brown, Judy Burns, Christine Campbell, Jeff Campbell, Tom Campbell, Amelia Courts, Gypsy Denzine, Teresa Eagle, Fred Farris, Ryan Frankenberry, David Haney, Nancy Hannah, Becky Jordon, Mike Kelly, Tom Lange, Dale Lee, Sally Love, Gayle Manchin, Mark Manchin, David McClure, Jimmy McPherson, Janie Merendino, Howard O’Cull, Bill Smith, Gay Stewart, Deborah Sullivan, Wes Toney, Joe White and Jack Yeager.

Health Care/DHHR

Co-chairs: Dr. Clay Marsh, Michael Sellards, Hon. Martha Walker and Albert Wright Jr.

Members: Pam Alderman, Chuck Bailey, James Becker, Mara Boggs, David Campbell, Jeff Coben, Rachel Coffman, Mitch Collins, Gypsy Denzine, Mark Drennen, Ahmed Faheem, Steve Farley, Susan Fry, Troy Giatras, JoDee Gottlieb, Jim Harris, Jeff Harvey, Sam Hickman, Sally Hodder, Thomas Ingles, Mark Kilcollin, Michael Kilkenny, Bethany Knowles-Hall, Patrick Lane, Kathy McCormick, Terrance McCormick, Chuck Miller, Gaylene Miller, Bob Musick, Shauna Phares, Evelyn Post, Greg Puckett, Dave Ramsey, Bill Ramsey, Larry Rowe, Grace Roy, Paul Seamann, Imad Shamma, Joe Shapiro, Phil Shimer, Rick Simon, Thom Stevens, Richard Stevens, Tom Susman, Louise Veselecky, and Tracy White.

Drug Epidemic

Co-chairs: U.S. Attorney Bill Ihlenfeld, II, Chief Jan Rader, and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams.

Members: Myron Boggess, Matt Boggs, Ken Burne, Kelli Caseman, David Clayman, Jeffrey Coben, Joe Deegan, Brian Gallagher, David Grubb, David Hardy, Jim Johnson, Scott Lemley, Sean Loudin, Britt Ludwig, James Merrill, Scott Miller, Kim Miller, Andrew Palmer, Sara Payne-Scarbro, Don Perdue, Jeff Pritt, Matt Rudder, Terry Rusin, Amy Saunders, Judge Stowers, Mark Strickland, Judge Thompson, David Wallace, and Kevin Yingling.

Energy/Environment

Co-chairs: Tony Alexander, David Alvarez, Ralph Ballard, Paul Hardesty and Hon. Mike Ross.

Members: Rick Abraham, Brian Anderson, Ted Armbrecht, Audra Blackwell, Dave Callaghan, Mike Caputo, Joe Carter Tom Clarke, Chris Cline, Kurt Dettinger, Dan Doyle, Kevin Ellis, Doug Epling, Karen Facemyer, Scott Freshwater, Jeff Fritz, Richard Gottlieb, Sammy Gray, Steve Hedrick, Greg Hoyer, Art Kirkendoll, David Levine, Tom Lusk, John Maher, John McDaniel, David McMahon, Rebecca McPhail, Larry Meador, Thomas Minney, Charles Patton, James Phillips, George Piper, Angie Rosser, Scott Rotruck, Steve Sarver, Brian Sheppard, Chuck Sommerville, Qingyun Sun, Randy Swartzmiller, Gary Tillis, and Curtis Wilkerson.

Economic Development

Co-chairs: Richard Adams, Hon. Carte Goodwin, Marshall Reynolds and Woody Thrasher.

Members: Priya Baskaran, Bill Bissett, Ken Boggs, Ed Bowman, Ric Cavender, Stacie Cornett, Philip Cornett, Oshel Craigo, John Crites, Paul Daugherty, Brandon Denison, John Deskins, Dave Efaw, Joe Ellison, Kathy Folio, Mark Glyptis, Terry Greenlee, Matt Harbaugh, Rusty Kruzelock, Bridget Lambert, Steve Leach, Ken Lowe, Susan Miley, Randy Moore, Butch Pennington, Bob Pepper, Kenny Perdue, Jason Pizzatella, Javier Reyes, Carl Reynolds, Andy Richardson, Daniel Robison, Rich Shaffer, Judy Sheppard, Roger Sherman, Robert Simpson, Gerald Sites, Josh Sword, Mike Taylor, Adam Toney, Melinda Walls, Matthew Watts, Charlotte Weber, and Bill Woodrum.

Infrastructure

Co-chairs: Mike Clowser, Kyle Shaffer and Steve White.

Members: Ed Aractingi, Richard Browning, Charlie Clements, Kathy Cosco, Bill Dean, Andy Feeny, Rochelle Goodwin, Elaine Harris, Elliott Hicks, Robbie Hinton, Jason Hubbart, Randall Lewis, Erica Mani, Mike McGuffy, Michael Mitchem, Robbie Morris, Bob Paisley, Chuck Parker, Kevin Parsons, Mark Polen, Dan Poling, Rick Slater, Vern Swisher, Paul Turman, Leo Vecillio, Wael Zatar and Paul Ziemkiewicz.

Tourism

Co-chairs: Dave Arnold, Elmer Coppoolse, Anthony Figaretti and Dewey Guida.

Members: Christian Asam, Alisa Bailey, Peter Bostic, Ron Brady, Dennis Bybee, John Cavacini, Patricia Church, Tyson Compton, Frank DeBerry, Curtis Flemming, Carol Fulks, Katherine Garvey, Mike Hamrick, Dave Hardy, Steve Hilliard, Frank Jezerio Rick Johnson, Frank Jorgensen, Tripp Lowe, Jeff Lusk, Ron Marcus, Dan McGinn, Jim Miller, Thomas Minney, Pat Minnite, Ginny Painter, Kelly Palmer, John Preece, Sharon Rowe, John Smith, Joe Stevens, Louise Stoker, David Trowbridge, Jingxin Wang, Jeff West, Elwood Williams, and Kelly Williams.

Higher Education

Co-chairs: WVU Provost Joyce McConnell and Marshall University Provost Gayle Ormiston

Each higher education institution will send one representative.

In addition to the above policy areas, Justice will also reportedly hold roundtable discussions with veterans and senior citizens in the coming weeks.

Non-committee members with ideas can submit proposals to the Justice Transition Team via e-mail at info@JusticeForWV.com.

Inauguration Day for Justice is Monday, Jan. 16, 2017.





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