CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice announced today that at 5 p.m. his administration would turn on a Capitol dome light normally used under a state-of-emergency. Justice says he wants to spotlight the potential of a public health crisis if legislators force cuts to the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
House Speaker Tim Armstead, whose house was among hundreds in West Virginia flooded last summer, says the governor should reverse course and apologize.
“Let me say this, I have bitten my tongue and I’ve hesitated to respond to any of the foolishness that’s come from the governor in terms of name-calling and childishness, but I think he crossed the line,” said Armstead, R-Kanawha, after the House floor session today.
“Last year my district got hit with one of the worst disasters in the history of our state. Twenty-three of our fellow West Virginians died. Out of respect for those people that light was turned on at the top of the Capitol dome. For this governor to make a joke out of something that has been used to pay respect to West Virginians is embarrassing.”
Armstead continued, “I think he needs to reconsider, and I think he needs to apologize to the people of West Virginia. When I see this light at the top of the Capitol dome, I’m not going to see any symbol of any health emergency. I’m going to see a symbol of a governor who is so out of touch with the people of West Virginia and is struggling to do this sacred job that the people of West Virginia have entrusted him.”
Justice today called a news conference in the conference room in the administration’s back offices to highlight the potential perils of cutting the budget for the Department of Health and Human Resources by $50 million or more. That kind of cut is a possibility under the budget outline laid out last week by the legislative majority.
During the discussion with reporters, Justice said his administration would light the Capitol dome. The current situation, the governor said, would qualify as a health emergency.
State law spells out the circumstances under which such an emergency may be declared. Members of the administration said the risk of putting people in nursing homes out in the street would constitute an emergency.
“Because of the health emergency beyond belief, there’s a light on the top of the dome and we’ll turn it on this evening,” Justice said. “And we’re going to let people know that we have a health crisis beyond belief. We have a health emergency that’s right at our fingertips.
“There are thousands and thousands and thousands that are going to be devastated. We’re going to turn on the dome light from the standpoint of declaring an absolute health emergency within this state. If we do the wrong thing right now we’re going to hurt so many people it’s unbelievable.”
In the past, the light has been used after declarations of emergency including the 2012 derecho that knocked out power to thousands, Winter Storm Jonas, Winter Storm Thor, Superstorm Sandy, the 2014 chemical spill into the Elk River that affected 300,000-some water customers and, most recently, the devastating June 2016 floods.
Armstead has sponsored legislation during this year’s session to establish a State Flood Protection Planning Council and Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding. When he announced his backing of the bill earlier this month, he called the flood the worst he has seen in his lifetime.
Armstead said the Capitol dome light should be a symbol for “any time you have a state of emergency, which means you have people in harm through a natural disaster, a flood, the water crisis — while that may not seem like a big deal to many people that was a show of respect to people who were going through one of the worst times in their entire life.
“For him to make it a political stunt, he owes the people of West Virginia an apology and he ought to turn it off.”
Legislative leaders and the governor’s staff indicated late last week and early this week that some progress had been made toward working together on resolving the estimated half-billion dollar budget gap.
But comments made today by legislative leadership and the governor would indicate otherwise.
During today’s session in his office, the governor provided an extended description of two recent breakfast meetings with legislative leaders in which he said the food was good but the outcome added up to nothing.
“Last Monday we had breakfast with the leadership and we talked and everybody said ‘Well, let’s come back this week,’ and we came back last Friday. I left my home in Lewisburg at 5 o’clock in the morning to have breakfast with ‘em and everything,” Justice said.
“Nick Casey (the governor’s chief of staff) said ‘They’re going to come with real ideas and we’re going to get somewhere.’ You know what we got done? Sweet rolls, bacon, eggs. We got nothing done. Nothing and I told ‘em. I said, ‘Listen here, I don’t need to be up at 5 o’clock in the morning and come down here for nothing. If I’m going to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning, I’m going to go turkey hunting if this is what we’re going to do.’
The governor concluded, “Really and truly, we sat right here and did nothing.”
Armstead said legislators only want to participate in such discussions if they are serious and productive.
“The reason they may have been unproductive is we don’t meet with him just to hear him tell us that here’s how it’s going to be. We’re the Legislature, he’s the governor and we were both elected to do a job,” Armstead said.
“It’s time for him to work with us. We’re taking it seriously. We have been working tirelessly and we’ve been showing him respect, which is what he deserves as governor.”
Senate President Mitch Carmichael also said he had enough of the governor’s comments.
What seemed to bother Carmichael most was a comment by Justice about the possibility of state government shutting down if the budget can’t be resolved before the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1.
The governor has repeatedly stated that the state’s financial system is on its deathbed and that his tax proposals are a way to restore West Virginia to life.
“Look, everybody says to me, ‘Would you be afraid of a government shutdown?'” Justice said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’re either going to shut down or we’re going to die down. There’s no difference to me. If we’ve got to shut our government down, we’re going to die anyway if we go this way.
“Are you really willing to turn your backs on these people and just cut ‘em off and put ‘em out in the cold and let ‘em die? I’m not. And if it means we’ve got to shut down, we’ve just got to shut down.”
Carmichael said that while he respects the office of governor, he’d rather not hear that kind of talk.
“Oh my gosh, this governor has taken the level of rhetoric and discourse to a new low. I think, frankly, many of the people of West Virginia are disappointed in his approach to governing,” said Carmichael, R-Jackson, following the Senate’s floor session.
“To threaten to shut the government down if you don’t get your way is a new low, even for this governor. So I’m disappointed in his approach. But having said that, we will rise above that and we will bring forth a budget to the people of West Virginia that spends no more than what we have.”
Carmichael went on to say, “He has decided to tell the people of West Virginia ‘I’m going to shut this government down unless you give me $350 million in new taxes. It’s ridiculous.”