.@WVgovernor makes party switch official https://t.co/rKhLJTl8Ed
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) August 4, 2017
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Governor Jim Justice made his switch from Democrat to Republican official this afternoon by signing the appropriate forms in the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office following a lengthy press conference.
The governor’s top staff, many of whom are veterans of Democratic politics, were at work today, attending a staff meeting this morning that they said was previously scheduled.
“I would expect them to be,” Justice said as he walked in to the Capitol this morning. “They’re working for me. They’re working for our state. They’re not working for the Democrat or Republican Party today. That’s what they ought to be.”
There’s plenty for the administration to be working on.
At the top of the list is working with the federal government to assure flood relief for disaster-struck residents in northern counties. Another is uncovering why the state has been late on required federal audits for three consecutive years and assuring it won’t happen for a fourth.
Mass exodus would complicate progress on those and many other matters of the executive branch.
Communications director Butch Antolini, in a brief chat with reporters gathered in the hallway, said staff is working and expects to continue to work. Antolini said the governor has made it clear he doesn’t judge based on party affiliation.
Appearing today on MetroNews’ Talkline, Justice said he told chief of staff Nick Casey — a former state Democratic chairman — as far back as a month ago that he was planning to make this move.
Other staff, though, said they weren’t aware of Justice’s party switch until the New York Times broke the story Thursday prior to President Trump’s rally in Huntington.
Justice, right after walking into the Capitol this morning, agreed that he did not judge his staff by party affiliation when they were first hired.
He said all are welcome to remain on staff — unless they personally have strong feelings against doing so.
“I never asked anyone if they were a Republican or a Democrat in the hiring process, and I’ll tell them exactly that,” Justice said. “I asked them to come to work for me because I thought they were the right people for the right jobs.
“Now, if they’re uncomfortable and they have an issue and they can’t get by it themselves, then they need to go. But from my standpoint, I never asked anyone ‘Are you a Republican, are you a Democrat?'”
To pursue other work while remaining on the job, staffers would likely need an exemption from the state Ethics Commission. The state Ethics Act prohibits full-time public officials and employees from seeking employment or being employed by people or businesses subject to their regulatory authority — which, for those at the top of the executive branch, might be very broad.
With much of the governor’s top staff, it’s fairly obvious what their party affiliation has been.
Casey is not only a former Democratic Party chairman but also ran for Congress as a Democrat. Grant Herring, the governor’s spokesman, came up through national Democratic Party politics.
Assistant chief of staff Jason Pizatella and Joey Garcia, senior counsel for legislation and policy, are veterans of former Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s Democratic administration. Derek Scarbro — the governor’s director of intergovernmental affairs and former campaign manager for Justice — was executive director of the West Virginia Democratic executive committee for nine years.
One of the cabinet secretaries, Education & the Arts Secretary Gayle Manchin, is the wife of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.
Justice had been a Republican and an independent before deciding to become a Democrat just prior to announcing in 2015 his plan to run for governor.
He won a three-way Democratic primary against former state Senate President Jeff Kessler and former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin.
Speaking today on “Talkline,” Democratic Party chairwoman Belinda Biafore said she feels betrayed.
“I’ve been duped. Have you ever been duped?” Biafore asked “Talkline” host Hoppy Kercheval.
“Here’s the thing I hate more than anything. And I stress this all the time to candidates who are lining up to run for office: Don’t ever lie to the voters. Here’s a guy who promised he would never lie, all throughout his campaign. He said he’d never be a politician and he said he’d be a full-time governor. So, I’ve got to tell you, those are lies.”
Democratic Party State Chair @BeeDemocrat joins @HoppyKercheval to talk about @WVGovernor‘s party switch. https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/iiUdVZegaI
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) August 4, 2017
The AFL-CIO issued a statement from President Josh Sword, who often appeared at public events in support of Justice’s agenda. Sword noted the union group had endorsed Justice for governor.
“After last year’s gubernatorial primary, the WV AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education endorsed Jim Justice because he committed to support our position on issues that are important to West Virginia working families, not because of his party affiliation.
“As a sign of that commitment, Governor Justice recently vetoed multiple bills that were part of the Republican legislative leadership’s damaging agenda aimed at hurting working families to the benefit of wealthy corporate interests.”
Sword said he is reserving judgment about the party switch.
“Governor Justice’s decision to switch political parties is unnerving. But given his vow to only pursue legislation that helps working families succeed, we are hopeful that he will use his position as the most powerful Republican state official to steer the Republican legislative leadership away from its current War on Working Families.”
Also speaking on “Talkline” today, state Republican Party chairman Conrad Lucas welcomed his party’s most prominent new member but said it will only work out if the governor is a conservative.
“The best thing about having a Republican as governor can only be realized if that governor wants to enact conservative principles,” Lucas said.
Just a couple of hours before news of the governor’s party switch broke, the state GOP put out a statement critical of the administration’s inaction on assuring a state contractor convicted in a highways kickback scheme would receive no further work.
“Low-Energy @WVGovernor Refuses To Stop Millions Of $$ In Contracts To Companies Who Cheated WV Taxpayers. Sad!” said the WVGOP tweet.
Lucas today acknowledged the frequency of Republican Party criticisms against Justice. He said the party will try to make the relationship work now.
“Obviously we’ll not be sending out any more of those. His transgressions were as a Democrat,” Lucas said.
He added, “We’ve done a lot of criticism of the governor and today’s a new day.”
In his own appearance on “Talkline” this morning, Justice said he is enthusiastic about working with Republicans.
“I’m really excited about working with the Republicans. I’ve had a lot of interactions with them and everything, and I hope to goodness things can work more smoothly and we can get to where we need to go,” the governor said. “It’s OK that we have differences.”
Justice — as he did while appearing on stage with Trump on Thursday evening — said much of his decision had to do with his relationships with state Democratic legislators during budget talks.
“West Virginians don’t really realize the impact of what happened during the last session, and in contrary to what anyone might think I’m not out to throw mud,” the governor said.
“But the reality is just this simple. We had it worked out, and we had it worked out to where we were going to help our teachers and our miners and tourism and fix this terrible drug epidemic. And we had it done.
“And I went right straight to the Democratic caucus and begged ’em. I said, ‘Listen, do you realize you are going to walk away from your very constituents, and you’re going to hurt people. There’s going to be real carnage. And at the end of the day, what really happened for good for for bad is the Democrats left me. I didn’t have any intention whatsoever. I’ve been a shining knight trying to carry the flag in every way. But if I’m going to get something done for this state and our people, I’ve got to make this move.”
Democrats, who are in the minority in both houses of the Legislature, had particular objections to an aspect of the governor’s preferred revenue plan that would have decreased personal income taxes while also raising sales taxes.
They said the plan would place unfair burden on middle- and lower-income wage earners. They also expressed concern about projections that the proposal would create greater budget holes in coming years.
Although Justice described the Democratic position on that matter as pure politics, he described his own values as unchanging.
“Jim Justice believes in all his heart, he’ll stand for the common everyday man and he’ll try to help West Virginia,” Justice said of himself.
.@WVGovernor talks with @HoppyKercheval about switching parties. pic.twitter.com/Ak2c0LEBys
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) August 4, 2017
Although Justice officially announced his party switch during the rally in Huntington for Republican President Donald Trump, he said Trump did not ask him to make the change.
Justice did say he discussed the likelihood of a switch with Trump during several recent meetings, including two in the Oval Office.
“I made an appointment and went up to the Oval Office for the first time about three weeks ago,” Justice said. He was there a couple of hours and had conversations with a variety of people at the White House, including President Trump and chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Those conversations mostly dealt with Justice ideas to strengthen coal and timber markets, the governor said. Justice said he was asked to come back and the second visit was about five hours.
Justice says areas of potential cooperation with the White House are not contingent upon his party switch.
“I’m the one that brought up and told him what I was going to do. When I did, he was very supportive and very excited,” the governor said of President Trump.
Justice says Trump told him, “When you do it, I’m coming to West Virginia and we’re going to do a rally.”
And that brought us to the Thursday evening announcement that stunned everyone.