Gov. Patrick Morrisey has introduced a Backyard Brawl Czar to lead his administration’s economic competition against surrounding states.
Morrisey is actually referring to the position as director of West Virginia’s energy, infrastructure and competitiveness effort.
During a briefing today, the governor highlighted Todd Johnston, previously a vice president for the ConservAmerica organization focusing on national environmental and energy challenges, in that role. The organization has focused on advocating for market-oriented approaches to addressing energy and climate issues.
“Todd’s going to be focusing on all the different ways we can grow economically,” Morrisey said.
Morrisey, through last year’s election cycle, has advocated for a “Backyard Brawl,” playing off of a football rivalry, to compare West Virginia’s economic benchmarks with surrounding states. He announced an executive order last week to kick off the effort.
“The reason that I’ve talked about that for a long time is, I’m a believer in the power of competition. And if you start to look at what your state is doing in the economic arena and you compare it to all the states that you touch, you start to have barometers of where you stand and how you could be better at what you do,” he said.
Morrisey, a Republican, said his administration identified a specific focus on energy, infrastructure and competitiveness.
“Every single day that I wake up and every day that our whole cabinet wakes up, we’re focusing on how we can defeat all the states that we touch economically,” Morrisey said.
“West Virginia still needs to keep focusing on the fundamentals that are holding us back, and we know that there are challenges. We’re going to be developing the economic metrics that you all can see and we can see where we are today.”
The governor said Johnston will coordinate with the Governor’s Office, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation and with commerce and economic development representatives.
“We have to fix the fundamentals in order to grow,” Morrisey said.
The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce described enthusiasm for Morrisey’s emphasis on economic competitiveness.
“We believe it’s important to look at, and understand, our rankings as compared to other states,” said Brian Dayton, vice president of policy and advocacy for the Chamber.
“The Governor’s leading off the press conference by highlighting some of our challenging rankings provides an important benchmark for moving West Virginia forward.”