West Virginia editorial roundup

Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers:

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Nov. 15

Charleston Gazette on state Sen. Richard Ojeda announcing a 2020 presidential campaign after losing a U.S. House race this month:

A few of Republican Carol Miller’s ads against Democrat Richard Ojeda in the election for U.S. House featured President Donald Trump saying Ojeda was essentially too unstable for federal office.

While that’s rich coming from Trump, Ojeda’s hasty decision after losing to Miller to run for president is a bit of a head-scratcher.

Ojeda, a West Virginia state senator, has been sore with Trump ever since the president began stumping for Miller, while also stumping in a losing effort for Attorney General Patrick Morrisey for U.S. Senate. Ojeda has said he believes he would have won the race had Trump, who is still very popular here, not entered the fray.

There could be something to that. Ojeda was riding a wave of popularity after emerging as one of the strongest allies of West Virginia’s teachers and school service personnel during the strike earlier this year. He also was leading Miller consistently in polling, until Trump’s blitz of visits before the election.

Before Trump, nobody knew much about Miller’s policies or plans or motivation to run for Congress. They still might not. In one of the few times Miller offered any insights, she said, “I’m pro-coal. I’m pro-business, I’m pro one-nation-under-God. Does that help you?” No, it doesn’t.

It was a distasteful race from start to finish. In her primary, Miller smeared an opponent for having graduated from an Ivy League school. When it came to Ojeda, Miller and outside groups had no problem attacking the state senator on his military record (Ojeda was in the U.S. Army for 24 years and served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan).

Ojeda hit back plenty, tying Miller to investments in opioid companies that have ravaged the state. He also got increasingly agitated during the campaign, which played into the portrayal of someone who was too wild for the House of Representatives.

It’s unfair to blame Miller’s ads or give Trump all the credit, though. In the end, Ojeda lost the race by about 14 points. Maybe his wave of popularity had crested. Maybe it was a lot of things combined.

But mad at Trump, fair or unfair, this presidential stunt could undermine a promising political career. It’s clear that Ojeda is passionate about the people he represents. He also has some actual accomplishments he can point to, like getting West Virginia to legalize medical marijuana. He’s someone who actually understands and acts on veterans issues, rather than paying them the minimum lip service.

This decision, unfortunately, plays into the caricature that opponents have painted of Ojeda. It would serve him well to take a step back and assess what he really wants to accomplish.

Online: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/

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Nov. 21

The Intelligencer Wheeling News-Register on copays for people covered by the Public Employees Insurance Agency who live near state lines:

Here in the Northern Panhandle, state lines don’t mean much. We cross them frequently into Ohio and Pennsylvania for a variety of purposes, including health care.

But the border does mean something in Charleston, where the Public Employees Insurance Agency is headquartered. What it means is that if those insured by the program seek health care out of state, they will pay more out of their own pockets than if they stayed in West Virginia.

Health insurance through the PEIA discriminates against those living in border counties - and there are a lot of those in our state. PEIA enrollees are subject to higher co-pays when they use out-of-state providers.

Members of a task force appointed by Gov. Jim Justice to look at ways to keep the PEIA on a secure financial footing discussed the issue during a meeting last week.

Changing the plan for out-of-state health care would be costly, PEIA Director Ted Cheatham told task force members. He estimated the price tag would be about $22.4 million a year.

No one wants to increase PEIA costs needlessly, of course. They already are an enormous burden - on taxpayers who may have to fork over $675 million for the purpose next year as well as for those who rely on the PEIA for health care insurance.

But higher co-pays for out-of-state providers are, in two words, unfair and unrealistic. Would a retiree on PEIA living in, say, Putnam County be charged more for crossing the county line to get specialized health care in Charleston? Of course not. That would be absurd.

So why should it cost more for a retiree to drive across the Fort Henry Bridge to get care in Ohio?

Surely some means of correcting the problem can be found. PEIA officials and, if necessary, Justice and state legislators should take care of it.

Online: http://www.theintelligencer.net/

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Nov. 21

The Parkersburg News and Sentinel on lawmakers’ efforts to secure oil and gas boom money for residents:

Fool me once, shame on you. But fool me twice, shame on me, as the old saying goes. Lawmakers and judges have tried hard not to let West Virginia’s most recent extraction-industry boom become a “fool me twice” situation.

There were warnings everywhere as a new oil and natural gas boom promised a wave of riches to West Virginians struggling amid the decline of the coal industry. Don’t let this become another round of exploitation, in which out-of-state corporations reaped the riches of our great state’s resources, while the people of West Virginia watched all that money whoosh right out of their grasp, Mountain State residents pleaded with their legislators.

Companies promised this time would be different. And some companies have kept that promise.

But others have returned as best they could to business as usual. And, as usual, West Virginians are paying for it.

A jury recently ordered natural gas producer EQT Corp. to pay Ritchie County residents Arnold and Mary Richards $192,000 in post-production costs that had been deducted from their royalty payments. U.S. District Judge Irene Keeley had previously told EQT it had to pay the Richardses nearly $43,000 in taxes that had been deducted from payments.

That is a total of $235,000 EQT had been withholding from the couple, though the Richardses say (and a jury and a judge agreed) no language warning of them of such deductions was written into their lease agreement.

Arnold Richards, a former DuPont Washington Works employee, had spent decades also working his farm and trying to squirrel away money here and there to be able to own the rights that were eventually part of the agreement with EQT.

“It’s not because I don’t have enough money to live on. I do,” he testified. “I really worked hard all these years to get it, not pass it on to a corporation.”

And he is one of thousands of Mountain State residents waking up to the fact that they must hire attorneys and (again) dive into the legal system to get what was promised to them.

Remember, hundreds of millions of dollars in court-ordered settlement payouts have not been enough to scare some companies away from such tactics. Lawmakers will have another opportunity in the upcoming legislative session to seek other means of ensuring oil and natural gas companies understand they are not being given free range to abuse West Virginians this time around. They must leave no stone unturned - no loophole still open.

Online: http://www.newsandsentinel.com/