Letter to the Editor: We still need Joe Manchin
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I have urged Senator Manchin to file for another term as a U.S. Senator and I want to urge everyone to urge him to do so. I believe he is an important asset of the State of West Virginia and if we lose him, it will be a great loss and I don't know of anyone who can replace him.
Senator Manchin has the seniority and seniority is all important in the Senate. A first term Senator has little power or influence. Senator Manchin is chairman of the Committee of energy which is extremely important to our State since it directly involves our coal, oil, and gas industries. We desperately need him in that position.
Senator Manchin may not always agree with the position of the Democratic party or a majority of the Senators but there were several very important bills that would not have been passed had it not been for him. We desperately need Senator Manchin representing our State.
We don't need what was once referred to as a "earnest beggar" who came to the State of West Virginia from Maryland virtually for the sole purpose of running for office and who has been a Congressman for two different Congressional Districts. Can anyone tell of anything that he has done for the benefit of our State. I defy Congressman Mooney to tell us what he has done. What connection does he have with the State and/or the people of the State other than being a Congressman and drawing a salary in Washington which I believe should have been paid to a West Virginian who knows what the people of the State need.
We also don't need a Senator who claims that during his administration there has been a "surplus" in revenue and who can cause $45 million to go to Marshall University to build a baseball field but there was a shortage of $45 million going to what was previously our great research university, WVU, causing it to be required to discontinue numerous subjects and courses. I don't begrudge Marshall receiving a baseball field. I think it should have had such a field but I believe WVU should have also had $45 million so that it could continue being the great university that it was. I don't believe we should tear down one institution just to build up another!
Also why did the Administration short change many, if not all, governmental agencies when we supposedly had a surplus in revenue? I believe we need an explanation. Also, why did our penal institutions end with only 50% of the needed staff requiring a special session of Legislature?
Why do the businesses of our governor incur fines and penalties for safety and other violations which are not paid, causing numerous suits, injunctions, etc. His businesses can't be trusted to pay such fines and obligations which have caused an insurance company to ask a federal court to require it to post a bond.
I don't believe that the people of West Virginia want to replace a hard-working, full-time, effective, powerful Senator with someone whose only obvious purpose of running for office is to occupy the office and who to my knowledge never lived in West Virginia until desiring to run for office. I don't think he ever went to school or worked here for any period of time nor does he really know very much about our State or the people. He is simply using our State for his own purposes. He has been drawing a very nice salary as a Congressman which in my opinion, should have been received by someone who would actually have been working to improve our State and the lives of the people.
Also, I believe the citizens of our state don't want what has been a "deadbeat absentee governor" and could only expect to be a "deadbeat absentee Senator."
I would like to urge everyone to contact Senator Manchin and urge him to file for reelection as our hard working, effective Senator. His address is 331 Hart Senate Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510, and his telephone number is 202-224-3954.
Robert Friend
Vienna