|
|
News
|
Manchin Ready to Counter Blankenship
[Aug-31-2006]
Hoppy's Commentary For Thursday
Talkline Host Hoppy Kercheval
Governor Manchin says he will use his time and his money to try to counter the efforts by Don Blankenship to oust Democrats from the House of Delegates this fall. Blankenship has organized a team and is putting up several million dollars of his own money to try to swing control of the house from the Democrats to the Republicans.
In an interview with me on Talkline yesterday (Wednesday), Manchin said hes particularly bothered by the argument that Democrats stopped the food tax from being eliminated. Republicans have tried to discard the tax, but Governor Manchin and most Democrats favor slowly rolling it back, depending on the condition of the states finances. So far, the tax has been cut from six percent down to five.
The food tax is one of the issues Blankenship is holding over Democrats. The Massey Coal CEO will use volunteers, yard signs, billboards, radio and TV ads to tell voters in a particular district that their Democratic legislator opposed getting rid of the food tax, one of the most unpopular taxes in the state.
Manchin insists that amounts to a distortion. He says lawmakers, most of them Democrats, took the responsible course when they supported a phased elimination of the food tax rather than cutting it completely. He says that decision helped create a surplus that could be dedicated to paying down the states debt.
In an obvious reference to Blankenship, the governor says its unfair for a lawmaker to be attacked because they didnt remove some taxes as fast as somebody wanted them to.
If Manchin follows through on his pledge it wont be the first time he and Blankenship have been on opposite sides of an issue. Last year, Manchin asked state voters to approve a refinancing of the states $5.5 billion dollar pension bond debt. Blankenship waged a successful campaign against it.
Manchin truly believes he has the state headed in the right direction and that lawmakers who kept the food tax at five percent did the responsible thing. He acknowledges that explaining why you kept a tax is harder to do than touting a tax cut, but he says hes willing to make that case on behalf of Democratic candidates.
Says the governor, If someone is distorting, and I know they made a difficult, responsible vote, Im going to be there and make sure the truth is told.
Democrats who supported keeping the food tax and have viable Republican opposition this fall can expect Blankenships team to show up in their neighborhood to make sure the electorate knows the voting record. But now based on my conversation with the governor it appears those same Democrats can anticipate help from their partys most effective campaigner.
|
|
|
