If You Voted in the Primary, You Probably Did Something Irrational
May 8 was primary election day in West Virginia and several other states. Typically, a primary election picks the candidate who will bear one party’s standard in the November general election against the other party’s candidate. The expectation is that the candidate with the more attractive qualities or the better policy views will be able to persuade a majority of voters in the general election. Perhaps this winning candidate will even be able to attract a substantial number of voters from the other party. Of course, this is the storybook version of democracy. It is based on the fiction that voters behave in a rational way, voting for a candidate only after thoughtful evaluation of the contenders. This is simply not what happens.
Trump Administration Abruptly Changes Migratory Bird Enforcement Policy
For 100 years, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) has protected nearly 1000 bird species in the United States against being “taken” or killed except under prescribed circumstances. This statute prohibits hunters from intentionally killing birds without a permit, but has also been interpreted by courts and the Interior Department to prohibit incidental taking – the unintentional destruction of birds or nests through some instrumentality or activity like creating open waste oil pits or erecting wind turbines. Now the Trump Administration has reversed this long-standing interpretation and effectively prevented enforcement of the statute against oil companies and others who cause large scale bird kills.
The Future of West Virginia’s Severance Tax
In West Virginia a 5% tax is imposed on those engaging in the extraction of coal, oil, gas and other natural resources from the lands of the state. This is the “severance tax.” While the tax is ostensibly on the privilege of engaging in the business of extraction, the tax is calculated based on the volume of production. The state’s oil & gas industry is now booming even though coal is in the midst of a long-term decline. Most analysts believe both these trends are likely to continue for decades. So the future is bright for the state’s budget if we manage our oil & gas patrimony carefully.
The West Virginia Legislature Fails Its Budget Responsibility
“Do Your Job!” This was a constant refrain heard from the thousands of citizens, many of them teachers, who filled the halls of the state capitol in late February and early March. They were calling for investment in public education, and for decent salaries for themselves and thousands of other seriously underpaid public employees. The Legislature was dragged kicking and screaming into granting an average 5% raise. This raise was critically important. But there is another critically important job the Legislature failed to do.
West Virginia Republican Legislators Propose “Death Star” Preemption Bill to Strip Counties, Cities and Towns of Power to Enact Progressive Policies
State preemption of local government is all the rage among conservative legislators around the country these days. Here’s how it works. Suppose the Jefferson County Commission wished to pass an ordinance banning plastic bags at grocery stores as a threat to the environment. Or suppose the city of Beckley declared it unlawful for a private employer within the city to ask for information about race or sexual orientation on employment applications. State preemption seeks to strip local governments of the right to regulate certain matters within their own borders. Usually these matters are of concern to progressive cities but not conservative Republican-majority state legislatures. And preventing West Virginia local governments from adopting progressive policies is just what the Panhandle’s own Senator Patricia Rucker and her conservative Republican colleagues are now seeking to do.
Panhandle Legislators Lead West Virginia’s “Bad Idea Machine”
Delegate Mike Pushkin, who represents Charleston’s East End in the House of Delegates, once quipped that the West Virginia Legislature is a “bad idea machine.” Our Eastern Panhandle delegation contains some of the leaders, if that is the proper term, in generating bad ideas. I have recently written that Sen. Patricia Rucker has sponsored a host of bills that advance her far right ideology and religious beliefs. Most notably, these include her sponsorship of Senate Joint Resolution 12 that would put on the November 2018 ballot a proposed amendment to the West Virginia Constitution declaring that nothing in that Constitution creates a right to abortion. Not to be outdone, her Panhandle colleagues in the House of Delegates have introduced pro-gun and anti-public school legislation that give Sen. Rucker a run for her money.