Done and done

A message from our state Democratic Party chair, Belinda Biafore:

Fellow Democrats,

Today concludes the 2015 Legislative Session and I want to thank all of our Democratic Legislators for standing with West Virginia and fighting for our families as we face this fight against the extreme, radical Republican leadership together. As a Party, we represent hardworking West Virginia families and will continue to fight for the betterment of those families and our state. 

This session, hardworking West Virginians faced an unfathomable attack on their wages, their workplace safety, and their ability to provide for their families by the new Republican leadership.

Not only did the rollback of mine safety and workplace safety lessen the security of workers coming home from a hard day's work safely, but their children now also face threats brought to them by the new Republican majority. The GOP has weakened vaccination laws in West Virginia bringing risk to our children in the public school system. Every parent, grandparent and family member should have the confidence to send their children to school safely and by weakening vaccination laws the new Republican majority has now lessened that confidence. Republican leadership also passed a bill that allows individuals to carry a concealed deadly weapon without training or a permit. Talk about safety risks, how are parents and families supposed to feel safe in our public places, in our communities or even in our neighborhoods? 

Republicans were elected on a promise to their voters to create jobs and better the economy but, here we are, at the end of the session and their voters did not see jobs bills or one plan to create jobs for our state. The only "jobs" bills we have seen pushed by the Republican majority are the "jobs bills" that gut wages and quality jobs that we already have in West Virginia. 

What were they doing with their time? They were busy pushing legislation on behalf of out of state interest groups and big money corporations, and participating in self serving politics. 

It's not right and it's not fair to the West Virginians they broke their promises to. 

What we saw this legislative session from Republican leadership was an extreme radical agenda that hurt hardworking West Virginia families. They gutted wages, rolled back workplace safety and put the education of our children at risk. We will not let them continue to hinder the quality of life for the hardworking West Virginians that have built this state and the children that are the future of this state. The barbaric Republican leadership is moving West Virginia backward, not forward and we will not stand back and let that happen.

This is only the beginning and our Democratic legislators faced a heck of a fight and I cannot thank them enough for standing up for hardworking West Virginians. 

Our fight is not over. Our state was taken from us by out-of-state special interest groups and big money corporations and now is the time we begin the process to get it back!