West Virginians will rise again

This legislative session has been, in a word, brutal. They – those pesky Republicans – campaigned on Jobs! Prosperity! Economic improvement! Opportunity! Change!

Those of us who aren't wealthy and/or well-connected will feel the brunt of their lies. Those of us who are teachers, miners, construction workers. Those of us living on Social Security, retired, going to school, wanting to go to school. We're screwed.

Women got kicked in the gut this session. Maybe we should just take a celibacy pledge. Would that make them happy?

Anyway … it's not over yet. WVFDW will be publishing a legislative wrap-up in the next issue of our Lean to the Left newsletter. If you haven't subscribed, we hope you will. Before they pass a "Read What We Tell You To" bill.

Let's not wait until 2016 to get this party started, mmmkay? We want ideas, we want candidates and we want to turn West Virginia back to blue.

It's always been her best color.

West Virginia needs livable wages

Chairing West Virginia's Democratic Party during this legislative session – the first with a Republican majority in more than 80 years – is a daunting task. Belinda Biafore is no stranger to heavy lifting, however, having spent the past 30 years working with and for Democrats. It's been said that if you need something done, ask the busiest person you know. Belinda fits both categories: She's the hardest-working woman in West Virginia, and she will get the job done.

Belinda Biafore

She won't get it done by herself, though. She doesn't want to and doesn't expect to. One of Belinda's many strengths is coalition building – she knows a lot of West Virginians, including current and former lawmakers, union members, WVFDW members, business and industry leaders, and working men and women from the Eastern Panhandle to the southern coalfields. The team at party headquarters is in place and has hit the ground running.

Her priorities – and ours and, we hope, yours – are clear: The Republican agenda is wrong for West Virginia and we must make that fact clear to voters. In case you missed Belinda's most recent message to WV Democrats, we're reprinting it here. Click here to add yourself to the party's mailing list.

It's no secret that the GOP puts corporations and large private companies over hardworking West Virginians, and it's no secret that the GOP puts big money over workers' safety. New Republican leadership's extreme radical agenda is crippling the ability of workers and their unions to fight for livable wages so that private companies can pay their employees less.

All we heard before they took office was "jobs, jobs, jobs." I have not seen one jobs bill. Instead, I've seen an attack on hardworking West Virginians and the jobs they already have! Not only are they breaking promises they made to voters, but they are gutting the workforce that is already in place. What good is a leadership that doesn't care about workers and the ability to provide for their families or to come home to their families safely after a hard day of work? No good!

We need to maintain a high standard of living in West Virginia, not pass legislation resulting in low-paying jobs for companies that only care about making a profit.

As Democrats, we stand with the hardworking families that have built this state, and we stand with their families and their children to ensure that they are able to have a good quality of life in West Virginia. We stand with you, and put people over profit, not profit over people. We will continue to fight for West Virginia families. This fight for hardworking West Virginia families is our fight, and we're not going anywhere.

Belinda Biafore, Chair

And now, a few words from Chris Regan

From time to time, we want others to share their voices here at Blue with a View. And having a firsthand account of yesterday's rally at the Capitol from Democratic Party Vice-Chair Christopher Regan is one of those times:

#StandWithWV Lets Republicans Know
Working Families Reject their Agenda

Braving a major snowstorm to make their voices heard, two thousand working West Virginians came to the Capitol Monday to rally against the anti-worker, anti-wage agenda being advanced by the Republican majority. At a time when politics leaves so many Americans disaffected and apathetic, the radical proposals in Charleston activated traditional Democrats, independents and even Republicans who have come to learn that the promises this new majority campaigned on are going unfulfilled.

Courtesy Elizabeth Opyoke

Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler called the rally, but it became a joint project of the House and Senate Democrats, labor leaders, water conservationists, and consumer advocates as well. The packed Capitol steps provided a powerful scene as thousands of workers in Carhartt bibs or hunting gear listened to an array of pro-working family messages from West Virginia's leaders. Senator Kessler, Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue, Delegate Mike Caputo, Senator Bob Beach, Delegate Shawn Fluharty and Senator Doug Facemire all spoke to loud and sometimes raucous cheering.

Courtesy Jeff Kessler

The rally revealed that ordinary West Virginians see through the big-money campaign to buy the state off for corporate interests. Signs carried around pointed out how so-called right to work laws hurt good wage-paying union jobs, how prevailing wage laws protect our construction workers and businesses and how laws to weaken drinking water protections are radical and wrong. Perdue reminded everyone present that promises of jobs bills and economic improvement were going unfulfilled, while Republicans paid off their friends in industry. Tennant, as one would expect, made sure to discuss the importance of registering more voters so the next election more accurately reflects the will of the people.

Courtesy Lynette Maselli

As predictions of bad weather came out on Sunday night, Republicans had taken to social media to mock the workers rally and suggest that no one would show up. As it happened, turnout would have been considered substantial on a nice summer day – under the circumstances, it was simply an amazing showing by the folks who are being directly hurt by the Republicans' policies. The thousands who were in Charleston will take back to their counties key information and motivation to make sure that the next time we vote, we get it right.