Oct. 7, 2008
Russ Weeks for Governor Part One of Two Parts
Weeks Promises Justice for Those Denied; Vows to Uncover Corruption
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - Having observed the West Virginia inner circle of working government from the inside as a State Senator, Russ Weeks, the Republican candidate for governor, pledges to tear down one of the two justice systems in the Mountain State --- the one for the good ole’ boys and the one for the rest of us.
Weeks emerged from the legislature sharing a perspective with West Virginians which only a few elitists have observed. In fact, he put it down on paper in “No Strings Attached: The Big Lies of WV Government and One Man’s Fight for the Truth.” ( http://www.iuniverse.com )
First, Candidate Weeks asks, “Do you want to continue this downward spiral into that hole we keep digging deeper and deeper ?”
He stated that current Governor Joe Manchin has a track record of “steadily going down: hill. “I’ve established myself as a candidate for the people, who stands on principle, and accountability. I will give justice to people who have been denied justice. But, I can’t do it unless I have the power and authority that comes from the governor’s office.”
Weeks continued, “When I filed my papers in January, I said at a press conference, that there are a lot of high placed individuals in state government that do not want to see me get elected,” Weeks said. “They know that I know where a lot of bodies are buried. On the first day of my administration, I’m going to start digging bodies up.” In fact, the candidate often receives anonymous emails from state employees suggesting where to look for fraud. “There’s a lot of honest, conscientious state employees who know things are going wrong and did not have a way of getting it looked at before. [If I’m elected,] they will.”
HNN: Why did you choose to run for governor, especially facing such strong opposition as Gov. Joe Manchin?
WEEKS: I was elected to the Senate in 2002 and permitted into the inner sanctum behind closed doors where the public is not allowed. I could see how your state government works, and what I observed scared the hell out of me. Legislation is changed after it’s voted on, the use, abuse and misuse of money, how we don’t need 100 delegates or 34 senators because everything is controlled in Charleston by a handful of people.
HNN: Now, what was your second reason for running?
WEEKS: If I have established myself, it is for principle and accountability. If no one filed to run against the governor, then he would have a straight shot into the governor’s mansion. Every elected official should be held accountable to the citizens, like in a campaign and answer questions why you did this , can you explain this, and make yourself available to the public. Had I not run for governor, he would not have done that. He would not place himself before the voters. I want to see change, like a lot of people.
HNN: Governor Manchin and other state officials reported that the state has a strong position compared to others during this national and international financial crisis. How do you feel, based on your time in the State Senate?
WEEKS: WV is in kind of a unique position because of coal. We are insulated from a lot of national and international problems. The cost of energy is up and because we have all our financial eggs in one basket, when coal is doing well the state is doing well because of the tax money we get from coal.
We do have a lot of money linked in Charleston. When I was first elected to the Senate, I have been asking questions --- where is all the money that is coming to Charleston? I know where a lot of it is, but I need the power and authority of the governor to go get it. The governor has slush funds, he has a rainy day fund, contingency funds… I don’t know how many of these special funds the governor has. If I’m elected I will start using a lot of these funds to benefit the people. We’ve got a winter coming up ; we don’t know how bad it’s going to be. A lot of people are going to have trouble with their heating bills. People are going to need some help.
As far as the bailout itself goes, I would have gone along with Congresswoman Capito, I would have voted no. The mistakes made on Wall Street should not be put on back of the people. A lot of people involved in this on Wall Street --- and I’m talking Democrat and Republican --- the politicians in Washington are supposed to be looking out for us, the common working man, and they have not done so. That’s not to say that something doesn’t have to be done, but putting it on the back of taxpayers was the wrong thing to do.
HNN: I had a WV banker tell me that while a ‘rescue’ was needed, it was unfair to commercial banks who have complied with regulations.
WEEKS: We need regulation. This was an area where we needed regulation to look out for the little man.
If elected, I would appoint a council of economic advisors to assist me in making decisions. One person cannot sit down and become an expert in all matters that come before him. I’m going to use the experts we have at our institutions of higher learning --- Marshall, WVU, the other state universities and colleges. I’m going to tell them what I want to get done and have them come up with recommendations and solutions for me. Both pro and con. I will make the decision which way to go. I don’t profess to know everything about every subject.
HNN: How would you handle the underfunded pension funds of the state and municipalities within the state?
WEEKS: The state pension funds are OK.
HNN: Even the teachers?
WEEKS: The teachers’ is underfunded. What I’m going to do, and this goes to my top three issues, I’m going to offer the teachers a package where they will not even look at another state. When most teachers turn 55, they will retire. We have to go out and hire another teacher to come in and replace a teacher. So we are paying retirement and a new teacher coming in. If you look at that amount of money--- I have some people crunching numbers now --- if I can keep that teacher from retiring, we will save money in the long run. Plus, we will not be putting such a drain on our teacher retirement system.
HNN: You’d provide incentives for teacher’s near retirement age to continue to teach…
WEEKS: I read a report the other day that the number of master’s degree teachers is slowly dropping. By letting these experienced teachers retire early, we are affecting the quality of our teaching profession. Teaching is a calling. No one goes into teaching expecting to make money. If I can make it appealing for teachers to stay, possibly to 65 or 70, and I’ve had a lot tell me when I explained my plan, ‘yes, I’ll stay… I’ve had many tell me, if I was treated right, I’d teach until I die.’
HNN: What about municipal pensions?
WEEKS: I’m going to have to defer. There are things the state can’t get involved in when it comes to counties and cities under the constitution. I will work with the legislature and advisors … they know a lot about pensions on the committees. Working with the legislature, we could come up with a plan or a better plan.
I realize there is a problem. Here in Beckley we do not have that problem.
I am going to reform our tax structure and reward the businesses that are here. By doing this, it will create a business climate that businesses in other state will see that it would be advantageous to their bottom line to be in WV. If businesses come back or come in to WV, we are expanding our tax base. We could grow ourselves out of a lot of the problems we have. It’s a fact, if you lower taxes the government makes more money. It happened under Kennedy, it happened under Reagan. Your economy grows.
For every dollar, the government takes out of your pocket, that’s a dollar taken out of the economy. If your taxes were reduced, and, let’s say, you had $100 a month more. What are you going to do with that $100? Probably go out and spend it. Every time you spend a dollar in the local economy that dollar changes hands up to seven times. If the government takes the dollar out of your hand, you don’t have that dollar to spend and for someone else to spend.
HNN: The state has a problem with so many citizens without health care or relying on Medicaid.
WEEKS: One by changing our tax structure and getting more businesses in here, If you get more businesses you’re going to be providing the people more and better health care. [Businesses like] Toyota or Hino Motors. They have good health care packages for their employees. Another way, when I was in the legislature in 2005, we approved a pilot program that enabled immediate care clinics. We allowed them to write a package deal where, for example, Dr. Vic Wood in Wheeling has a clinic and more can be done in his clinic than in most of the average clinics. He takes x-rays and he has someone o read x-rays. They can monitor diabetes, hypertension …. Anything that can be done in the clinic he will do for $85 per month per individual or $125 a month for a family. Now, when you have two, three, or four kids and you get heath care for $125 a month that’s a bargain. I want to make that program permanent and expand it to where insurance companies, hospitals, clinics, anybody at all can do that. One [health] plan does not fit all.
I’m sure you know kid in their early 20s. At that age you are ten foot tall and bulletproof. The only thing people like that are concern is going down the ski slope and hitting a pine tree. Their needs are different than your needs or mine. So a policy for someone [that age] would be different than you or I.
HNN: A change in Medicaid would be money saving too if people could go to a doctor or immediate care clinic, rather than overwhelming emergency rooms for routine treatments due to Medicaid not paying for the lesser services…
WEEKS: Speaking of Medicaid, we have a crisis going on right now. The overcrowding that is going on at Mildred Mitchell Bateman Hospital (in Huntington), the governor is taking support staff away from people with mental issues And, he is penalizing those people for not complying with his Healthy Lifestyles program. Some of them can’t read; some of them can’t understand what they do read. They won’t allow any more [state personnel] with them to ensure they do what they are supposed to do. If they can’t comply with the guidelines, they are penalized. What we are doing in that situation is putting these people out on the street with their medication and that’s creating problems for our police departments.
HNN: We are making them homeless.
WEEKS: These people on programs now have support staff with them in assisted living situations. They are putting people out there without any support systems. Not everybody can do for themselves, some people for one reason or the other need some kind of support and they are not getting it.
[Furthermore,] Medicaid has not been audited for eleven years. In 2004, Sen. Donna Boley and I called for a full complete audit of Medicaid. You’re talking on the average $2 billion per year, now it’s more back then it was less, In eleven years, that’s over $20 billion dollars of your money being spent by someone, somewhere on something. We don’t know. There’s no accountability.
DHHR does not need more money, DHHR needs to better manage the money they have. And I will make sure that happens as I will reform the DHHR.
HNN: You were targeted upon re-election as one of the Senators the PAC of the powers that be to not be reelected.
WEEKS: They did not like me spilling their dirty little secrets to the press. Dick Casey, the chairman of the Democratic Party, said [on a radio show] that I was their Number One target. They spent over $700,000 and they got a 527 group targeted on me. When you talk about 527 groups, Don Blankenship’s name comes up. They never say anything about the trial lawyers, the unions, and all this other stuff. Nothing is ever said about that; it’s just about Blankenship. They had a lot of out of state gambling money come in. The Mike Green who defeated me is a dog breeder and a member of the dog breeder’s, kennel owners or racer’s association.
IN PART TWO OF THE INTERVIEW, CANDIDATE WEEKS DISCUSSES LITTLE KNOWN PROCEDURES THAT ALLOW ADJUSTMENTS TO THE LANGUAGE OF A PASSED BILL, THE HURRY UP AND VOTE PROCEDURE, AND HIS OWN EFFORT TO HELP PATIENTS EXPOSED TO TB AT BECKLEY’S PINECREST HOSPITAL
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Weeks Promises Justice for Those Denied; Vows to Uncover Corruption
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - Having observed the West Virginia inner circle of working government from the inside as a State Senator, Russ Weeks, the Republican candidate for governor, pledges to tear down one of the two justice systems in the Mountain State --- the one for the good ole’ boys and the one for the rest of us.
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First, Candidate Weeks asks, “Do you want to continue this downward spiral into that hole we keep digging deeper and deeper ?”
He stated that current Governor Joe Manchin has a track record of “steadily going down: hill. “I’ve established myself as a candidate for the people, who stands on principle, and accountability. I will give justice to people who have been denied justice. But, I can’t do it unless I have the power and authority that comes from the governor’s office.”
Weeks continued, “When I filed my papers in January, I said at a press conference, that there are a lot of high placed individuals in state government that do not want to see me get elected,” Weeks said. “They know that I know where a lot of bodies are buried. On the first day of my administration, I’m going to start digging bodies up.” In fact, the candidate often receives anonymous emails from state employees suggesting where to look for fraud. “There’s a lot of honest, conscientious state employees who know things are going wrong and did not have a way of getting it looked at before. [If I’m elected,] they will.”
HNN: Why did you choose to run for governor, especially facing such strong opposition as Gov. Joe Manchin?
WEEKS: I was elected to the Senate in 2002 and permitted into the inner sanctum behind closed doors where the public is not allowed. I could see how your state government works, and what I observed scared the hell out of me. Legislation is changed after it’s voted on, the use, abuse and misuse of money, how we don’t need 100 delegates or 34 senators because everything is controlled in Charleston by a handful of people.
HNN: Now, what was your second reason for running?
WEEKS: If I have established myself, it is for principle and accountability. If no one filed to run against the governor, then he would have a straight shot into the governor’s mansion. Every elected official should be held accountable to the citizens, like in a campaign and answer questions why you did this , can you explain this, and make yourself available to the public. Had I not run for governor, he would not have done that. He would not place himself before the voters. I want to see change, like a lot of people.
HNN: Governor Manchin and other state officials reported that the state has a strong position compared to others during this national and international financial crisis. How do you feel, based on your time in the State Senate?
WEEKS: WV is in kind of a unique position because of coal. We are insulated from a lot of national and international problems. The cost of energy is up and because we have all our financial eggs in one basket, when coal is doing well the state is doing well because of the tax money we get from coal.
We do have a lot of money linked in Charleston. When I was first elected to the Senate, I have been asking questions --- where is all the money that is coming to Charleston? I know where a lot of it is, but I need the power and authority of the governor to go get it. The governor has slush funds, he has a rainy day fund, contingency funds… I don’t know how many of these special funds the governor has. If I’m elected I will start using a lot of these funds to benefit the people. We’ve got a winter coming up ; we don’t know how bad it’s going to be. A lot of people are going to have trouble with their heating bills. People are going to need some help.
As far as the bailout itself goes, I would have gone along with Congresswoman Capito, I would have voted no. The mistakes made on Wall Street should not be put on back of the people. A lot of people involved in this on Wall Street --- and I’m talking Democrat and Republican --- the politicians in Washington are supposed to be looking out for us, the common working man, and they have not done so. That’s not to say that something doesn’t have to be done, but putting it on the back of taxpayers was the wrong thing to do.
HNN: I had a WV banker tell me that while a ‘rescue’ was needed, it was unfair to commercial banks who have complied with regulations.
WEEKS: We need regulation. This was an area where we needed regulation to look out for the little man.
If elected, I would appoint a council of economic advisors to assist me in making decisions. One person cannot sit down and become an expert in all matters that come before him. I’m going to use the experts we have at our institutions of higher learning --- Marshall, WVU, the other state universities and colleges. I’m going to tell them what I want to get done and have them come up with recommendations and solutions for me. Both pro and con. I will make the decision which way to go. I don’t profess to know everything about every subject.
HNN: How would you handle the underfunded pension funds of the state and municipalities within the state?
WEEKS: The state pension funds are OK.
HNN: Even the teachers?
WEEKS: The teachers’ is underfunded. What I’m going to do, and this goes to my top three issues, I’m going to offer the teachers a package where they will not even look at another state. When most teachers turn 55, they will retire. We have to go out and hire another teacher to come in and replace a teacher. So we are paying retirement and a new teacher coming in. If you look at that amount of money--- I have some people crunching numbers now --- if I can keep that teacher from retiring, we will save money in the long run. Plus, we will not be putting such a drain on our teacher retirement system.
HNN: You’d provide incentives for teacher’s near retirement age to continue to teach…
WEEKS: I read a report the other day that the number of master’s degree teachers is slowly dropping. By letting these experienced teachers retire early, we are affecting the quality of our teaching profession. Teaching is a calling. No one goes into teaching expecting to make money. If I can make it appealing for teachers to stay, possibly to 65 or 70, and I’ve had a lot tell me when I explained my plan, ‘yes, I’ll stay… I’ve had many tell me, if I was treated right, I’d teach until I die.’
HNN: What about municipal pensions?
WEEKS: I’m going to have to defer. There are things the state can’t get involved in when it comes to counties and cities under the constitution. I will work with the legislature and advisors … they know a lot about pensions on the committees. Working with the legislature, we could come up with a plan or a better plan.
I realize there is a problem. Here in Beckley we do not have that problem.
I am going to reform our tax structure and reward the businesses that are here. By doing this, it will create a business climate that businesses in other state will see that it would be advantageous to their bottom line to be in WV. If businesses come back or come in to WV, we are expanding our tax base. We could grow ourselves out of a lot of the problems we have. It’s a fact, if you lower taxes the government makes more money. It happened under Kennedy, it happened under Reagan. Your economy grows.
For every dollar, the government takes out of your pocket, that’s a dollar taken out of the economy. If your taxes were reduced, and, let’s say, you had $100 a month more. What are you going to do with that $100? Probably go out and spend it. Every time you spend a dollar in the local economy that dollar changes hands up to seven times. If the government takes the dollar out of your hand, you don’t have that dollar to spend and for someone else to spend.
HNN: The state has a problem with so many citizens without health care or relying on Medicaid.
WEEKS: One by changing our tax structure and getting more businesses in here, If you get more businesses you’re going to be providing the people more and better health care. [Businesses like] Toyota or Hino Motors. They have good health care packages for their employees. Another way, when I was in the legislature in 2005, we approved a pilot program that enabled immediate care clinics. We allowed them to write a package deal where, for example, Dr. Vic Wood in Wheeling has a clinic and more can be done in his clinic than in most of the average clinics. He takes x-rays and he has someone o read x-rays. They can monitor diabetes, hypertension …. Anything that can be done in the clinic he will do for $85 per month per individual or $125 a month for a family. Now, when you have two, three, or four kids and you get heath care for $125 a month that’s a bargain. I want to make that program permanent and expand it to where insurance companies, hospitals, clinics, anybody at all can do that. One [health] plan does not fit all.
I’m sure you know kid in their early 20s. At that age you are ten foot tall and bulletproof. The only thing people like that are concern is going down the ski slope and hitting a pine tree. Their needs are different than your needs or mine. So a policy for someone [that age] would be different than you or I.
HNN: A change in Medicaid would be money saving too if people could go to a doctor or immediate care clinic, rather than overwhelming emergency rooms for routine treatments due to Medicaid not paying for the lesser services…
WEEKS: Speaking of Medicaid, we have a crisis going on right now. The overcrowding that is going on at Mildred Mitchell Bateman Hospital (in Huntington), the governor is taking support staff away from people with mental issues And, he is penalizing those people for not complying with his Healthy Lifestyles program. Some of them can’t read; some of them can’t understand what they do read. They won’t allow any more [state personnel] with them to ensure they do what they are supposed to do. If they can’t comply with the guidelines, they are penalized. What we are doing in that situation is putting these people out on the street with their medication and that’s creating problems for our police departments.
HNN: We are making them homeless.
WEEKS: These people on programs now have support staff with them in assisted living situations. They are putting people out there without any support systems. Not everybody can do for themselves, some people for one reason or the other need some kind of support and they are not getting it.
[Furthermore,] Medicaid has not been audited for eleven years. In 2004, Sen. Donna Boley and I called for a full complete audit of Medicaid. You’re talking on the average $2 billion per year, now it’s more back then it was less, In eleven years, that’s over $20 billion dollars of your money being spent by someone, somewhere on something. We don’t know. There’s no accountability.
DHHR does not need more money, DHHR needs to better manage the money they have. And I will make sure that happens as I will reform the DHHR.
HNN: You were targeted upon re-election as one of the Senators the PAC of the powers that be to not be reelected.
WEEKS: They did not like me spilling their dirty little secrets to the press. Dick Casey, the chairman of the Democratic Party, said [on a radio show] that I was their Number One target. They spent over $700,000 and they got a 527 group targeted on me. When you talk about 527 groups, Don Blankenship’s name comes up. They never say anything about the trial lawyers, the unions, and all this other stuff. Nothing is ever said about that; it’s just about Blankenship. They had a lot of out of state gambling money come in. The Mike Green who defeated me is a dog breeder and a member of the dog breeder’s, kennel owners or racer’s association.
IN PART TWO OF THE INTERVIEW, CANDIDATE WEEKS DISCUSSES LITTLE KNOWN PROCEDURES THAT ALLOW ADJUSTMENTS TO THE LANGUAGE OF A PASSED BILL, THE HURRY UP AND VOTE PROCEDURE, AND HIS OWN EFFORT TO HELP PATIENTS EXPOSED TO TB AT BECKLEY’S PINECREST HOSPITAL
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