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Cole willing to work for W.Va.

One of the very few specific proposals gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice has made for West Virginia isn’t a bad idea. He likes it so well he brought it up during both his debates with state Senate President Bill Cole.

But on neither occasion was Justice asked a logical question about his idea.

His suggestion is that one way to improve the state’s economy is to attract more furniture manufacturers to West Virginia. After all, we have expansive stands of the hardwoods they desire. We also have a willing, capable workforce.

But here’s the question: Why aren’t they already here?

That gets to the heart of the race between Cole and Justice for governor. It is simply that Cole has ideas to bring businesses to the state, while Justice merely wants them here and apparently thinks they’ll come just because he’s who he is.

One might think that if you’re in a business involving wood, you’d want to be where the trees are. But you’d also want to be in a state where the regulatory, tax and lawsuit environment wasn’t stacked against you. That’s one reason we don’t already have more furniture manufacturers. Many, and many executives in other businesses, just don’t see West Virginia as a welcoming environment.

Cole has been president of the state Senate for about two years, leading newly empowered Republicans in the Legislature to long-overdue reforms. They have included pruning unnecessary regulations, attempts at a better tax structure, tort reform and other initiatives meant to make the Mountain State more attractive to job creators.

If Justice has ideas along those lines, he has said little, if anything, about them.

Oh, he has suggested other ways to boost the economy. One is to convince the federal government to pay us for the enormous amount of trees in West Virginia. They do absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, after all.

If you think that’s ever going to happen, you’re living in fantasy land. You may have noted that no one in Washington, including our state’s delegation to Congress, has offered any encouragement.

Or, here’s another great idea from Justice, voiced during one of the debates: West Virginia needs a Dollywood.

By all means. Unfortunately, entertainment star Dolly Parton wasn’t born in the Mountain State.

Dollywood is the massive theme park she established in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., which just happens to be near where she was born and grew up. Dollywood is just one of the nice things she’s done there.

Creating the theme park was made easier by the fact that area, adjacent to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, already was a tourist mecca.

Lots of what Justice proposes would, indeed, be nice for West Virginia. But during his Democrat Party’s 83-year history of controlling the Legislature, state government set itself up as a barrier to job creation, not a partner.

Bravo to Justice for dreaming big. But what West Virginians need now is, if you will, a mechanic. We need someone in the governor’s office willing to get elbow-deep in the greasy business of repairing state government to make us a place where the furniture manufacturers and theme park developers want to come.

Cole has had substantial success in doing just that while president of the state Senate. Clearly, he could accomplish much more as governor, for a variety of reasons.

One is that governors set legislative agendas in some ways. They propose budgets. They either sign or veto bills. They can — within certain constitutional parameters — set policy and decide how state agencies will administer it.

Cole as governor could make it clear the bureaucracy needs to become business-friendly and work with legislators to ensure state law reflects that can do much to make West Virginia more attractive to all sorts of businesses, including furniture manufacturers.

Myer can be reached at: mmyer@theintelligencer.net.

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