Summary
Current Position: Kanawha County Commissioner/ Attorney
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: 2020 Governor
Ben Salango is a lifelong Democrat, raised in the heart of West Virginia. He is dedicated to moving West Virginia forward by prioritizing investments in public education, creating more jobs in the Mountain State, protecting health care, fixing the roads, and combating the opioid epidemic. Ben can be trusted to fight for West Virginia’s working families.
Ben has distinguished himself on the Kanawha County Commission as a forward thinker, always working to improve the lives of Kanawha County residents. He worked to create the Upper Kanawha Business Assistance Program (UKAN), a program dedicated to creating entrepreneurs in the Upper Kanawha Valley, a part of the state that has been heavily impacted by the loss of coal jobs. He fought to fully fund the Kanawha Senior Services program and guarantee that every senior citizen that requested meal services would be able to receive them.
Source: Campaign page
OnAir Post: Ben Salango
About
Source: Campaign page
Ben Salango is a lifelong Democrat, raised in the heart of West Virginia. He is dedicated to moving West Virginia forward by prioritizing investments in public education, creating more jobs in the Mountain State, protecting health care, fixing the roads, and combating the opioid epidemic. Ben can be trusted to fight for West Virginia’s working families.
As a Kanawha County Commissioner, Ben has made economic development and job creation a top priority. He led the effort to build the Shawnee Sports Complex – a travel sports facility that brought tens of millions of dollars into the community in 2019 alone. The project created jobs and is a driving force for many local hotels and businesses updating and renovating to accommodate the influx of tourism to West Virginia.
Ben has distinguished himself on the Kanawha County Commission as a forward thinker, always working to improve the lives of Kanawha County residents. He worked to create the Upper Kanawha Business Assistance Program (UKAN), a program dedicated to creating entrepreneurs in the Upper Kanawha Valley, a part of the state that has been heavily impacted by the loss of coal jobs. He fought to fully fund the Kanawha Senior Services program and guarantee that every senior citizen that requested meal services would be able to receive them.
Raised in a two-bedroom trailer on Sullivan Road in a small town called Glen Morgan in Raleigh County, Ben saw how his parents struggled every day to make ends meet. Eventually his parents started their own small business and worked day and night to make it a success so that he and his siblings would have a chance to get ahead. The example set for him by his parents instilled in Ben a strong work ethic and a desire to succeed. At the age of 15, Ben earned his union card bagging groceries at Kroger.
After graduating from Shady Spring High School, he attended West Virginia University and West Virginia University College of Law. As a product of West Virginia’s public schools and a graduate of West Virginia University, Ben understands the importance of public education and just how necessary it is to invest in West Virginia schools, educators, and students.
As an attorney, Ben has spent his career seeking justice on behalf of those who deserve it. He has fought tirelessly for the rights of workers and their families and has been named one of the Best Lawyers in America. Ben is also the owner of 304 Tees, a West Virginia based apparel company that uses local union labor to produce every shirt.
Ben Salango is a devoted father and husband. He lives in Charleston with his wife Tera; two sons, T.J. and Caden; and two dogs, Brentley and Rocco. In his spare time, he coaches youth soccer and enjoys the natural beauty of West Virginia by hiking, hunting, biking, and running. Ben is also an avid mountain climber and has reached the summits of mountains all over the world.
Web
Campaign Site, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook
Politics
Source: none
Issues
Governance
Ben Salango will return the power to the citizens of West Virginia and regain the public’s trust by rooting out corruption in government. He believes that state government must have stricter compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) so the public can see exactly how our government is run.
West Virginians were outraged when Jim Justice made a secret tax deal for himself and his companies and again when he refused to put his assets into a blind trust. As governor, Ben will end secret tax deals and tax breaks for public officials and their companies. He will force state officials to place their corporate assets in a blind trust and will ensure that all candidates for office are current on their state or local taxes.
A Salango administration will increase the transparency of deals with foreign governments and corporations receiving assistance from the taxpayers of West Virginia. We shouldn’t be left in the dark when countries like China want to control our natural resources.
As a county commissioner, Ben understands the role local governments must play in economic development projects that involve state resources. He will make it a priority to involve local government in state decisions that impact a community. Ben believes that there should be approval by the relevant county commission of any state-funded development within the county to prevent a repeat of the flawed process we saw with Rockwool in Jefferson County.
Ethics Reform
Ben Salango is committed to strengthening and fully funding the State Ethics Commission to identify conflicts of interest. In order to ensure state leaders do the job they were elected to do, Salango will implement an online public calendar for the governor, board of public works, and all agency heads.
Too many West Virginians are getting ripped off. As governor, Ben Salango will protect consumers from scams and underhanded tricks that attempt to take advantage of West Virginia families. He will make sure we stay ahead of scammers and will protect West Virginians from identity theft, fraud, and schemes designed to steal from our citizens. As governor, he’ll work with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and other state agencies to make sure that the private information of West Virginia citizens remains private.
Ben will establish a public ombudsman to advocate for consumers regarding internet, cable, telephone, water, and power company complaints. No one should be paying a bill for a service that doesn’t work. As governor, Ben will hold powerful corporations accountable if they fail to live up to their promises.
Civil Rights
Ben Salango is an avid outdoorsman, hunter, fisherman, hiker, and climber. He is a responsible gun owner and is pro-Second Amendment. He has had a concealed weapon permit for over a decade. Ben grew up hunting in the woods of southern West Virginia and understands the hunting tradition that is engrained in our culture. He believes that law-abiding gun owners should be protected from federal overreach. Ben believes that more focus should be placed on making West Virginia an outdoor tourist destination for hunters, fishermen, and outdoor enthusiasts.
Ben Salango fully supports the Second Amendment and has had his concealed weapons permit for over a decade.
He strongly supports the rights of West Virginians to defend themselves and their families. Ben learned to hunt in Southern West Virginia and has passed on his love of the outdoors to his sons. Gun owners can count on Ben Salango to protect the 2nd Amendment.
Economy
As a small business owner himself, Ben Salango understands how important small businesses are to West Virginia. He will help grow small businesses by adapting the successful formula he developed in Kanawha County that turned the unemployed into entrepreneurs.
Salango worked to create the Upper Kanawha Business Assistance Program (UKAN), a program dedicated to creating entrepreneurs in the Upper Kanawha Valley, a part of the state that has been heavily affected by the loss of coal jobs. UKAN is a loan forgiveness program aimed at helping small businesses expand, and Ben wants to bring it to communities across West Virginia when he’s governor.
Right now, West Virginia has a part-time governor who isn’t promoting the boundless possibilities the Mountain State has to offer. Ben Salango will market and sell West Virginia’s energy to the world. Has Jim Justice ever traveled to places like India to promote our coal or natural gas? The answer is no. Ben will be a governor who focuses on bringing in foreign investment to create West Virginia jobs.
The different regions of West Virginia present unique opportunities to attract business and create jobs. As governor, Ben Salango will work with local leaders across the state to create a long-term growth plan for each region.
He will strengthen our workforce by expanding skills training for in-demand fields. He will grow sports tourism for the whole state of West Virginia, just like he did with the Shawnee Sports Complex. Salango took a nine-hole golf course in Kanawha County that was losing money and turned it into a sports complex that brings in millions of dollars to the Kanawha Valley each year by hosting travel youth sporting events.
Access to broadband is essential for students, businesses, and anyone else trying to compete in the 21st century. As governor, Ben will expand broadband access across West Virginia. Whether you live at the head of a holler or in a downtown neighborhood, a Salango administration will fight to make sure you can access broadband.
There are too many college grads each year leaving West Virginia because we don’t have enough IT jobs available. Ben believes that expanding broadband will grow technology jobs across West Virginia.
Ben Salango wants to grow career opportunities across the state. What’s missing from West Virginia is that there aren’t enough good-paying jobs that allow people to provide for their families and retire with dignity. Ben’s vision is not just more jobs—it’s more opportunities for career advancement, to keep our young people here and our families together.
As governor, Ben Salango will make sure workers are prepared for in-demand fields. He will emphasize vocational and technical training for those who decide college isn’t for them.
Salango will work to pass legislation so that all state projects will use prevailing wage and give priority to West Virginia owned companies and West Virginia workers. As a Kanawha County Commissioner, Ben built the Shawnee Sports Complex using union labor. It was done on time and on budget.
Ben will implement paid family leave for West Virginia’s public employees, to mirror the new 12-week paid family leave policy at the federal level. It’s something he was able to accomplish in Kanawha County.
Education
WEST VIRGINIA EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS FIRST
Under a Salango administration, teachers and school service personnel will not have to strike to get what they deserve because Ben knows that the real road to prosperity in West Virginia is through the classroom. Ben believes that strong public schools make for a stronger West Virginia. He will give educators a raise in order to recruit and retain teachers and school service personnel. Ben will make sure educators are treated like the professionals they are so that our kids have access to the best and brightest teachers West Virginia has to offer. Ben supports tax incentives for public school employees.
He will fight for smaller class sizes and funding for full-time nurses and mental health counselors in every school. He will support trauma-informed training for all education professionals who find themselves on the front lines of the opioid epidemic.
In addition to teaching, our educators are expected to act as social workers. Salango believes that every school in West Virginia should have a dedicated social worker.
As governor, Ben will make West Virginia the strongest state in the country for vocational and job skills training. He wants training facilities across the state that can prepare students and out-of-work adults for new opportunities.
He will support a student loan reduction bill and a first-time homebuyer tax credit to incentivize people to stay in West Virginia. Ben wants to give students the ability to earn an associate degree when they graduate high school. He is committed to bringing school service personnel salaries over the poverty line.
Environment
Ben Salango believes that all West Virginians should have access to clean air, clear water, and that we need to protect West Virginia’s natural beauty.
As governor, Salango will protect the drinking water of West Virginians and preserve the Mountain State’s public waterways.
Ben’s Plan to Protect Our Water:
Hold corporations accountable and make them clean up their mess if they pollute our drinking water.
Support infrastructure projects to provide clean water in rural communities.
Increase transparency, testing, and reporting of water quality from state government.
Learn from the lessons of the 2014 water crisis by introducing recommendations from the WV Public Water System Supply Study Commission.
Create tax incentives for water clean up projects that benefit the public.
Build an emergency response task force to deal with water crises. Including a stockpile of bottled water.
Use C.A.R.E.S. Act money to repair crumbling infrastructure to bring back access to clean water.
Health Care
WEST VIRGINIA HEALTHCARE FIRST
Ben Salango will fight the escalating cost of healthcare because quality care should not be reserved exclusively for the wealthy few. He will make health care affordable and accessible and will protect the 800,000 West Virginians with pre-existing conditions. Ben will fight for a cap on monthly insulin co-pays and make prescription drugs affordable.
He will immediately eliminate the Intellectual/ Developmental Disabilities (IDD) waiver waitlist using surplus Medicaid funds. He will utilize tele-health technology to give rural communities better access to health care.
As governor, Salango will increase Medicaid reimbursements to prevent local rural hospitals and health care providers from going bankrupt.
He will strengthen healthcare protections to help consumers who are wrongly denied health insurance coverage.
As county commissioner, Salango passed a 12-week paid family leave policy for Kanawha County employees. He wants to do the same for public employees in West Virginia.
He will establish an application process to apportion any Medicaid surplus to locally-owned rural hospitals, health care providers, and clinics who are struggling to stay open.
Ben will break up the bureaucracy at DHHR so that health care can be more accessible and transparent to the people of West Virginia. As governor, he will make sure that insurance companies aren’t taking advantage of Mountain State families.
As West Virginia’s hospitals are rapidly closing and filing for bankruptcy, Jim Justice isn’t doing anything to reverse this trend.
Ben Salango will fight to guarantee access to healthcare for rural and underserved communities. Ben’s plan will save our rural hospitals, protect healthcare jobs, and ensure that West Virginians have access to affordable health care. He will step in to prevent these hospital closures before they happen.
Instead of corporate giveaways eliminating the inventory tax ($100 million), or eliminating personal property tax ($200 million), or creating an intermediate appellate court ($6.5 million), Salango believes that it’s time to protect patients and jobs.
The Salango Plan:
There will be a lifeline for any rural hospital that plans to cease operations (OVMC, Fairmont Regional Medical Center, etc). Salango will stop closures before they happen.
Using the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model as a blueprint, Ben Salango will implement global budgets for struggling hospitals in West Virginia to ensure patients have access to high-quality care, while simultaneously reducing the cost of hospital expenditures.
As governor, Salango Will:
Establish a loan program to save struggling hospitals before they close. Similar to the effort underway in Kentucky.
Require that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other participants pay rural hospitals a fixed amount, set in advance to cover inpatient and hospital based out-patient services (CMS Innovation Center). If Jim Justice and his administration were paying attention, this partnership with the federal government could have saved hospitals from closing in our state.
Increase reimbursement rates, keeping patients stable close to their home and getting them to a medical hub for a major procedure.
Build free-standing emergency rooms and small format hospitals (~10 beds) across West Virginia.
Create more family- medicine focused rural hospitals.
Implement an annual “stress test” for all rural hospitals BEFORE they close their doors and lay off employees. Establish an unbiased team comprised of physicians, nurses, patients, community leaders, accountants, and hospital administrators to review the hospital’s finances and create a plan to make a troubled hospital stable.
Ben will work with West Virginia’s U.S. Senators and members of Congress to inject federal dollars to save rural hospitals.
Infrastructure
Right now, Jim Justice is concerned only with fixing the roads that will benefit his business interests. As governor, Ben Salango will upgrade roads and bridges across West Virginia. The Justice roads plan is nothing more than a band-aid on a bullet wound. Ben understands that we need a long-term plan to fix our roads in every corner of our state and that patchwork projects won’t get it done. He will make sure district managers fully implement the Highway Operations Core Maintenance plans and complete the necessary follow up work. He will also raise pay for DOH workers.
With Ben Salango as governor, fixing our roads will be a year-round priority and not just a campaign-season talking point. West Virginia taxpayers have watched Justice mismanage road funding and borrow money to keep up with routine maintenance. As governor, Ben will make sure West Virginia road projects are done with West Virginia workers.
Safety
Ben will protect West Virginia’s first responders, including: law enforcement, firefighters, EMTs, and everyone who keeps our communities safe day in and day out. As governor, Ben will encourage legislation to have 911 telecommunicators classified as first responders, will expand mental health and substance abuse counseling for all first responders, and will encourage the creation of wellness centers specifically for first responders.
Taking care of the families of fallen law enforcement, firefighters, and first responders must be a top priority. Ben’s plan will increase the one-time death benefit to the families of law enforcement, firefighters (professional and volunteer), and first responders killed in the line of duty to $250,000. He will focus on the recruitment and retention of professional and volunteer firefighters across West Virginia.
Salango has been endorsed by both the Charleston Professional Firefighters and South Charleston Professional Firefighters.
WEST VIRGINIA CRIME VICTIMS FIRST
Ben Salango will support families who have had their world turned upside down by violent crime. He will expand services under the Crime Victim’s Rights Fund to deliver justice for families touched by violent crimes. He will broaden the scope of coverage to pay for funeral services for victims of violent crimes to ensure a proper burial.
Salango will institute a process where the families of violent crime victims are notified when the criminal defendant seeks a pardon.
West Virginia leads the nation in opioid dependence and now we must lead the nation in treatment.
The Problem
West Virginia leads the nation in overdose deaths.
Opioid manufacturers flooded WV with 780 million pain pills in 6 years and created a public health epidemic.
Opioid epidemic costs WV $8.8 billion annually.
Opioid addiction costs each WV resident $4,793 per year.
Opioid manufacturers recorded record profits off WV’s pain.
The Plan
Comprehensive inpatient treatment. Followed by 3-6 months of inpatient services. Campus residents will attend school to attain GED, high school diploma or, for those with a diploma or GED, an associate degree (3 months to 1 year).
Campus residents will attend vocational training (3 months to 1 year).
Campus residents will work with businesses that will be located on site. Businesses will receive substantial tax credits to participate in the program and on the job training.
Residents will have on campus housing and will receive life skills training including financial planning and management.
Daycare will be provided for residents with children.
Campus residents will receive career assistance and job placement upon completion of the program.
Campus residents will attend voluntarily or through alternative sentences from circuit judges. This will help with prison overcrowding and focus on treatment and recovery.
Work with drug courts and other recovery centers for efficiency.
Work with union halls to develop apprenticeship programs so graduates have good paying jobs upon completion of the program.
All facilities will be built with union labor.
Funding
Tax opioids to fund facilities and programs.
With the number of Black Lung cases rising, West Virginia needs to lead the way in helping coal miners at the state level.
Ben Salango is committed to protecting our coal miners from Black Lung and giving them the support they need to combat this disease by supplementing the federal Black Lung Pension Fund.
Salango believes that our coal miners shouldn’t have to battle with coal company lawyers and doctors and government bureaucrats to get the help they deserve.
As governor, Salango will:
Provide funding for early medical treatment to slow down the progression of Black Lung.
Require insurance providers to award 20 weeks of benefits to all miners who have early-stage black lung. This will help them to seek treatment and to prevent the disease from progressing to more complicated forms.
Require insurance providers to award 25% partial disability to any miner who has progressed to having complicated black lung.
Make it easier for miners to file a state workers’ compensation case. Currently, if a miner files a claim more than three years after their last coal mine employment, the workers’ compensation insurance company does not have to pay for a black lung exam, unless the miner has already developed your own proof of breathing complications.
Establish a state Black Lung Pension Fund, similar to SB 144 (2019). It would provide a monthly benefit for pain and suffering to all miners who were exposed to the hazard of coal mine dust inhalation for 10 years.
Social Security
Our seniors have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in the best of times, we have a duty to protect West Virginia’s most vulnerable, but certainly we must take additional measures to ensure that our elderly population is healthy and safe.
As Kanawha County Commissioner, Ben worked to test every nursing home resident and the staff. He also cleared the waitlist for seniors in need of a home-delivered meal.
As Governor, Salango Will:
Ensure the safety of seniors in nursing homes during COVID-19 and every day.
Expand vigilant testing in our nursing homes and senior centers.
Provide adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to all residents, staff, and visitors.
Establish a tip line to enable residents, their families, and care providers to anonymously call in violations at senior living facilities.
Make sure no senior goes hungry
Clear the waitlist for West Virginia seniors in need of a hot meal.
Update home-delivery vehicles for each county.
Secure funds for senior centers and meal programs.
Cut healthcare costs and ensure access to quality healthcare for seniors
Ensure all seniors can get home care to live with dignity in their communities.
Expand programs aimed at preventing disease and incentivizing healthy living.
Enable seniors to seek the care they need from the providers they trust.
Keep rural hospitals open. (see rural hospital protection plan here).
Build small-format hospitals (25 beds) in rural communities so seniors don’t have to travel far for care.
Support seniors, who want to, age in place
Use Medicaid dollars to keep seniors in their homes.
Make it easier for seniors to connect with federal and state services that can help them such as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Expand access to transportation assistance for seniors.
Address economic insecurity
Immediately implement full Social Security Income tax relief.
Fight to protect pensions and earned retirement benefits.
Increase the number of home health care workers.
Train and recruit more West Virginians to work in the home health care field.
Veterans
West Virginia’s veterans have sacrificed for us and we should have their backs when they return home.
Ben will work to ensure that no veteran is homeless. He will expand substance abuse and mental health counseling. A Salango administration will provide career and vocational training for unemployed veterans and for veterans looking to change careers.
As governor, Ben will establish a business start-up assistance program for veterans who want to start their own businesses — similar to the UKAN program he spearheaded as Kanawha County commissioner. In addition, Ben will give priority to in-state contracts to businesses owned by local veterans. He will give veterans a leg up when they apply for state jobs.
WEST VIRGINIA CHILDREN FIRST
West Virginia’s children are getting left behind. As governor, Ben Salango will create a Department of Childhood Advocacy to focus on the state’s 10,500 homeless students, 7,000 foster kids, special needs children, missing children, and children in the juvenile justice system.
The Department of Health and Human Resources is too big and bureaucratic to adequately serve the needs of West Virginia’s children. That’s why Ben Salango will establish a cabinet-level position, the Secretary of Childhood Advocacy, to focus on the well-being of Mountain State youth.
The Department of Childhood Advocacy would have the following responsibilities:
Protect foster children.
Reform Child Protective Services to be more responsive to children in danger.
Make the adoption process easier and shorten the wait period to become a foster parent.
Eliminate student homelessness by ensuring that school districts are applying for federal dollars to aid homeless students under available McKinney–Vento funding.
Support and expand summer work programs.
Expand mental health services for students in West Virginia’s public schools.
Assist family members, grandparents, and great-grandparents raising children.
Increase support for special needs children.
Strengthen in-home services for children and their families.
Establish a hotline to assist anyone with questions about fostering or adoption.
Provide funding for the Foster voucher system.
Put a social worker in every school.
Provide 12-weeks of paid family leave for state employees welcoming the birth of a child, including adoptions and foster children.
Instead of creating an Intermediate Appellate Court, Ben Salango would add circuit court judges who will focus solely on abuse and neglect proceedings.
The Department of Childhood Advocacy will also lead child placement issues, and will ensure that each child is placed in a home that best meets their individual needs.
Ben will work to expand childcare options across West Virginia to help single parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents raising children, and families of special needs children.
EQUALITY FIRST
As a lawyer for over twenty years, Ben Salango has fought for justice and held the powerful accountable. He’s fought and won discrimination cases on behalf of West Virginians.
As governor, Ben Salango will make equality a priority and will:
Make West Virginia a state welcoming to all people.
Work with community and minority leaders to root out discrimination. in state government.
Increase accountability and transparency.
Protect West Virginians from all forms of discrimination.
Increase education and public awareness to prevent discrimination and hate.
COVID-19
Now is not the time to point fingers; it’s about putting West Virginia first. It’s time for new leadership that will rebuild West Virginia after the coronavirus subsides.
As governor, I will always listen to the medical experts and our frontline workers and not special interest groups.
Here is my plan:
Increase Testing in WV
–We need to significantly ramp up testing to keep people safe and responsibly reopen our state and keep it open.
–Increase the capacity to do all our own testing and contracting with West Virginia companies.
–Keep the state lab open 24/7 to speed up results.
–Increase testing in every county across the state.
–Increased testing and communication in the minority communities that are being disproportionately affected by the virus.
PPE Production
–Implement a PPE manufacturing tax break to attract jobs and make PPE products in WV.
–Build a state stockpile of PPE so we aren’t caught flat-footed again.
–Make sure West Virginia’s frontline workers have access to PPE.
Spend Every Penny of Federal Relief In West Virginia
— WV received $1.25 billion in federal relief funding. WV companies and workers are given priority for relief funds.
— Build the capacity so that every test is processed in state.
— Develop a plan with legislators, county commissioners, and mayors to use relief funds wisely.
Support Workers
–Upgrade the system at Workforce WV to speed up the processing of unemployment claims.
–Reform workplace safety standards to combat COVID-19.
–Set up a system at Workforce WV to return calls.
–90-Day grace period for utilities and mortgage payments.
–Expedited processing of federal relief money.
–12 weeks of paid family leave.
–Free childcare for first responders and frontline workers.
Support Small Businesses
–Establish a small business emergency fund. Help the business left behind by Washington to stay afloat with bridge loans.
–Implement a micro-loan program (similar to the UKAN program) to help existing businesses re-open their doors.
–Put in place incentives for any new telework job moving to West Virginia.
–Provide business coaches, free of charge, to any West Virginia businesses that need help navigating available resources.
Access to Healthcare
–Protect rural hospitals from closing. See our rural hospital rescue plan here.
–Increase telemedicine options for all West Virginians.
–Build small format hospitals in rural areas with 25 beds.
–Testing of daycare workers, front line employees and nursing home residents.
Transparency
— All federal and state relief money administered will be displayed in real time on a public website.
–Listen to the medical professionals.
–Establish emergency relief fund for future emergencies.
–Maintain the COVID-19 response task force with regular updates.
First Responders
–Give Hero Pay to all first responders. Including, firefighters, police, EMTS, 911 dispatchers, sheriff’s deputies, sanitation workers, janitors, and everyone on the front lines.
–Hero Grant funding for volunteer fire departments to spend on supplies fighting the pandemic.
–Establish a death benefit for the family of any frontline worker lost due to COVID-19.
–Recruit first responders across West Virginia.
COVID-19 RESPONSE
What would Ben do differently?
Put public safety above politics. Ben Salango wouldn’t fire the state’s chief health officer in the middle of a pandemic, leaving West Virginia exposed. Unlike Justice, he would work with local communities on a coordinated response. Ben would always follow the science and never put poll numbers ahead of public health.
Take the Crisis Seriously on Day One. Jim Justice was encouraging people to eat at Bob Evans and refused to call for a statewide mask mandate long after we all knew this virus was a serious threat to West Virginia. Jim Justice is only showing up to work three days a week. This is a global pandemic that demands a full-time governor.
Federal Relief Money. Ben Salango called for Jim Justice to spend the $1.25 billion in federal CARES Act money immediately to help save small businesses, keep people working, provide HERO pay for first responders, and prepare our schools for the fall. Instead, Jim Justice has sat on the federal relief dollars and used it as a political slush fund. That money should have been spent quickly and strategically to help the people of West Virginia.
A Salango Administration Would Have Been Prepared. As governor, Ben Salango would have had a PPE stockpile for our frontline first responders. He would have prepared our state to deal with this crisis by coming up with a statewide testing plan and adding more staff to Workforce West Virginia to speed up unemployment claims. While Salango was calling for the state lab to be open 24/7 to process more tests, at the same time Governor Justice had no clue as to whether he had power to order the state lab to stay open.
Local Control. For Jim Justice this pandemic is all about getting votes to help his campaign. Early on in this pandemic, when local leaders had more control, West Virginia had the lowest rates of infection in the nation. Ben would empower local leaders to make local decisions about school re-entry and sports participation. Justice took total control and politicized the state’s COVID-19 Response.
Listen to the Experts. Jim Justice fired West Virginia’s chief medical officer in the middle of this pandemic. He’s made six changes to his color-coded system and ignored concerns from the Harvard Global Model. Justice didn’t listen to experts when it was time to put in place a mask order. Jim Justice is more interested in politics than he is with fighting
Increase Transparency. Jim Justice has manipulated the COVID-19 data for political purposes. If Ben Salango were governor, there would be greater transparency and accurate reporting so that we could better fight the spread of the coronavirus. Jim Justice refused to call in the legislature for a special session and decided he knows what’s best for local communities.
Expand Broadband. Ben Salango would have started using CARES Act funds to expand broadband access across West Virginia, which would have helped students and small businesses. Under the failed leadership of Jim Justice, West Virginia has seen the biggest drop in the nation in internet speed during COVID-19. As usual, Jim Justice was late to the game.
Support Small Businesses. While Jim Justice sat on the CARES Act money, Ben Salango would have pushed money out to save small businesses immediately. Salango would have created a small business emergency fund and implemented a micro-loan program (similar to the UKAN program) to help existing businesses reopen their doors. Salango has called for putting in place incentives for new telework jobs to move to West Virginia and for providing business coaches, free of charge, to any West Virginia businesses that need help navigating available resources.
Public Service, Not Self-Service. Justice is holding weddings and major fundraisers at The Greenbrier with thousands of out-of-state guests. Jim Justice has done everything he can to help pad his businesses’ bottom lines. He’s not looking out for West Virginia; he’s only looking out for himself.
Safe Return to School. Parents, students, and educators need predictability, consistency, and structure. Jim Justice has failed to provide any of that. Justice had since March to prepare West Virginia schools for a safe reopening and he wasted all summer playing politics. You can read Ben’s full plan for safe schools here. Salango wanted to make sure every school had the resources to keep teachers, service personnel, and students safe.
HERO Pay. As County Commissioner, Ben Salango provided HERO pay for frontline workers. Jim Justice promised he would do the same but most of West Virginia’s first responders haven’t seen a dime. Ben Salango will be a governor who keeps his word.
