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Abernathy Strategies
RepublicanGazette
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 "When news breaks, we fix it" Published daily except some days
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All opinions are those of The Republican Gazette and its editor, Gary Abernathy, except letters or commentary signed by others, and do not reflect the views of anyone else, including clients of Abernathy Strategies.
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McGraw, Lewis say no to debates
Among all candidates for Supreme Court, Attorney General and Secretary of State, only AG candidates Darrell McGraw (incumbent Democrat) and Hiram Lewis (Republican) have reportedly turned down the opportunity to participate in debates scheduled to be televised in April on public TV. Republican Dan Greear will apparently have debate time all to himself in regard to the AG race.Global warming? Never mind
A growing number of scientists have begun to agree that global temperatures have actually been decreasing over the past decade, and the Earth is undergoing a period of global cooling. The cooling is the result of natural weather forces offsetting carbon emissions.Jennifer Marohasy, a biologist and senior fellow of Melbourne-based think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, was interviewed on ABC Radio and was asked, “Is the Earth still warming?”She replied, “No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you’d expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years.” Marohasy added that "the head of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has actually acknowledged it." No acknowledgment yet from Al Gore or most of the mainstream media. 
Recently, a company known as AB and C Group which operated a call center and fulfillment business in Berkeley County terminated operations. This company was owned by a private equity firm operating out of Chicago. Prior to the summer of 2006, AB and C Group functioned mainly in Jefferson County and Frederick County, Virginia. Around July of 2006, the company decided to consolidate operations and set up shop in the old General Motors building in Berkeley County. About 400 jobs were going to be relocated to Martinsburg. In order to facilitate this move, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, in conjunction with the Berkeley County Development Authority and the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council, coordinated a 10 year loan for AB and C Group of nearly $4 million. Two million dollars was needed so that the state could buy equipment for AB and C Group and then lease it back to them due to our punishing inventory and equipment tax. Another roughly $2 million was needed to complete the relocation. Leading this corporate welfare effort was Governor Manchin. Despite all of this taxpayer money being pumped into the AB and C Group's operation, it folded up this month. Thus, not even two years after a generous loan from the taxpayers of West Virginia to do business in Berkeley County, AB and C Group closed. So, who is going to pay back this 10 year, nearly $4 million loan that wasn't even half way paid off? I hope something can be done to get that money back, but I have my doubts. West Virginia's track record of getting its money back from failed corporate welfare policies is likely not good. I'm willing to guess right now that the taxpayers are stuck footing the bill, though I will gladly be proven wrong. Even if the state can get its money back, let's examine the policy of the West Virginia Corporate Welfare Authority, which is more commonly known as the West Virginia Economic Development Authority. In Dr. Russell Sobel's book called "Unleashing Capitalism," he recommends abolishing the development authorities. His research points to an incident in Ohio County with Cabela's. It has been estimated that nearly $120 million in taxpayer dollars was awarded to Cabela's as incentives for investing in Ohio County. It was argued that the new Cabela's would create 1,200 jobs; however, it only created about half as many. Seven hundred jobs were created at a cost ranging between $50,000 to more than $170,000 of taxpayer money per job, depending on the estimate.
Of course, attracting 700 jobs is nothing to complain about, but it can be argued that spending more than $170,000 of taxpayer money per job to attract those jobs isn't in the best interest of our state. I'm sure every business in West Virginia would love to have that much money in order to help offset costs. I'm also sure some businesses are wondering why Cabela's got the money and they didn't. In the case of AB and C Group, the writing was on the wall. The company had down sized a few hundred jobs and was purchased by a private equity firm shortly before the move to Berkeley County. It was only a matter of time before the operation would cease. Of course, no private lending institution would have been so generous to AB and C, so why was the state of West Virginia? We may be job hungry in West Virginia, but we don't have to be stupid. Instead of using all of this taxpayer money in a corporate welfare scheme which produces little results at an extremely high price, let's take that tax money and provide broad based tax relief. Broad based tax relief isn't wasteful spending like the corporate welfare operations of the development authorities, and it also isn't a policy of favoritism. Broad based tax relief is fair to all businesses, not a selected few. The loss of these jobs is devastating to those families who have to put food on the table daily. I'm also sure that those employees enjoyed their jobs with AB and C Group; and I'm also sure that those employees want to start working somewhere with similar pay and benefits as soon as possible. Instead of West Virginia's government giving hand outs to big corporations, let's give hope and opportunity to those people by passing meaningful and productive tax relief. Doing so will attract more good paying jobs with companies that truly want to invest in West Virginia.*Delegate Walter Duke contributed with research for this column. AB&C closing another example of failed WV corporate welfare
Instead of the governor and the state playing favorites with loans that don't get paid back, why not put that money toward broad-based tax relief that is fair to every business and industry?
By Jonathan Miller, Delegate, 53rd Dist.
For Huggins, to know Xavier is not to love Xavier
When WVU plays Xavier on Thursday for the right to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA basketball tournament, Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins will be facing a foe with whom he is intimately familiar.During his days at Cincinnati, Huggins was forced to play Xavier 16 times in regular season matchups. It was not a series he was fond of. In fact, much like the WVU-Marshall football series that Gov. Joe Manchin forced upon the state, the Cincinnati-Xavier roundball series was similarly foisted upon an eager public by civic leaders who saw big bucks to be made from what came to be known as the "Crosstown Shootout."Only in recent years has Xavier risen to the ranks of basketball respectability. For most of their histories, Cincinnati was the premier college program in the Greater Cincinnati region, and Xavier was just the tiny Jesuit school unworthy of lacing a Bearcat's sneakers.But every year, Huggins was forced to prepare his Cincinnati team to do battle with its inferior neighbor in a game that often meant the whole season to Xavier but was an extreme inconvenience to Cincinnati. That Xavier actually won 9 of the 16 matchups during Huggins' tenure only served to make the sometimes sullen coach even grouchier.
When WVU played Marshall this season in their annual matchup, one couldn't help but sympathize with Huggins for being dragged into another Cincinnati-Xavier scenario, wherein the bigger, more prestigious school has little to gain and everything to lose in a manufactured game like this.On Thursday, if Xavier's coaches are smart, they'll remind their team that WVU is coached by a man who has historically held the Musketeers in low regard.(The Mountaineers versus the Musketeers -- what a matchup for 'Eers-loving fans).If Huggins is smart, he'll warn his Mountaineers that Xavier will be additionally motivated because of his personal history against that program.Should be a great ballgame. 