Jim Justice Story Archives - Page 97 of 101 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Justice Takes Democratic Gubernatorial Nomination

Ending the night with around 50 percent of the vote, Greenbrier Resort owner Jim Justice was the clear winner for the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor after Tuesday’s primaries.

Jim Justice giving an interview after winning Tuesday’s primary.

The billionaire thanked his family and his fellow candidates, former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, but quickly shifted his focus to the general election and his new opponent, Republican Senate President Bill Cole during his victory speech.

“There is a big contrast between me and a governor that’s a politician,” Justice told the few hundred supporters who gathered in the Greenbrier ballroom.

“If you elect another politician to the head of the line, to the biggest office in our state, this is going to be terribly blunt, but you and I will die 50th.”

Cole—who has always separated himself from other politicians at the statehouse by casting himself as a businessman, not a lawmaker—anticipated the attack earlier in the evening.

“I’m not a career politician, I’m a one-term state senator who happened to move up to senate presidency for the past two years,” he said in an interview after his primary win.

“I think I’ve proven that I can lead and I can deliver from a government standpoint, but one term. I’m up or out. I’m either Governor Cole or I’m citizen Cole, so no one will ever accuse me of being a career politician.”

But it was more than just Cole who Justice attacked Tuesday night. He went after the Republican-controlled Legislature as a whole, criticizing them for not being able to pass a budget when they have a majority in both chambers.

Jim Justice takes the stage to give his victory speech Tuesday at The Greenbrier.

Justice made it clear, his message heading into the general election will focus on Cole’s ties to a “dysfunctional Legislature.”

“Bill Cole and the Republicans and what they’ve done in their tenure, in recent times, a lot of people that aren’t happy and a lot of people that have been hurt and so those people will stand up with a real voice,” he said.

Justice committed to campaigning with down ticket candidates to help ensure Democrats retake control of both the House and Senate chambers.

What he won’t do though, campaign with the likely presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket, Hillary Clinton.

“I am not interested in what’s going on on the presidential scene today at all,” he said, “and there is no chance in the world that I will back anybody for president that is not supportive of our state, not supportive of our energy sector and not supportive of our coal miners.”

That is where Justice diverges from his major supporters.

Senator Joe Manchin, former Governor Gaston Caperton, as well as many other organizations and unions across the state who back Justice are also backing Clinton.

Both Manchin and Caperton have endorsed the former Secretary of State, and Manchin said he sees no contradiction in his support for both candidates, but Justice is clear, among his many campaign platforms, he’s sticking with coal.

“I am not going to go out and endorse anyone that is really not willing to go out and stand for us today,” Justice said.

With a big win for Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders in West Virginia Tuesday, separating himself from Clinton may be a way to pick up voters who are considering crossing the aisle and casting a ballot for Republican Donald Trump.

A Republican until he decided to run for governor, Justice’s outsider message and straight forward campaign platforms may pull the same support the state will likely give Trump in the fall.

Wyoming Co. Jury Says Coal Activity Did Not Damage Well Water

A jury has ruled in favor of a coal company in Wyoming County Circuit Court. The verdict came in Thursday afternoon after only a few hours of deliberations.

Fifteen families accused Dynamic Energy, a subsidiary of Mechel Bluestone Inc., of contaminating their water supplies. The trial began in April.

The families said that Mechel Bluestone violated the West Virginia Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act and damaged several wells along Cedar Creek Rd. in Clear Fork.

Water testing presented by the plaintiffs showed high levels of arsenic, aluminum, lead, iron and other pollutants.

Representatives of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection testified that there was no correlation between a nearby surface mine and the wells.

Mechel Bluestone Inc. is owned by front runner for state Governor, Jim Justice. Justice sold the mine to a Russian Company in 2009 but bought it back last year.

The company responded to the verdict in an email. Chief Operating Officer for
Justice Management Services with Bluestone Industires, Inc Tom Lusk said,

“I want to thank the Jury, our attorneys, and the people from Wyoming County for seeing through this attempt by Plaintiff’s Attorneys to extort money from an already struggling industry.
Fortunately, the facts meant more to this Jury, of Wyoming County Residents, than distortions and absurd attempts to allege that Mining harmed these water wells. Thankfully, this frivolous lawsuit did not end in more harm to our good West Virginia coal miners and their families.”

David Barney, an attorney for the families who filed from Cedar Creek, said they will appeal.

Jury to Decide Contaminated Wells Case Against Coal Company

A jury in West Virginia will decide whether a coal company owned by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice contaminated the drinking water wells of residents in Wyoming County.

Local media outlets report the jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Thursday in the case against Justice-controlled companies Dynamic Energy Inc. and Mechel Bluestone Inc.

Fifteen families who live near Dynamic Energy’s surface mining complex at Coal Mountain say the operation contaminated their wells to the point that the water is no longer safe to drink.

If the jury rules in their favor, the families could seek a court order to force the companies to provide long-term treatment to clean up their wells.

During the trial, Billy Shelton, a lawyer for Dynamic Energy and Mechel Bluestone, told jurors the residents had no case.

Trump, Sanders, Justice Showing Leads in Recent Poll

A recent poll shows Donald Trump has a commanding lead in the republican primary and Bernie Sanders is edging out Hillary Clinton in the democratic race in West Virginia. Democrat Jim Justice is showing a lead in the primary and general election race for West Virginia governor.

According to a Tuesday news release from Public Policy Polling, billionaire Trump leads the state with 61 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz has 22 percent and Ohio Governor John Kasich is trailing with 14 percent.

“It’s hard to find better Trump territory than West Virginia,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, in the release. “He’s by far and away the strongest candidate both among Republican voters and among the general electorate. It will be hard to find many places where he has an overall positive favorability rating but West Virginia is one of them.”

Sanders is favored with 45 percent over Clinton’s 37 percent. Both Sanders and Clinton have made recent campaign stops in West Virginia. Sanders’ campaign announced Tuesday he will return to the state later this week ahead of the May 10 primary.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and billionaire businessman Jim Justice is showing leads in both the primary and general election, according to a recent poll.

Businessman Jim Justice is leading with 37 percent of the primary vote over current former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodin’s 23 percent and state Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler’s 19 percent in the democratic primary.

Justice also leads unopposed republican candidate Bill Cole 41-35 for the general election, according to the poll.

“West Virginia gets tougher and tougher for Democrats when it comes to federal races,” said Debnam. “But in Jim Justice, Democrats have found a candidate who looks like he might be strong enough to at least keep the Governor’s office in their hands.”

Public Policy Polling says they surveyed 1,201 West Virginia voters, including 637 likely Democratic primary voters and 549 likely Republican primary voters between April 29 and May 1.

The polling organization says the margin of error is +/-2.8% overall, +/-3.9% for the Democrats and +/- 4.2% for the Republicans.

Eighty percent of participants, selected through a list-based sample, responded via the phone, while 20percent of respondents who did not have landlines conducted the survey over the internet through an opt-in internet panel.

Editor’s Note: For more election coverage leading up to West Virginia’s May 10 primary, visit elections.wvpublic.org.

West Virginia Billionaire Spends $2 Million for Governor Primary

In his bid for governor, West Virginia billionaire businessman Jim Justice has spent more than $2 million before the May 10 Democratic primary.

In campaign finance filings tracking through April 24, Justice spent $2.1 million since his campaign started. He put almost $2 million of his money in the race and has raised $683,700.

Ex-U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin has spent $302,100 and raised $367,600 in the race.

The third Democratic candidate, Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, didn’t immediately report fundraising numbers. Through late March, Kessler spent $140,500 and raised $213,800.

Reports are due by the end of Friday.

The winner faces Republican Senate President Bill Cole in November.

Cole’s latest report wasn’t yet available. Through late March, he spent $467,300 and raised $1.1 million.

All four are running TV ads.

Candidates for Governor Take on Marijuana at Charleston Debate

At their second televised forum in three days, two of the three Democratic candidates for Governor continued their push to convince the voters of West Virginia to cast ballots in their favor during the upcoming primary election.

The WCHS-TV gubernatorial debate featured only two of the three Democrats running for Governor, Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler and former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin.

Front runner Jim Justice was in Beckley Monday evening discussing education reform with members of the public at a campaign roundtable.

The hour-long debate focused heavily on budgetary issues, the state’s substance abuse epidemic and the need to improve infrastructure, including both West Virginia’s roadways and broadband access.

The two candidates showed similar resolve to finding solutions to those problems.

It was a question about legalizing marijuana that had the two on opposite sides of the fence.

Kessler said he believes legalizing medical marijuana to aid in the treatment of serious diseases like cancer should be considered in West Virginia, but he referred to a bill that would have allowed the sale of alcohol at 10 a.m. on Sunday mornings as a sign that the Legislature would not move on such an issue.

The brunch bill, as it was commonly referred to, was approved by lawmakers, but now includes a county referendum to allow for such sales.

“I think we need to decriminalize some of the particularly marijuana offenses,” Kessler said. “There are way too many people that have got a criminal record that can no longer work.”

“These folks are now permanently under or unemployable because they have some, because they smoked pot or got caught with an ounce of pot when they were 21-years-old.”

As U.S. Attorney, Goodwin spent a good deal of his time prosecuting drug-related crimes and was less sure about legalizing the drug.

“People don’t understand that the marijuana of today has 10 times the THC content of the marijuana of the late ’60s, early ’70s,” Goodwin said, “but here is the problem I have ultimately is, every time we have arrested a druggy, they have said they went through marijuana.

“Is that because it is crossing that bright line of illegality, or is it because that it is a true gateway, that’s the difficulty I have.”

All three candidates — Goodwin, Kessler and Justice — will face off in the May 10 primary. The last day to register to vote is Tuesday, April 19.

In a statement to WCHS-TV, Jim Justice’s campaign said it would be impossible for him to participate in every debate held by every media outlet in the state.