I tried to amend the legislation, spoke against the idea and was the only legislator from the region to vote no. This year, the Legislature embarked upon a first installment of a multimillion dollar bail-out of interest payments that McCabe-Henley properties cannot meet. This company, co-owned by Sen. Brooks McCabe, developed and managed Stonewall Jackson Resort. The state has already granted between $15 million and $23 million to the project, and the federal government recently forgave them of about $15 million of debt. Now, the company cannot meet its interest payments, which are not obligations of the state. Naturally, the Legislature stepped up this year to hand McCabe-Henley properites $1 million of your money, and it is planning to grant them $2.5 million before next year passes. Not only did I speak against this use of state revenue, I was the only delegate from the district to vote against it.
The Legislature and go vernor thought another good use of your money was a $26,ooo-per-year pay raise for judges, along with the corresponding hefty pension increase. Again, I voted no, and despite the local delegation's support of this legislation, I requested a gubernatorial veto.
No money for pay raises for educators? Last year, we learned that a legislator handed out state education dollars at a political party function for non-education purposes. In another instance, we learn that federal No Child Left Behind monies were allocated by the state to a graveyard and Little League T-shirts. This information was revealed many months after questioning legislators, "What had they done with the money?" No money for Medicaid? The Wyoming County senior citizen's director was being paid $500,000 in salary and perks per year. I could go on.
Is this a shameful way to handle your hard-earned money?
In the chambers of the House of Delegates this February, my minority-party colleagues and I were berated for introducing legislation to phase out the food tax.
I ask you, is it moral to tax a human being's bare necessity, food, and waste it in these ways?
Cindy Frich
W.Va. House of Delegates, 44th