Manchin will brag about past achievements of his administration and the state as well as downplay poor indicators and national rankings.
Plans to further improve the state should be laid before the people and legislators in words, proposed legislation and the budget for the current 60-day regular session.
To provide momentum for his upcoming election, tonight the governor will again tout the insurance reforms and workers' compensation reform of 2005.
What is different this year is that he must come to terms with the reality that those reforms were made under different legislative leaders than he faces this evening.
Many of these legislators fought against insurance reforms, requiring regular arm-twisted visits to the governor's office for encouragement.
Manchin needs to recall the attitude of the backbenchers of 2005-2006. He seems to have forgotten that, when he actively campaigned to place these legislators in power. Apparently, voting against eliminating the food tax was his ticket for support.
They voted for privatizing workers' compensation when they were not in power, but they sure are stirring up trouble now. There should be no doubt that Manchin will ask legislators to step back and give the privatization time to work. He wants to be able to brag about success for the upcoming election. Legislators should back off, period, because the state needs this to work for the long haul to prosperity.
Mine safety propelled Manchin into the national spotlight, and we will likely hear about that issue. Critics wonder why so many died in the mines last year if they are now safer.
How will Manchin word the fiscal responsibility he must brag about with respect to unfunded liabilities?
Paying more than $1 billion toward the teachers' retirement fund was initiated and done by the now-retired House Speaker Bob Kiss. This recent achievement of cutting retirees' health benefit liabilities in half is nothing to brag about, please.
Manchin has plans for bullies in the classroom. Legislators could relate stories to the governor about how it feels to be bullied, a tactic to which they have become increasingly immune. It is ironic that Manchin's legislative success rate has declined significantly since he helped put this new group of House members in charge.
What will Manchin say about WVU? Will he follow through on his promise to eliminate the pop tax? The WVU medical school is the beneficiary of this income, which Manchin promised national beverage executives and CEOs he would eliminate.
Specifics regarding teachers' pay raises should be outlined within the proposed budget. What, other than infrastructure, will be funded by surpluses? There has been no commitment to eliminate the businesssquelching, business franchise tax, and what happened to phasing out the food tax? The first of two installments of the $44 million OxyContin settlement from the U.S. attorney general should be allocated in the budget. It was intended for the State Police. Will it go to fund regional jails, drug rehabilitation and prevention programs, or fund the State Police aircraft that will fly the governor around as he mixes governing with campaigning this election year?
The election is already in full swing. Tonight there is a voting booth waiting in Morgantown for Republicans to cast their votes in the first phase of the state GOP convention to nominate the president.
CINDY FRICH is a former, two-term, Republican member of the state's House of Delegates. She can be reached via e-mail at opinion@dominionpost.com.