West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice was full of energy and good spirits Thursday when he came to the state Capitol to address lawmakers and others for his State of the State remarks, two weeks after he had to postpone the address because of a positive COVID-19 test.
In a packed House floor surrounded by many unmasked people, Justice joked that he’s been known to be late.
“Whether at times I was 15 minutes late or 20 minutes late or sometimes even later than that, I’ve never really been 15 days late,” the 70-year-old Republican governor said to a room full of laughter.
Justice’s in-person State of the State address was postponed from earlier this month when he was diagnosed with the virus. After Justice announced Jan. 11 that he had become ill, a House clerk read his speech to lawmakers the next day.
On Thursday, Justice sat wearing suit and tie on a stool behind a lectern and spoke informally and without a teleprompter, as he usually does when giving speeches. He looked only sporadically at a three-ring binder with bullet-pointed notes in it for talking points.
“I speak in a common language ... I’m talking to you just like if we were sitting in your house and I was talking to you,” he said. “I’m not talking down to anybody — I don’t believe in it.”
The Republican governor’s hour-plus speech was mixed with praise for his administration’s economic accomplishments, criticism of President Joe Biden’s policies, a list of previously announced initiatives including pay raises for state employees, and proposals for new ones.
Among those are a plan to pay $1,500 to many unemployed residents who return to work and remain on the job for eight weeks.
“We’ve got some way to get them back because they’re sitting on a porch somewhere right now, a lot of them that are absolutely willing and able,” he said. “And we need them back.”
Justice also wants to fully cover the cost of college classes for current high school students and make computer coding and programming classes mandatory in middle and high school.
“We need to encourage more and more and more of our students to continue on with their education,” he said.
Justice said the state needs to enhance penalties for teachers and other school employees who abuse children.
He said the state needs a new laboratory for its medical examiner’s office, state police and other offices — something that could be paid for with American Rescue Plan Act money.
Justice referenced the ongoing pandemic multiple times during his speech, and said when he tested positive he “couldn’t believe what happened.” He said he’s grateful that his wife and other people close to him did not test positive.
“We’ve got to live with it, don’t we?” he said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to live with it until the really smart people figure it out and it leaves us forever.”
He held a moment of silence for the nearly 5,700 virus-related deaths in West Virginia since the start of the pandemic.
“It’s been two years and the pandemic has been tough,” he said. “It’s been really, really bad — that’s just all there is to it.”
Still, Justice said it “could have been a lot worse,” especially given that the state’s population is older and there are a high percentage of people with chronic health conditions.
“This could have absolutely wiped us out,” he said.
“I’m nowhere close to smart enough to have made the decisions that we’ve made — there’s no way,” he continued. “I promise you and I’ve said this a billion times over: God above has helped us... if you don’t believe that, then you are really, really misguided.”
He ended the speech holding his English bulldog named Babydog up on the lectern with him to applause from the crowd.
“They told every bad joke in the world about us,” the governor said, according to The Charleston Gazette-Mail. “So from that standpoint, Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out there, kiss her hiney.”
Not everyone was impressed — by the dog or the speech.
Mike Pushkin, a Democratic House of Delegates member from Kanawha County, tweeted a photo of Justice and Babydog.
“Nice speech from @WVGovernor but we’ve got 7000 kids in foster care due to an out of control drug crisis and he didn’t even pay lip service to either issue,” Pushkin said on Twitter.
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