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I read today with some interest and more than a little concern about our Justin Marcum’s pride in the fact that West Virginia has a surplus of some $700 Million dollars in their accounts. Now that is an achievement but it comes at what cost? It proves to me and it should to you that the taxes levied against all of West Virginians is out of whack somewhere along the line. You should consider, as Mr. Marcum should know, that all of the taxes levied against companies ALWAYS ends up being paid by the consumers (that’s you and me).

You see Mr. Marcum like most Liberals see the State’s well being as the reason for their existence. This is exactly the reasoning of the Obama Administration in Washington. Their reasoning appears to say that as long as the State is Healthy, then the individual will be OK.

Well what about the individual in the State? I’m sure the hundreds of laid off workers in West Virginia would much rather have a job and an income for their families and in return West Virginia having a little less money in their coffers. I am also fairly certain that the money that is in the State accounts will not last in the long run if all of the Coal Industry and other private entrepreneurs find employment elsewhere.

West Virginia is rated last in many economic categories just as it is in many educational categories. It has been rated as the worst state for new business start ups, 50th in Real Estate Appreciation since 1980, according to CNBC it is 49th in their survey for Business Friendliness, 46 the in Child well being and is home to exactly ZERO of Fortune 500 Companies.

Recently the Wall Street Journal rated West Virginia as the “worst place to live in the United States. Now, those of us who live here will readily disagree; however Mr. Marcum is making statements using statistics, I feel only justified in bringing out other statistics to the contrary.

I love West Virginia, always have. I am proud to call myself a Mountaineer. I graduated from the State’s high school, and from Marshall University. I did not feel compelled to get my education from an out of state institution. I love West Virginians more however and will hold the Government to a higher standard than Mr. Marcum. Just money in the bank does not constitute a healthy West Virginia.

Mr. Marcum also cites the bill cutting taxes to new business coming into the state which I believe proves my point. When a tax has to be lowered to encourage companies from out of state to come into the state it does two things: Points out the imbalance and unfairmess of the tax and also it points out the uncaring and unfeeling attitude of those in government who are not willing to give the same breaks to those loyal West Virginians already providing jobs, who have kept jobs here in the state and are suffering these unfair tax burdens.

Of course, I am a candidate opposing Mr. Marcum in the upcoming election in the fall. You should be aware of that and you should also consider carefully who will stand for *you* when matters of your well being are considered. And you should know that even though we rank consistently lowest in many categories, we do rank #1 in installing Obamacare into our state.

Who would you rather see having $700 million dollars in their bank account, The State or all of your neighbors? I vote with the neighbors. You decide for yourselves.

— Mike Baisden

Republican Candidate for the House of Delegates