WHEELING - West Virginia Speaker of the House Richard Thompson believes the Legislature this year lacked the needed guidance of an elected and independent governor.
Thompson, a native of Wayne County, was among the legislative leaders at this year's session who are also seeking the Democratic nomination for governor on May 14.
Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, is serving as acting governor; and Sen. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, has assumed the roll of acting Senate president. Candidates Thompson, Tomblin and Kessler all could be seen leading the legislative chambers during the session.
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THOMPSON
"Obviously we were dealing in uncharted waters," Thompson said. "As speaker, my job was to stay out of the fray and get my job done as speaker. But I couldn't necessarily get some of those things done I wanted to accomplish because you needed that kind of independent push we needed this session. We didn't have a governor that was independent of legislative bodies.
"No disrespect to any of them, but what our constitution envisions is separate but co-equal branches of government," he added. "And whatever procedure was done ... we didn't have the complete separation that is so vital to West Virginia."
Such a governor is needed to bring the Legislature together, Thompson continued.
"We did not have that fully this year," he said. "A true statesman is a true statesman, and everybody there was trying to do the best job that they could. But I do think we were lacking that this session. West Virginia is better off with an elected governor."
Thompson noted that legislation pertaining to Other Post-Employment Benefits failed to pass this session, and he attributed this to a lack of independent leadership.
"The Senate passed a bill that had no funding source in it," Thompson said. "The House passed a bill fully funded that addressed the OPEB. Had that bill passed, it would have freed up over $200 million to every county school system to put right back into education."
As governor, Thompson said, he would have been pushing the House bill.
"It's frustrating we can't get things like that done," he said. "That was a bill that would have benefited West Virginians, put people to work, avoided layoffs within the county school systems and helped our children to have a better future.
"The governor has the ability to have a statewide message, get these things out and build to a consensus in leadership. As governor, I would have made that a part of this session, getting this issue addressed, and would have wanted it funded."
Legislation to regulate Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling in the state was also unsuccessful this year.
"Marcellus Shale is a very complex and different issue," Thompson said. "A lot of people are affected by it. The governor needs to get the parties together, work on specific legislation and have a special session to (address) this issue.
"It's too big, and too many people are affected by it to have it during the mix of the budget and all the other things we're dealing with during a session," he continued. "We need some real leadership to address it correctly. We want to do it right the first time when we do it."