Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill giving $45 million in surplus tax dollars to Marshall University for its Institute for Cyber Security and the new facility being built in downtown Huntington to house it. The same week the Legislature voted to give Marshall the funding, demolition began on the location.

Much has been made of this given the fact that West Virginia University is trying to fill a $45 million hole with staff/faculty cuts and the elimination/shrinkage of various degree programs.

At one point, the three Democratic delegates representing the Morgantown area tried to amend the bill to also include $45 million for WVU, but House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, ruled the amendment was not germane to the bill. While it’s easy to get mad about that, there are a couple of things to keep in mind about a special legislative session called by the governor.

First, that the Legislature can only consider bills during a special session that a governor includes in the special session proclamation. Lawmakers often try to introduce new bills during a special session, but State Code and the Constitution pretty much tie the hands of lawmakers during a special session. And second, if a bill introduced by a governor during a special session is very specific, it’s near impossible to offer amendments to it.

The bill for Marshall University was so narrowly construed and specific, any amendment to offer something outside the parameters of the bill was going to be thrown out. Sure, lawmakers could have amended the bill to reduce or even increase the dollar amount for Marshall, but they would have never been able to amend in giving another university money.

The real question is why now? Why did Marshall need to have this funding now? Marshall’s Institute for Cyber Security didn’t just spring up out of nowhere. It’s a very established program. I’m friends with one of the professors in the program. If money was needed now in order to not jeopardize any agreements it has with the military or federal government, surely it was also needed five months ago during the regular legislative session, or surely it could have waited until next year’s regular session.

The day the bill was introduced, my wife — a Marshall alumnus — asked me whether a message was being sent to WVU. I’ve not heard one way or another about any tensions between WVU and Justice/legislative leaders. But judging by the bill-signing ceremony last week, it appears like Marshall is the belle of the ball.

Not that that is a bad thing. One complaint I keep hearing is about Marshall and Huntington people rubbing it in the faces of WVU/Morgantown people about receiving this funding. Nevermind the fact that WVU received $50 million from the Legislature from the surplus section in the back of the FY24 budget for the WVU Cancer Institute.

WVU never fails to remind everyone that it is the flag ship and the Land Grant school (your average person has no idea what that means, but WVU sure likes to remind us all the time), and that Marshall University is the little brother (no one at Marshall thinks of themselves as WVU’s sibling). WVU tends to get preferential treatment with governors and the Legislature. Heck, the WVU School of Medicine has its own funding stream via the pop tax.

Let Marshall gloat for now. Besides, it’s likely that Marshall and other similar institutions could end up in the same boat as WVU. Karma always comes around. Both schools should be reminded these surplus dollars are coming from West Virginia taxpayers and really neither school should be doing touchdown dances over that.

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I have to wonder whether the appointment by Gov. Justice of Stephanie Abraham, an attorney for the state Board of Education and the wife of Gov. Justice’s chief of staff Brian Abraham, came as a surprise to members of the Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission.

Abraham was on the list of 12 attorneys and former judges who applied for the open seat on the Kanawha County Circuit Court. But I’ve been told that the JVAC was still interviewing some of the 12 candidates and their references last Tuesday. Justice announced Abraham’s appointment the next day.

U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., is already using the appointment as fodder in the U.S. Senate Republican primary race with Justice, accusing Justice of appointing a liberal judge. The Mooney campaign email last Thursday included screengrabs of social media posts showing Abraham running in a race sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and a post in support of Fairness West Virginia, an LGBTQ advocacy organization.

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I see that Chris Rose, a former coal miner who attempted to jump into the GOP U.S. Senate battle between Mooney and Justice, has jumped out. Instead, he is now seeking the state Senate seat held by Senate Health Committee Chairman Mike Maroney, R-Marshall. Naturally, Rose says he is more conservative, which these days means he is more populist.

He was quickly endorsed by state Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha, who is one of three candidates seeking the Republican nomination for state Attorney General. Stuart is barely eight months into his first four-year term in the state Senate. If he loses the 2024 Republican primary for attorney general he will still have two years left in his term.

I am unsure of the political benefit of endorsing someone over a fellow incumbent Republican state senator and a member of leadership. And then spending two more years in the Senate. It just seems like a recipe for remaining on the back bench.