The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Editorials

August 29, 2010

A little more fuel for the Greenbrier fire

The Register-Herald

BECKLEY — It was reported last week that since the Casino Club at The Greenbrier opened on July 2, the state has reaped $564,655 in revenue. And the resort’s director of casino operations, Todd Fishon, says he expects the revenue to keep growing.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Republicans in the House of Delegates, the same ones who blocked $1 million in state grant money designed to help promote and advertise the resort and the state during the recent PGA Greenbrier Classic, gladly accepted that $564,655 into the state treasury.

It’s one thing to keep a watchful eye on how tax dollars are spent. It’s quite another to confuse “government giveaways and corporate welfare,” as House Republican leaders termed it, with investment.

And that’s what this $1 million grant would have been — an investment the state would have recouped many times over in a relatively short amount of time.

In just over a year, Jim Justice, owner of The Greenbrier, spent millions of dollars of his own money to keep the famed resort from likely closing — saving hundreds of jobs, putting scores of others to work, revitalizing a region that was in despair and bringing in a world-class sporting event that was global in both participation and exposure.

Just think about it for a moment. He prevented hundreds of unemployment claims and likely kept many, many people from having to turn to Medicaid and food stamps.

And in the process, he helped generate loads of new tax revenue from both inside and outside the gates of the resort and instilled a new sense of pride among all West Virginians.

But yet, a handful of legislators either refused or didn’t have the vision to look at the big picture. And there is no justification for it, despite their attempts to do so.

They need to open their eyes and realize that money is not designed to flow one way.

They also need to realize that investment opportunities like this only come around so often — about as often as a 59 on the golf course.

The only difference is, the House Republicans’ scorecard was filled with bogeys instead of birdies, and it’s time they own up and admit their errant ways rather than blowing political wind.

Text Only
Editorials
  • Thumbs — Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012

    February 11, 2012

  • Drug screening

    When it comes to coal mine safety issues, representatives of the United Mine Workers often are leading the way.

    February 10, 2012

  • This is why

    Operation of Fayette schools
    won’t return to local control  
    until there is some consensus

    February 9, 2012

  • MSU

    Mountain State University is at a critical crossroads and southern West Virginians need to step up and show their support for the school and its hundreds of students and employees.

    February 8, 2012

  • MSU

    Community needs to show its support for our university

    February 8, 2012

  • If you don’t think so, you’d better think again

    EPA regulations turning the screw on coal industry

    February 7, 2012

  • Airport projects crucial

    Tom Cochran and others at the Raleigh County Memorial Airport can breathe a little easier, or at least take a deep breath and exhale, after word came from Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s office last week that a deal has been struck between the two chambers in Congress to authorize long-term funding, into 2015, for the Federal Aviation Administration.

    February 5, 2012

  • Thumbs — Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012

    February 4, 2012

  • It’s not a choice

    Whether a bill to eliminate tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike when the current bonds expire some eight years from now is passed by the Legislature and signed into law or not, one thing is absolutely certain — the state Transportation Department has the responsibility to maintain that 88-mile stretch of Interstate highway.

    February 3, 2012

  • On the shelf

    A Senate bill (SB168) offered by 13 of the upper chamber’s members that would have given counties the option to boost the pay of county commissioners, sheriffs, county and circuit clerks, assessors and prosecuting attorneys by at least $10,000 each has apparently been shelved and will do nothing but draw dust this legislative session.

    February 2, 2012