News Releases

News Briefs

• News briefs and updates on events, legislation and public policy as developments occur. See News Briefs.

Photo Albums

• The West Virginia Roundtable conducted a quarterly membership meeting in Shepherdstown June 13-14, 2002 to discuss economic development issues and initiatives. See Photos.

Columns & Articles

• The Case for Alternative Methods of Selecting Judges
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  I respond to West Virginia Court of Appeals Chief Justice Larry Starcher’s recently published comments about his preference for using competitive elections to choose judges rather than some form of merit selection.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• Governance of West Virginia’s Workers’ Compensation Division Key to System’s Survival
  State Journal Op-Ed
  The enactment of West Virginia’s Workers’ Compensation system in 1913 established a no-fault insurance program in which employees exchanged some of their common-law rights to sue employers for damages resulting from work-related injuries or diseases in return for related benefit payments by the employer-funded system.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• Public Policy Issues
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  A number of significant events have occurred recently in Charleston that are interrelated and symptomatic of broader state and national public policy issues.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• Ken Ward
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  Ken Ward, in his September 26 article about asbestos litigation, provided a perfect example of the type of biased reporting the Gazette is often, and I believe fairly, accused of printing.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• State Supreme Court's Action Hurts Economic Development Opportunity
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  The judicial system has many times been identified as a significant economic development obstacle in West Virginia, and the recent case of Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation v. Public Service Commission of West Virginia is certainly no exception. In this commentary, Roundtable President and CEO Dana E. Waldo points to yet another example of how the state's highest Court has exceeded its constitutional boundaries. The end result, Waldo writes, is a new barrier to economic progress in West Virginia. In this case, ACT asked the Court to rule on a very narrow issue involving exempt wholesale generators, or EWGs. In short, the Public Service Commission had given the OK for the construction of an electric generating facility in Wayne County without any participation by ACT in proceedings leading up to the approval. The Court not only concluded that the legal issues had no technical merit, but went several steps further into redefining a "public utility" and imposed new statutory duties upon the Public Service Commission to regulate EWGs as public utilities. This decision, Waldo writes, is detrimental to economic development opportunities previously identified by EWGs.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• McGraw's elected position does not make him immune to ethical standards
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  This is a follow-up commentary on West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Warren R. McGraw and his decision not to disquality himself from participating in a proceeding involving his brother, West Virginia Attorney General Darrell V. McGraw. Roundtable President and CEO Dana Waldo writes that by failing to disqualify himself, Justice McGraw "...placed himself above the bounds of the Court's own Code of Judicial Conduct..." Waldo writes that guidelines set forth in the Code, as well as well-established precedents in West Virginia, clearly call upon reasonability to avoid even the appearance of impropriety in our court system. Instead, by declining to step aside in the matter because he is a publicly elected member of the Supreme Court, McGraw's action questions why a Code of Judicial Conduct has been established if judges are exempt from its provisions. This commentary appeared in statewide media the week of February 25, 2002.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• An appeal to the integrity of Justice Warren R. McGraw
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  This commentary focuses on the state Supreme Court of Appeals case in which Justice Warren R. McGraw will preside over court proceedings directly involving his brother, Attorney General Darrell V. McGraw. Waldo writes that research demonstrates that economic growth and prosperity are linked to the basic ethical precept that "...[J]udges will, by their actions, maintain and enhance the public's confidence in the integrity and imparticality of our judicial system." The commentary, which appeared in the Feb. 1 edition of the Charleston Daily Mail, points to the Public Service Commission of West Virginia motion asking Justice McGraw to disqualify himself from the case where Attorney General McGraw has asked the court to order the transfer of some 200 lawyers and $10 million in annual appropriations from executive agencies to his own office. Waldo's op-ed piece, which also points to legal precedents regarding such circumstances, urges Justice McGraw "to do what is right and proper" and disqualify himself from the case.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• Statewide associations unite on January 9 to support state's economic development plan
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  The West Virginia Roundtable was one of 16 statewide business and economic development associations to come together on January 9 to show unified support for A Vision Shared, the state's economic development plan. These 16 associations came together to ask for the swift and aggressive implementation of the most comprehensive economic development plan to date for West Virginia. Waldo writes that A Vision Shared provides a roadmap for a brighter future for our state, and that teamwork will be required of the state's policy-makers, economic development stakeholders and citizens to implement the plan and work toward a better West Virginia.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• Vision Shared plan means progress for West Virginians
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  While the West Virginia: A Vision Shared! economic plan continues to gather momentum and support statewide, former gubernatorial candidate Jim Lees inquired in a Nov. 1 op-ed article in the Charleston Gazette as to what the overall plan is for economic development in West Virginia. This column, written by Roundtable President and CEO Dana E. Waldo, points directly to the Vision Shared plan. Even though Lees offered development rules he believes should be the basis of economic development in West Virginia, Waldo writes that the Vision Shared plan goes far beyond these proposed rules to help make the State more economically competitive. He also emphasizes that, since this comprehensive plan is in place, the time for implementation and action of the plan must begin immediately. The plan, developed by the West Virginia Council for Community and Economic Development, was co-sponsored by the Roundtable.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• West Virginia's best days are ahead if...
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  Former Governor Gaston Caperton recently made several valid points about the state's economic future in his remarks at the Business and Industrial Development Corporation's annual meeting. Governor Caperton stated his belief that West Virginia's best days are ahead. We applaud that belief and whole-heartedly support it.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)
• The time for a better West Virginia is now
  By Dana E. Waldo, President and CEO, West Virginia Roundtable
  There is a very interesting book on the market today entitled What If. The authors of What If are military historians who speculate about how the course of history might have changed if the outcomes of significant battles like Gettysburg and D-day were reversed.
  Read more. (Microsoft Word .doc)

Thumbs Up!

• United Bankshares, based in Parkersburg, is ranked #483 in the Forbes 500 Rankings Assets Category, with over $4.9 billion in assets. United was the lone West Virginia-based company to appear in the prestigious rankings this year and last year (#467).
• Since January 2000, West Virginia has attracted 11 new electric generating plants, all of which are expected to be completed within the next three years. The plants represent an investment of $3 billion.
• The new Verizon Carrier Account Team Center, located in downtown Huntington, has created 100 new high-tech jobs. Verizon has created 450 new jobs in West Virginia over the course of the past two years.