Joe Manchin

Trivia

• In 2000, West Virginia voters elected Manchin their next secretary of state by a large margin.
• He ran again for governor in 2004, and this time won the primary and then pulled an impressive number of votes in the election.
• A moderate Democrat, Manchin sought to balance the interests of the state's business community with those of citizens who favored increased spending on essential services such as health and education.
• For more than a century West Virginia's economy had been heavily dependent on coal mining, and the state was the number-two producer of the energy source in the country.
• However, it was also among the bottom three nationwide in per-capita income.
• The site of violent labor-union clashes earlier in the twentieth century, West Virginia's coal-mining communities remained closely linked to the corporations which owned the majority of the state's 544 active mines.
• Manchin was sworn in as governor on January 17, 2005.
• One of his first acts was to meet with both chambers of the state legislature in a special session to overhaul the state's workers' compensation system. Because of the unusually high number of occupational health risks associated with coal mining,
• West Virginia's agency that investigated claims of job injury and provided benefits to permanently disabled workers was overextended, and required some repair.
• Later that year Manchin clashed with one of the state's most powerful corporate executives, Don Blankenship, who filed suit against Manchin in July.

Quotes

• “It's an honor to be the first governor to be named an honorary local chapter president of the Official NASCAR Members Club, ... I'll take that honor and carry it proudly. I'd also like to challenge the other governors across the country to become involved. NASCAR is such a great family sport and the Members Club is an outstanding way for NASCAR fans to connect.”
• “They told us they have 12 alive.”
• “About the confusion, I can't tell you of anything more heart-wrenching than I've ever gone through in my life. Nothing.”
• “I know firsthand how agonizing waiting can be.”
• “We know it's going to happen again, a flood or a natural disaster, ... People need a place to call home for a period of time.”
• “In the life of this wonderful Capitol, this is the first time that it was done right, ... It was done exactly the way it was supposed to be done.”
• “I'm a proud graduate of the Richard Petty Driving Experience, ... They wouldn't let me go any faster than 140 mph and I didn't particularly like that, but what a thrill to be able to participate in something like that.”
• “I would never abdicate, nor would I expect any other governor to abdicate, the responsibility to protect the people of my state.”
• “Twenty-one percent of West Virginians are not connected to water, 45 percent are not connected to sewer. I cannot live with those statistics, I want them reduced and then wiped out completely.”
• “I have frozen the state sales tax on gasoline.”