The best health care, education and fastest growing economy are 2012 gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Jeffrey Kessler, D-2nd District, goals for 2020. Thursday, Kessler greeted and discussed a variety of topics with members of the local community during a public reception sponsored by The Inter-Mountain's Service to the Community Program.
Kessler explained to The Inter-Mountain that he thinks West Virginia's economy is poised for a better future than other states and foresees the Mountain State as one of the fastest growing in the country during the next 10 years. Last quarter year, the Rockefeller Institute ranked West Virginia's economy as the fastest growing in the nation.
"We need to do that on a sustained basis, there's no reason why we can't do that quarter in quarter out, year in and year out," Kessler said. "There's no reason why we can't be the North Carolina of the '70s or the Virginia of the '80s."
Significant natural resources will help the state continue to grow, even if Cap and Trade becomes law, Kessler explained. There will continue to be a market for the resources, especially as the nation comes out of the recession, he added.
"I think the keys to our development are basically three fold," Kessler commented. "It's going to education, No. 1, energy and the environment, we need to focus on all three."
With 70 percent of the state's budget going toward education, Kessler would like to see the system get more of a "bang for our buck." Kessler explained that a business could not waste 70 percent of its capital and "survive," which is basically what West Virginia has done.
Kessler believes that the Legislature needs to give more flexibility for year-round schooling. Students should be attending class between 180 to 200 days each year, he noted. In order to compete in a global economy, children need more education, not less, he said.
"We've lost two generations of our young people," Kessler said. "We've not fostered policies that keep our young people in the state."
Kessler does think the Promise Scholarship has accomplished its goals. He noted recent data that showed approximately 60 percent of college students who were awarded the scholarship remain in West Virginia.
In the next decade West Virginia will lose half of its educators and health care professionals, and lawmakers need to ensure the education system that students are being trained for the opportunities that will exist, he explained.
"There's no reason why we can't be focusing and giving incentives to our colleges and universities and even our community colleges to train and focus our workforce for those jobs," Kessler said. "Without keeping our youth we don't have a chance."
Kessler explained that community colleges and trade skills should be made available to those who do not have plans to obtain a four-year degree. In the Northern Panhandle, a community college trained individuals how to become table game dealers.
"Those are the type of things you can give intensive, hands on training," he added.
Broadband capabilities should also be increased in more rural areas because geographical boundaries are broken when people are able to work from home for businesses across the globe, Kessler explained.
The candidate would like to see the state set goals for not only a year, but for many years into the future.
"We have excellent opportunities in this state ... to do and accomplish things and be bigger than we've ever dreamed," Kessler commented. "I want West Virginia by 2020 to have the best education system, fastest growing economy and be the healthiest state in the Union. People say you can't do that, I don't believe that."
West Virginia was once ranked as the worst state to practice medicine, he explained. Now, with help from the medical malpractice reform, which Kessler helped write, West Virginia is now ranked the 9th best places to practice medicine, he said.
"We have to be willing to change, we need to be willing to think outside the box and to make sure our policies we're enacting are accomplishing their intended goals," Kessler commented.
Although many prominent names are being discussed as possible gubernatorial candidates in 2012, Kessler thinks he has the proven track record to confirm he is the best candidate for the job.
Kessler was a sponsor of the Economic Development Grant Committee and tax increment financing legislation, which led to the Cabellas project in the Northern Panhandle and other statewide projects. He was an author of the legislation creating the new family court system and domestic relations reform, including shared parenting. He helped draft West Virginia's medical malpractice law and 2003 workers' compensation reform legislation. In 2005, Kessler spearheaded the passage of election law reform which made West Virginia the first state to regulate 527 organizations, according to his Web site. He also served as the Senate chair of the Legislature's Special Investigative Committee on Mine Safety surrounding the Sago Mine disaster.
"I'm in it and I'm in it to win it," Kessler said.
