The final price tag on Secretary of State Mac Warner's political firings was revealed last week and it is staggering. The political stunt will cost the state $3.2 million, or "108.2 "Loughry couches" if you are counting at home" as the Charleston Gazette puts it.

Our government’s job really boils down to one thing. Keeping us safe. They’re supposed to provide roads that help us safely get from place to place. They’re supposed to provide a legal system to keep us safe from injustice. They’re supposed to maintain military and police services to keep us safe from those who would wish to do us harm. Almost every government function ties back into safety one way or another.

When they’re funded, schools can thrive. And when schools thrive, students can have a bright future. But when funding is taken from public schools and into private pockets, which is what the education funding overhaul bill would do, we hurt the kids we’ve promised to protect. We need to take care of our kids and make sure the money WV taxpayers invest in our schools stays in our schools.

West Virginians continue to see that we cannot count on help from Washington DC to make it through these challenging times.

Real loyalty to family values means protecting kids from being hurt or exploited.  But DHHR Deputy Secretary Jeremiah Samples and his supporters in the legislature want to exploit kids in our foster care system by handing over their care to a out-of-state corporation. 

It's appaling to hear that Sissonville High will likely be closed for two weeks because… “an old electrical panel has gone bad, knocking out heating, lights and other things.” This seems to be a common happening; our crumbling schools are making it harder all the time for dedicated teachers to do their jobs. And what suffers? Our children’s education!

Phil Kabler of the Charleston Gazette-Mail recently reported that West Virginia legislative floor sessions in the House of Delegates have averaged 26 minutes a day thus far in 2019. Keep in mind, West Virginia legislative sessions only last 60 days a year, so nearly 1/4 of the 2019 legislative session has already been wasted.

West Virginians are strong, but we shouldn’t have to deal with slow poisoning by chemicals in our drinking water. One in every six West Virginian's lives were disrupted when Freedom Industries’ MCHM leaked into their drinking water. Cancers and deformities were proven in court to be the result of C-8 chemical dumping in Parkersburg. This should be a pretty easy way for our leaders to prove their loyalty to their constituents.

The government shutdown has been a reminder about how West Virginians face crisis by banding together to take care of each other and their communities. Take the government employees in Martinsburg who’ve spent their days volunteering for Meals on Wheels, while not getting paychecks to feed their own families. Or the farmer from Mason County who’s paying out of her pocket to deliver food to low-income seniors, even though her husband is furloughed and the funding for her delivery program has been frozen.

It's bad enough that thousands of West Virginians are not getting paid for their work because of the federal government shutdown.