The Logan County native is an expert on the finances and mechanics of state government, as he demonstrated in finding a solution to the huge unfunded liability for state worker retirement benefits. That ability to find a solution and build a consensus is critical, and often the difference between having a good idea and making it happen.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In the May 8 primary election, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has only an unknown challenger for the Democratic nomination, so he will win easily. Tomblin doesn't need any newspaper's endorsement -- but we want to give him ours, anyway.
CHARLESTON (AP) — West Virginia's congressional delegation joined Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Wednesday in bashing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over a plan to limit heat-trapping pollution from new power plants, calling it a job-killer for the state and its coal industry.
Tomblin said the new law makes West Virginia a national leader for tackling its OPEB unfunded liability. At least three-fourths of the states continue the pay-as-you-go approach toward these debts that preceded the 2004 accounting standard, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - With the West Virginia Legislature two-thirds of the way through its 2012 session, a pair of early and major successes has helped propel Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's 16-item agenda.
But Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and members of the Legislature, along with their predecessors during the past two decades, deserve enormous praise. At a time when officials in many states continued to built up multi-billion-dollar debts, West Virginia's leaders were paying ours down.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Calling on legislators to help build a "better, stronger and more vibrant West Virginia," Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's second State of the State address emphasized efforts to grow jobs, improve public education and mine safety, deal with statewide drug abuse issues, and to pay down the state's multi-billion-dollar long-term liability for health care for retired state and public school employees.
CHARLESTON - All things job-related will top Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's State of the State address next week, as well as education initiatives and mine safety legislation.
Today, West Virginia's food tax will drop from 3 percent to 2 percent, putting much-needed money back into the pockets of Mountain Staters.
Earl Ray Tomblin has added to his broad base of support, with more business and labor groups backing him plus endorsements from the state’s two largest newspapers. A total of four newspapers now have endorsed Tomblin: The Charleston Gazette, the Huntington Herald-Dispatch, the Fairmont Times-West Virginian and the Morgantown Dominion Post.
At the Annual Media Appreciation Breakfast of the Bluefield Coal Show, West Virginia Coal Association Chairman Gary White today announced the Association's endorsement of acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin in the Oct. 4 special election for governor.
White said the decision by the Association’s Executive Committee is in recognition of Tomblin's lifetime of service to the people of West Virginia and his proven record of fiscal responsibility and leadership while serving as president of the Senate.
Tomblin thus proposes to build reserves while reducing taxes.
The food tax tops any list of taxes to eliminate.
His plan sounds fiscally prudent.
Surely legislators from both parties will feel comfortable supporting it.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's office unveiled a new plan Tuesday to completely eliminate the food tax while also allowing the state to stash away more money in coming years and cope with rising medical costs.
Across the country, states have had to cut services and benefits and increase taxes to pay the bills. California, once the envy of the country because of its thriving economy, is mired in a fiscal crisis.
Yet, amid the tumult, stands West Virginia. Our beloved Mountain State is holding its own as government financial peril spins at ever increasing speeds around us.
State officials are always under assault from pecial interests who want politicians to spend every nickel they get. Standing up to that pressure is the hardest thing in the world for office-seekers to do, but they've done it.
As state Senate president under several governors, including Bob Wise and now-Sen. Joe Manchin, acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin was essential to this effort, which serves all West Virginians.
As acting governor, Tomblin has pursued several of Manchin's priorities, with financially prudent leadership chief among them. And concern for West Virginia families has been on his mind; it was Tomblin's idea to shave another penny off the sales tax on food this year.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The National Rifle Association has endorsed Democratic acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's bid for governor.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have raised Department of Motor Vehicles fees by $43 million a year.
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