If you didn't make it to the candidate forum Thursday
evening, you missed a really interesting evening. Candidates for the Senate
seat from District 1 and the House seats from District 1 and 2 were invited to
share their feelings on issues affecting WV children. Those attending included
State Senator Fitzsimmons, District 2 Delegate Diserio, District 3 Delegate
Ferns who is now a candidate for WV State Senate, Ryan Weld who is a candidate
for the WV House of Representatives District 2, and Mark Zatezalo also a
candidate for the WV House of Representatives District 1. Due to another
commitment, Pat McGeehan, candidate for the WV House of Representatives
District 1 sent a representative to read his comments. Each candidate was
allowed to respond to several questions prepared by the Our Children, Our
Future coalition.
We also heard from Aerica West, VISTA volunteer serving at
the Weirton Christian Center about the trythiswv.com website to promote a
healthier WV and the community garden project that was started this summer.
The audience was given time to discuss 20 policy issues
affecting children in our state. Those attending will be give a chance to help
select those issues that they feel should be a priority for Our Children, Our
Future to work on this year. The issues considered included:
- Reducing Unfair Barriers to Employment of People with Criminal Records
- Buy American
- Domestic Violence Unemployment Compensation
- Earned Sick Days
- Erin’s Law: Curbing Child Sexual Abuse
- Foster Kid’s Bill of Rights
- Family Support Programs: Protect and Provide their Secure Funding Stream
- In-Home Family Education
- Juvenile Justice Reform
- Medicaid Mental Health Therapy
- Ramp It Up: A Healthy Foods Initiative
- Removing Barriers to Better Health for WV Families
- STOP Meth Labs
- Substance Abuse Funding
- Supporting West Virginia Farmer’s Market Growth
- Tobacco Tax
- Voluntary Employee Retirement Accounts
- Worker-Owned Cooperatives
- Workforce Development
- Workplace Bullying
We would like to thank everyone who attended this event, particularly
the candidates for taking time out of their busy schedules. Hearing each
candidate's response to these questions gave a clearer perspective of their
viewpoints and some insight into who they are as people and candidates.
