Boo! This is what should scare you
Sen. Joe Manchin’s legacy is settled
The Front Page
Afternoon Update
Sunday, October. 31
By Ken Tingley
Eight days before Thanksgiving, 1968, there was an early morning explosion at the Consol No. 9 coal mine in Farmington, West Virginia.
It was national news with 99 miners missing and a nation praying for their rescue.
Twenty-one were eventually recovered, but the fires raged for another week, and on the day after Thanksgiving, mine officials finally gave up hope that any of the remaining 78 would come out of the mine alive. They spent the next 10 years trying to recover the bodies.
One of those who did not return was Sen. Joe Manchin’s uncle, who was a union miner. Manchin was 21 when his uncle died and attending West Virginia University on a football scholarship.
The Farmington Mine disaster became a rallying cry for mine safety, but the plight of miners living in poverty and battling for a living wage continues to this day.
“Harlan County, USA” was a documentary film released in 1976. It chronicled the cause of striking minors in neighboring Kentucky. After watching the film recently, the poverty and living conditions were shocking. The violence and corruption of mine officials hoping to derail the strike were even worse. One young miner with a 16-year old wife and new baby was murdered during the strike.
I wondered if Sen. Joe Manchin ever saw the film. After all, it won an Academy Award.
I wondered if he had ever talked to his uncle about working in the mines before he died.
If he did either, his actions do not reflect it today.
Manchin eventually got into the coal business, then the politics business. It appears he made a lot of money in both careers.
Manchin founded the coal brokerage firm Enersystems in 1988 and ran it until he he became governor. At that point, he turned the company over to his son.
When he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010, Manchin’s financial disclosures showed income of $1.3 million from Enersystems in 2009. Once in the U.S. Senate, he was appointed to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Between 2011 and 2020, Manchin was paid more than $5 million in dividend income from the company. Manchin said his connection to the coal industry never affected his votes on policy.
That’s hard to believe because Manchin was a coal-company insider.
The centerpiece of the Democrats proposed plan to save the planet from the future calamity of climate change was a plan to reward energy producers for switching to renewable sources of power, but fined if they continued to rely on fossil fuels like coal.
It was not a tax, but an incentive to do the right thing.
Manchin, whose state depends so much on the coal industry, has gotten more funding from fossil fuel companies over the past two years than any other senator. It was no surprise that the measure was deleted to get Manchin’s vote.
I believe a strong case will be made that Sen. Manchin has put the human race in jeopardy. I do not think that is too dramatic. I believe that will be his legacy. At the very least, he has set us on a course where our children will face unimaginable hardship in their old age and our grandchildren will wonder why they were brought into this world.
For Manchin, it was a simple business decision that benefited him and his family. I hope he knows the ramifications on the human race.
Book News
I have two events coming up this week for “The Last American Editor.” I will be speaking at the Moreau Community Center on Thursday at 1 p.m. I will also be doing a book signing at Northshire Books in Saratoga Springs from 1 to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
I hope you can make it to one of the events.
Tweet of the Day
It was certainly encouraging to see a big-name state leader like New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli endorse my book with a tweet on Sunday, but it still left me a little wary.
Years ago when I was editor at The Post-Star in Glens Falls, I received a congratulatory letter from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer about a state award I received. I then wrote a column where I acknowledged my cynicism about the letter and wondered if this confirmed the rumors that Spitzer was running for governor.
A few days later, I answered the phone and Spitzer was on the other end.
He told me somewhat sarcastically that he was deeply offended that I interpreted his motives as anything less than sincere. I apologized, but of course, he eventually announced his candidacy for governor and won.
You nailed it Ken
A classic example of what is wrong with Capitalism, and I am not a socialist, but the $ rules in the USA. Manchin should be ashamed of himself, putting the entire planet in peril. Thanks for the info on the documentary, going to look for it right now. Great post.