ICYMI: Ben Salango Slams Gov. Jim Justice on Roads With New Ad As Local Elected Official Says Justice Has Abandoned West Virginians

County Commissioner Tom Bloom: “We’ve asked for the governor to come up, but we can’t find him… It just feels like we’re the bastard child.”

West Virginia Democratic candidate Ben Salango slammed Gov. Jim Justice’s failure to fix the state’s crumbling infrastructure yesterday with a new ad and a campaign stop in Monongalia County.

Salango’s new ad, titled “Roads,” contrasts the recently paved street leading into the Justice-owned Greenbrier Hotel with the collapsing roads in the rest of the state. Justice made sure the roads near his luxury resort were nice, and used taxpayer dollars to boost his family business. Salango says, “Too bad the roads where the rest of us live and work are a disgrace.” 

Hard-working West Virginians have had to live with some of the worst infrastructure in the country, something Monongalia County residents know all too well. At his campaign stop there, Salango discussed the issues with the roads and the lack of state spending in the region.

Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom agreed with Salango’s assertion that Justice had left many West Virginians behind, adding Justice never visits the county and makes them feel like a “bastard child.”

Read more about Salango’s new ad and visit to Monongalia County below.

WV Metro News: Salango goes after Justice on roads with ad, Monongalia County stop

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Salango released a new advertisement Monday morning criticizing Gov. Jim Justice and the state’s efforts to repair roads in West Virginia.

Hours later, Salango was in Monongalia County to look at road conditions and listen to voters.

Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom, himself a Democrat, invited the Kanawha County Commissioner to the area to discuss the roads and issues with the Roads to Prosperity bond program.

“We’ve asked for the governor to come up, but we can’t find him,” Bloom said. “He doesn’t come up here. It just feels like we’re the bastard child.”

The advertisement attacks Justice for the condition of roads across West Virginia, comparing the road outside of the Greenbrier resort — which the Justice family owns — to dilapidated roadways in other parts of the state.

“This road is nice, and the governor made sure that our tax dollars boosted his business,” Salango says, citing a ProPublica article detailing the conflicts of interest with Justice’s government responsibilities and his businesses.

“Too bad the roads where the rest of us live and work are a disgrace.”

Salango and Bloom said Justice has not kept promises to improve roads in the Northern Panhandle and left residents’ questions unanswered.

“$2.8 billion of Roads to Prosperity money. None of it is being spent in Mon County,” Salango said. “None of it really being spent in north central West Virginia, and it’s time for that to change.”

Salango spoke to reporters while standing alongside Greenbag Road outside of the Morgantown city limits as cars and trucks rattled over the street’s potholes.

“There were promises made of where that money would go, and the promises weren’t kept. That money is not getting out and helping the people who need it most,” Salango said.

“If you’re taking a CEO from the airport to a prospective job site and you’re dodging potholes and dodging road slips on the way, it kills business,” he added. “We’re going in the wrong direction. We have to focus on our infrastructure.”

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