All my adult life, I have studied either government or practiced law in Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties. I have championed the causes of the working men and women living in these mountains. Today I seek the office of Delegate to the 46th District, which consists of eastern Greenbrier and southern Pocahontas counties.
I believe in democracy, our Constitution, and the right of all men and women to pursue their happiness as they define it.
My goal, should I be elected, is to help make West Virginia become the great State it can be, by making it a place where people want to live and raise their families.
My plan is to lay out a platform worthy of a great state; form a coalition of decent, freedom loving citizens of differing political affiliations, who want solutions not slogans, and offer a vision of West Virginia that we can be proud of.
To do this, I stand for the following:
Make our Communities strong: Our governments, at whatever level or size they may be, must have the resources and the authority to meet the challenges they face.
This means: funding our police: We must be protected by professional, competent, well trained and well equipped law enforcement. We must be able to walk our streets and live in our homes with security. We must be able to respect those who protect us.
Have a safe and modern infrastructure. Whether we are talking sidewalks, broadband, water, sewer, or roads, we must not only maintain what we have, but plan and build for the future. We must preserve our environment. We must plan for life after coal.
EDUCATION: We cannot be satisfied with mediocrity. Our public schools must strive for excellence. Our young people must be given the opportunities to make them able to compete in the modern global world. To be the best, we must hire the best. This means offering competitive salaries to get teachers who will inspire our young people. We must get good teachers and allow them the freedom to teach.
This also means we must support the less fortunate. We must fund our foster parents, our social workers and meet the needs of the elderly. The problems of DHHR are not going to be solved by cutting it in two.
Preserve our heritage: To make our communities be attractive, we must preserve our architectural heritage; promote the arts and sciences; be places with parks, libraries and trails; places that inspire the soul to appreciate the wonder of a West Virginia life.
REFORM OUR BANKS: Instead of processing paper and checks, our banks should be returned to the day when they invested in the growth of the communities.
I will fight the opposition parties’ plan to attract businesses by allowing corporations to maim, disfigure and kill their workers.
Promote business and trade schools. Our people are not familiar with modern business practices. We need schools that teach the skills of modern commerce.
I believe that West Virginians are a great people. But we can do better. We cannot have a legislature that is satisfied only with a balanced budget, when we have so many needs that still are not addressed.
I want to advance humanity, return West Virginia to the right side of history, while maintaining a practical, common sense government.
I ask my fellow citizens to consider voting for me, Paul Detch to be your Delegate in the 46th District.
Paul S. Detch
Democratic Candidate
House of Delegates, 46th District
