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Is West Virginia seeing a new Jim Justice?

Last week I observed two separate press conferences by Gov. Jim Justice and came away pleasantly surprised.

The statehouse press pool usually goes into these press events expecting to see the same patterns. There is usually a hype video that is usually thick on the Justice praise and thin on any actual information. Often the topic for the press conference is overshadowed by some tangent Justice goes off on.

Also, Justice will attack the press. Sometimes he gets specific, such as attacks on The Charleston Gazette-Mail and some of its reporters and writers. For a period of time my friend and apartment neighbor Rafe Godfrey was singled out by Justice for an op-ed he wrote in his capacity as a copy editor for The Gazette-Mail.

Even our own News and Sentinel was skewered in one of Justice’s WWE-style videos for daring to say our leaders should be cautious about early tax revenue numbers. The only thing missing was a metal chair smacked across my face.

I feel like Justice was trying to emulate President Donald Trump, who has largely become Teflon-coated. He can say whatever he wants about Democrats, critics and the press, and is immune and unaffected by criticisms directed his way. That might sort of work on the national stage, but I’ve never felt those tactics work on the statewide stage.

Thanks to technology and social media you can get your message out and around the press, who can fact-check or report different angles and the points-of-view of critics. That works pretty well for the president, and it even works for some governors, but it all comes down to audience. More people are paying attention to the president and depending on your population your governor might have a decent-sized population who pays attention.

But this is West Virginia, a state where more people prefer to open a newspaper or watch the 6 p.m. evening news. They’re not watching a video live-stream. You’re not seeing the governor take a stab at The Gazette-Mail. Even if you were, you’re likely in a part of the state where the Gazette-Mail isn’t widely read. People are not seeing the spin the Justice administration is trying to convey.

And I think they’ve noticed.

Again, the two press conferences last week were very good signs. Justice stayed on topic and was professional. As a result, I imagine most of the stories written last week focused on the topics at hand — grant funding for economic and infrastructure projects, growth at the former Hobet mine site with the West Virginia National Guard expanding and a new business partnership, and the Zayo fiber line that will be built across the state.

Even when taking some hard questions from the press, Justice stayed calm and answered the questions in a measured and professional way. Almost as if he was a governor or something.

Don’t get me wrong, Justice is still as folksy as ever. I wouldn’t expect that to go away, and it shouldn’t. It’s what makes Justice Justice, and why people voted for him.

And it doesn’t mean the press is about to go soft on Justice. Projects like Zayo are great, but I also remember a frozen food factory that was supposed to go in Parkersburg. I remember the cracker plant that former Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin kept saying was coming to the Mid-Ohio Valley. Former Senate President Bill Cole promised during his Republican campaign for governor in 2016 that Kanawha County was getting an ammunition plant. It turned out he was shooting blanks. We’re still seeing if the Justice-negotiated deal with China will pan out or not.

It’s our job to ask tough questions and hold leaders accountable. But when you’re shown some respect and professionalism, you usually show those things right back. Justice might be showing some new colors in his relations with the press.

Now, if I could just get his communications director to return a phone call now and then.

Babysteps.

(Adams is the state government reporter for Ogden Newspapers. He can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)

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