Glen Gainer for Congress - In the general election, McKinley defeated Gainer by a roughly two-to-one
This was the official website for Glen Gainer's bid for the United States House of Representatives in West Virginia's 1st congressional district. The content is from the site's 2014 archived pages. Glen Gainer won the Democratic primary with 63% of the vote, defeating Mark Anthony Manchin. In the general election, Republican incumbent David McKinley defeated Gainer by a roughly two-to-one margin.
My parents who live in Parkersburg, the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia is is part of the 1st congressional district were following this 2014 race very intently. They were visiting me in New York City the day after the election. My father was particularly upset over the Republican candidates inattention to some very important regulatory issues, especially concerning issues regarding the environment and health care. Even some common sense issues like regulations that ensure the safe disposal of medical and biologic waste created by hospitals and research centers. Removing these kinds of ethical disposal services from oversight was a disaster that he, as a medical researcher, was keenly aware of. I realize that heated discussions about political topics is not the most comfortable conversations, but my dad has the best interests of us all at heart. My father has come to grips with Glen Gainer's defeat, but he hopes he will run again.
MEET GLEN GAINER
For West Virginia's 1st Congressional District
As West Virginia's State Auditor, I've served as the state's fiscal watchdog. I brought Republicans and Democrats together to find common-sense solutions to cut wasteful spending, protect our tax dollars, and create the right environment for businesses to create jobs. Now I'm running for Congress to bring some West Virginia common-sense and values to Washington
-Glen Gainer
Glen has served as West Virginia's Auditor since 1992. His focus on common-sense, bipartisan solutions saved West Virginia families hundreds of millions in tax dollars and upgraded the state's bond rating during tough economic times. He introduced a direct deposit payroll system that reduced costs and saved money; created accountability measures and training programs to ensure bills were paid on time; and cracked down on waste, fraud, and abuse in government programs to make sure tax dollars were spent wisely.
Glen was born and raised in West Virginia and he graduated from the University of Charleston. He and his wife Susan live in Parkersburg and have two sons. Glen is an avid hunter, firearm owner, and proud member of the NRA.
In Congress, Glen will fight for middle class families by working to create new jobs, reduce the deficit, protect Medicare and Social Security, and stand up for West Virginia's coal economy.
West Virginia deserves better than our current leadership in Washington. The last four years have seen Congress devolve to a state of perpetual bickering and laziness when it comes to getting work done on behalf of our citizens. Time and time again, my opponent has been part of the problem as opposed to advancing solutions. If elected to Congress I pledge to always put progress before politics. Let's stop looking at things in terms of Republican ideas or Democratic ideas, but focus on West Virginia ideas and get back to the business of helping our state move forward. To me, thats just common sense and if given the chance that's the approach I will take every day in Congress. Thank you for your support!
JOBS
This election needs to be a serious discussion about jobs and what can be done to help our WV businesses grow while also bringing new companies and industry to the state.
Growing up here and working my way through college sweeping factory floors, one major lesson I learned is that West Virginians have a work ethic which is unparalleled and when given the opportunity to work, we can accomplish anything.
Congress needs to end their partisan bickering and pass a comprehensive jobs bill that benefits both businesses and workers alike. Shutting the government down and creating one false debt crisis after another may make for great headlines but it hurts our standing around the world and it threatens our bond and credit rating.
U.S. corporations and manufacturers can compete with anyone if only given an equal playing field. Foreign manufactures must be held to the same product safety standards that we hold U.S. companies. That's just common sense.
Additionally, we need to change the tax code to quit rewarding companies that move jobs overseas - or who move their headquarters to foreign countries to avoid paying their fair share of U.S. taxes. The unfortunate result of billion dollar corporations that take advantage of this inversion is that the tax burden gets shifted downward. Smaller, locally owned companies and their employees end up suffering as a result.
Finally, no jobs bill would be worthy of its name that doesn't guarantee a living wage for all workers and pay equity for women in the workplace. It's beyond time that we take action to increase the minimum wage in our country and promise equal pay for an equal days work.
EDUCATION
As the son of a teacher I know very well the challenges faced by today's educators and schools. Today's teachers have more paper work, testing, curriculum and regulatory requirements to keep up with than ever before. While many of these mandates are well intentioned the end result is that educators have less and less time to do the one thing that they're supposed to do teach our children.
We need to free up teachers and schools from over burdensome and sometimes redundant reporting requirements so they can spend more time with students and less time filling out paperwork. There needs to be greater flexibility in the education system than simply blindly following a one size fits all mandate from Washington.
Along with greater flexibility we need a multi-year pay package that lifts our teachers to the regional average in teacher pay. We can't expect to attract and retain the best and the brightest teachers for our schools if we don't pay them competitively.
ENERGY
Our nation needs a comprehensive energy plan that invests in domestic energy sources to decrease our reliance on foreign oil and increases our prosperity here at home. As a state rich in abundant natural resources West Virginia stands to benefit greatly from such a policy.
Coal has been the backbone of our economy for years and to this day 95% of the energy we use here in West Virginia is produced by coal. We must fight to put an end to this administrations war on coal. However, let's not kid ourselves, the coal industry is under attack not just from an overreaching EPA but also from increased competition with other energy sources such as wind, solar, and natural gas. Instead of constantly picking fights with the coal industry, government should be partnering with them to find new and more efficient ways of utilizing this resource. Government needs to get out of the business of picking winners and losers and get back to the business of creating an energy plan that makes best use of ALL our natural resources. This means unwavering support for coal and for our emerging natural gas industry.
We need to make the necessary investments in infrastructure so that we can capitalize on West Virginia's abundant natural gas resources. The development of a single ethane cracker plant will mean thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of revenue for our state will lessening the nation's reliance on foreign energy sources.
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY
When I was first elected Auditor I recognized that one of the ways to make the office more accountable we had to do two things. First, as stewards of the taxpayer's dollars we had a responsibility to make the office work as efficiently as possible. And second we needed to make sure the people's business was done in the most transparent way possible. Towards those ends we implemented a system of electronic payments that does away with paper checks and invoices saving the state millions of dollars a year. Next, we put every payment - including the salaries of state employees on-line so that people can see how there money is being spent.
Washington needs to what I have always tried to, borrowing best practices from the private sector to make government work more efficiently and to more transparently. Not only will this save money but it will also increase the confidence level of people in their government.
TAXES
We need a common sense tax system that recognizes the importance of the middle class in this country. Without a strong middle class markets for the goods American companies make and sell will evaporate as will the jobs that those companies presently provide.
For too long now the special interests have controlled this process carving out exceptions, credits and cuts for billionaires at the expense of the middle class. We need to rectify those inequities so that working families are treated more fairly and equitably under our tax code.
We need to fix our broken tax system. Too many times our current tax law acts an incentive for American businesses to move their operations to other countries. Every time a major corporation takes advantage of this tax inversion, the loss in revenue has to be made up elsewhere. That means less incentives to help smaller, locally and family owned business which create jobs right here at home and which are the backbone of our communities.
