The ongoing battle in West Virginia between teachers and the state legislature has turned sour.
The teachers and public service personnel strike moved into its second day on Friday. Public schools are closed in all 55 counties. Senate President Mitch Carmichael (R) left the Senate floor this morning to greet the thousands of protesters gathered in and out of the state capital building. As soon as he appeared, Carmichael was greeted with a loud throng of boos, lasting several minutes.
The boos quickly turned to chants of “We will! Vote you out!”
Rather than continue facing the people of West Virginia, Carmichael turned tail and retreated back to the safety of the Republican super-majority inside the Senate Chambers.
Moments afterwards he spoke to the press. He had less than flattering words for the gathered masses, calling them “disgusting and sad” (emphasis mine):
“I went out to meet with our friends and colleagues in the education community to see if they wanted to discuss the benefits structure, enhancements and so forth that we provided. And, as you saw and will be widely reported, I didn’t get a chance. They just shouted down, shouted demeaning remarks and so forth. And, even so, we’re going to do the right thing. Because we respect our teachers and we want to provide them a great benefit structure. Now, their behavior is disappointing but again we want to do the right thing and take the high ground…”
“I have an open door. I will meet with them. I will continue to try to explain and hear their concerns. But when you just act like that, it’s pretty disgusting and sad. But again, we’re elected to do the right thing. We’ll continue to take the high road and be ladies and gentlemen as we do so.”“They can choose how they want to react.”
Across the capital, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) appears to be having some trouble of his own. He made headlines yesterday when he called the strike and work stoppage illegal and unlawful and seemed to be asking for anyone willing to bring the issue to his desk so that he could take action:
“Our office is prepared to support any relevant state agency or board with legal remedies they may choose to pursue to uphold the law. We also stand ready to assist and support any county board of education or county superintendent to enforce the law.”
But rather than taking action on Friday, Morrissey was instead seen barricading himself in his office:
Stay tuned, this is an ongoing story.