This is the second in an occasional series looking at West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, who is running for Joe Manchin’s Senate seat.

Here’s something most non-Mountaineers don’t know about West Virginia:  we have a place where groundbreaking research is being done, the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University. And here’s another surprising fact:  the RNI is working on a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, and published some very encouraging results in January.

And this breakthrough is now going to be studied in people have eating disorders and veterans with PTSD, 2 groups which have a large impact on healthcare for West Virginians. And you can tell how popular this research is because the bill to add an additional $2 million to the RNI unanimously passed the WV House and Senate. And them Justice vetoed it.

At this point you are no doubt wondering why. Well, the governor said:

While I wholeheartedly support our hospitals and medical centers and the advancement of vital medical care for the citizens of West Virginia, these two appropriations direct the grant of large sums of money with little context or direction for the use of such funding. The language of the bill is ambiguous as to the Legislature’s intent and just what types of research may be funded from this appropriation, and no context or background has been provided to date to my Office regarding this appropriation. I believe it is imperative that we take a prudent approach and address important outstanding questions regarding the State’s budget for the next fiscal year before making discretionary supplementary appropriations such as this.

Here’s why this is such an insulting and petty veto.

First, the research is vetted to the point that FDA has approved the technology being used to treat new disorders. That’s a pretty solid recommendation to move forward, and the next phase begins in April. Second, 60 Minutes just did a story on the RNI and this breakthrough research in January. Am I supposed to believe that Justice’s staff didn’t bother to watch and share this important medical news that came out of West Virginia? Because that would be a major fail for a Senate candidate.

Justice has floated the idea that the bill could be brought back to him during the special session that will be needed to finalize the state’s budget, but there’s no way the governor who gave his alma mater $10 million of Covid money to build a baseball stadium but vetoed this research supplement belongs in any taxpayer-supported job.

I’ll let Split Enz sing me out: