RGA Launches New Website And Digital Ad In West Virginia Governor’s Race

July 22, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. – RGA Right Direction PAC, an organization supported by the Republican Governors Association (RGA) today launched a new website and digital ad exposing West Virginia Democrat Ben Salango’s liberal, hypocritical record.

The website, MeetBenSalango.com, highlights Salango’s support for higher taxes and increased government spending even as he opposed critical health department funding and educational opportunities for West Virginia kids. A county commissioner and trial lawyer, Salango has done nothing to distance himself from extreme policies like the job-killing Green New Deal and the dangerous “defund the police” movement embraced by his fellow Democrats.

The website also hosts a new digital ad exposing Salango’s blatant hypocrisy in criticizing the state’s readiness for the COVID-19 pandemic when, as a Kanawha County Commissioner, he opposed a health department funding request for pandemic preparedness in 2019:

The Washington Free Beacon reported last week:

In his role as Kanawha County commissioner, Salango rejected a budget request from his county health department that would have bolstered funding for an emergency, including the potential outbreak of a flu-like illness. Kanawha-Charleston Health Department officials asked for $160,000 from Salango’s committee—the same amount they received for three consecutive fiscal years—in February 2019. Salango was one of three commissioners to vote down the request, which department chairman Dr. Arthur Rubin said would help “pay for unforeseen emergencies … like H1N1.” Salango was skeptical of the request.

“Liberal trial lawyer Ben Salango wants to raise taxes and grow the size of government while failing West Virginians on critical issues like healthcare and education. By blowing smoke to try and distract from his failure to help Kanawha County prepare for a pandemic, Ben Salango has already failed the test of leadership in this time of crisis,” said RGA Communications Director Amelia Chassé Alcivar. “The more voters learn about Ben Salango, the clearer it becomes that he’s a tax-and-spend liberal who is completely out-of-touch with West Virginia values.”