Joe Manchin may be smaller and more corrupt than we even realized
"The New York Times has done a deep dive on how Sen. Joe Manchin got rich off of the coal business, and in a nutshell: Holy crap, is Joe Manchin corrupt.
"If you pay attention to Manchin, you might know that he gets around $500,000 a year in income from his own personal coal company. Maybe you know that Manchin’s coal company has one customer to which it provides waste coal—coal that burns extra dirty—that customer being the only power plant left in West Virginia burning the waste coal at an expensive loss. But it gets worse."
"The Times investigation reveals that, in 1987, when Manchin was a state senator, he started helping the Grant Town power plant get up and running just outside his district. In 1988, while he was helping the power plant with the permits it needed, he set up his own business to provide that power plant with waste coal—garbage of bituminous, or gob. In 1989, the power plant got its permits and became the one customer of Manchin’s waste coal business."
"To get the permits for the Grant Town power plant, Manchin got a state official to persuade Monongahela Power, also called Mon Power, to agree to limit emissions from one of its nearby power plants. That answered a concern from the Environmental Protection Agency that the two plants so close together could have produced excessive levels of sulfur dioxide. The official who helped Manchin with that told the Times he didn’t know Manchin had a financial stake in the Grant Town plant getting its permit, and “it would have bothered me.”
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Yep - it was on the Daily, the NYT podcast. Greed is a powerful drive.
Wendy91604
Level 3
Mar 30, 2022
0
Someone from W.Va. involved in the coal industry.......... I'm amazed!
Alienbeing
Level 8
Mar 30, 2022
1
A politician using their political influence in order to line their own pockets in an unethical manner .........I am Not Amazed at all.
@SnowyOwl I'm not sure what he did ws unethical. Anything benefiting coal in W.Va. tends to help their population.
@Alienbeing Since his actions were only of benefit to him by profiting on the sale of his uniquely dirty, waste coal, there is definitely a conflict of interest and ethical issues, that would be my take. Doing something dirty is not unheard of, getting prosecuted for it is another matter and like most of the insider trading, deals to friends and family behavior in politics, it goes unpunished.
So why is this POS a democrat? This is typical behavior of members in the other party.
JackPedigo
Level 9
Mar 29, 2022
3
In a state which is described as a "swing" state politicians have to play both sides against the middle in order to stay in office. Here in NH I find that the Dems are more like "republican lite" . When Jeanne Shaheen was governor, for example she vetoed a billed that would end the death penalty. Fortunately, the death penalty is rarely used here and we do not have the facilities for it anyway. Meanwhile the Repulicans are "Democrate lite". Chris Sununu, for example, recovered most of the federal funds for Covid vaccinations after the Repulican wacko legislature turned down 27 million in federal funds. Manchin is in a swing state.
Repuglicans are not the only corrupt politicians. Besides he has never really been a Democrat. Just a DINO. He might as well call himself a republican.
@MyTVC15 But they still vote with their party which doesn't help and only makes things worse. What's wrong with these people?
Why not? The Democrat party has many POS. So does the Republican party.
Do you think Democrats aren't corrupt?! I was born and raised in Grant Town WV. You might want to Google Allen Mollahan. He makes Manchin look like an altar boy.
@MyTVC15 W.Va. is not considered a "swing State".
All politicians are white collar crooks regardless of political stripe.
CuddyCruiser
Level 8
Mar 29, 2022
7
Pretty good analysis.
Weeeellll... I wouldn't say AAALLLL of them are... Grant it, a good portion are though. 
@Captain_Feelgood An OVERWHELMING Majority.
He's always been extraordinarily corrupt.
He's done little for the people of West Virginia. Especially given how much he's enriched himself.
It never ceases to amaze and anger me how people can continue to vote for those who are so damned corrupt.
KKGator
Level 9
Mar 29, 2022
8
He spreads his cash around and lies a lot to his voters. That's pretty much the formula for most politicians, with very very few exceptions.
When you live there, you recognize the acknowledgement that you are poor and nothing you say or do will change anything.
@Holysocks That's the problem. People have been led to believe that their vote doesn't count, so why bother?
I've been poor my entire adult life, and I still vote.
Believing that your vote doesn't count is exactly what Manchin, and those like him, count on.
It's a bullshit mindset, and it's inexcusable.
Because those are the only choices you have in WV.
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