Independent Brenda Hutchinson released two new radio ads this week — one on her pledge to defend the wild and wonderful beauty of West Virginia and one on raising the minimum wage.
A previous radio ad addressed Hutchinson’s opposition to Potomac Edison’s proposed 17.2 percent electricity rate increase.
All three ads will be playing through election day on WDHC 92.9 FM in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.
Hutchinson is in a tight race for House of Delegates (District 58) against Republican Daryl Cowles.
In the wild and wonderful ad, Hutchinson says that “as West Virginians, we are proud of our state’s majestic mountains and beautiful rivers, our state parks, and our bountiful hunting and fishing areas.”
“Yet too often, our elected officials allow reckless corporations to run roughshod over our great state,” Hutchinson says. “I’ve been to Kayford Mountain and Wetzel County and have seen with my own eyes the destructive practices of mountaintop removal mining and fracking. Earlier this year, a chemical spill in the Elk River contaminated Charleston’s drinking water supply.”
“When I get to Charleston, I’ll fight to protect our mountains, rivers and hunting and fishing areas,” Hutchinson says.
“I’ll push for a moratorium on mountaintop removal mining and fracking. And I’ll work to protect the wild and wonderful state of West Virginia. On November 4, vote independent. Vote Brenda Hutchinson House of Delegates.”
Cowles favors mountaintop removal mining and fracking.
In the minimum wage radio ad, Hutchinson says she’s a “a working woman — I’ve always had to work for a living.”
“And I’ve had to worry about making ends meet,” she says.
“Earlier this year, the West Virginia legislature overwhelmingly passed into a law a $1.50 raise in the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $8.75 an hour. The House of Delegates passed this raise by a vote of 89 to 5. My opponent was one of the five who voted against it.
He voted against it not because he believed it was was too little, but because he believed it was too much. That’s just wrong.”
“Increasing the minimum wage alleviates poverty,” Hutchinson says. Increasing the minimum wage saves millions in welfare payments. And increasing the minimum wage leads to an an improvement in the public health. That’s why more than 70 percent of Americans — left, right and center — favor increasing the minimum wage. And so do I. On November 4, vote independent. Vote Brenda Hutchinson House of Delegates.”