Jim Justice

Early life

James Conley Justice, II was born in Charleston, the son of James Conley Justice and Edna Ruth (née Perry) Justice. Justice grew up in Raleigh County, West Virginia. He enrolled at the University of Tennessee on an athletic scholarship for golf, but transferred to Marshall University. At Marshall, he was a two-year captain on the Thundering Herd golf team. He earned his bachelor's degree and Master in Business Administration from Marshall.

Business career

After college, Justice went into the family agriculture business. Justice founded Bluestone Farms in 1977, which now operates 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) of farmland, and is the leading producer of grain on the East Coast of the United States. During that time, he also developed Stoney Brook Plantation, a 15,000-acre hunting and fishing preserve in Monroe County. Justice is a seven time national corn growing champion.

After the death of his father in 1993, Justice inherited ownership of Bluestone Industries and Bluestone Coal Corporation.

In 2009, he sold some of his coal business to the Russian company Mechel for $568 million. In 2015, after a huge drop in the price of coal which led Mechel to close some of the mines, he bought the business back for just $5 million. Since buying back the mine from Mechel, Justice re-opened several of the mines and hired over 200 coal miners.

Justice's mining companies have a history of safety violation and unpaid taxes; in 2016, NPR called him the "top mine safety delinquent" in the United States.

Justice owes millions of dollars to the government in back taxes, and unpaid coal mining fees and fines: "His mining companies owe $15 million in six states, including property and minerals taxes, state coal severance and withholding taxes, and federal income, excise and unemployment taxes, as well as mine safety penalties, according to county, state and federal records."</ref>http://www.npr.org/2016/10/07/496696292/billionaire-gubernatorial-candidate-owes-15-million-in-taxes-and-fines

Justice serves as the owner or chief executive officer of over 50 companies, including The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, which he bought for $20.5 million in 2009, preventing its bankruptcy. When Justice first took control he immediately brought back all 650 laid-off employees. He added vacation and health benefits to their contracts and offered a 10 percent raise if the hotel regained its fifth star.

Justice is in the process of building a new mountain top golf course with golfers Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Lee Trevino. Arnold Palmer was involved before his 2016 death.

Forbes estimates Justice's net worth at $1.6 billion, making him the richest man in West Virginia.

As of 2014, he owned 70 active mines in 5 states. His charitable activities have included $25 million for the James C. Justice National Scout Camp at The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, $5 million for Marshall University, and $10 million to the Cleveland Clinic.

Justice gives away more than $1 million in Christmas gifts annually through the Dream Tree for Kids campaign.

Before taking office as governor, Justice resigned from all the executive positions he held at his business. He placed his daughter Jill in charge of The Greenbrier and his son Jay in charge of his mining and agriculture businesses. He has said he will place all his assets in a blind trust, but that the process will take time because of their complexity.

Political career

In 2015, Justice declared his candidacy for Governor of West Virginia in the 2016 election as a member of the Democratic Party. He had been a registered member of the Republican Party until changing his registration in February 2015. This was his first time running for political office. In May 2016, Justice won the Democratic nomination for governor and ran against Republican nominee Bill Cole in the general election. On November 8, Justice won the election.

Justice was endorsed by the United Mine Workers.

Governor of West Virginia

Justice took office as governor on January 16, 2017. He is known for using colorful metaphors and digs at political opponents.

To improve West Virginia's budget situation, he has proposed raising the state's revenue by $450 million, primarily by increasing the consumer sales tax, reinstituting the business and occupation (B & O) tax, and establishing a "rich man's" tax. He also opposed plans to cut health and education spending. On April 13, 2017, while vetoing a budget bill passed by the Republican-controlled West Virginia Legislature, Justice said the bill was "nothing more than a bunch of political you-know-what" and showed a prop featuring bull feces on a print copy of the bill.

On August 3, 2017, Justice announced that he had decided to switch his party affiliation back to Republican. He made the announcement at a Donald Trump rally in Huntington and also confirmed his support for the sitting President. The announcement came as a surprise to his own staff.

Political positions

According to the Charleston Gazette–Mail, Justice denies the scientific consensus on global warming. In an interview with the paper, he said: "I surely wouldn't sit here and say I am a believer in global warming, but I wouldn't sit here and say that I am not concerned."

Personal life

Justice lives in Lewisburg, West Virginia. He met his wife, Cathy (née Comer) in high school. They have two children, Jay and Jill. He stands at 6 feet and 7 inches.

Justice is a lifelong fan of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL), and spent $30 million to develop a training facility for the team to use in 2014 at The Greenbrier. He hosts the Greenbrier Classic, a PGA Tour event, at The Greenbrier annually.

Youth sports

Since 1992 Justice has been President of Beckley Little League. His participation has helped the program expand to over 1,000 children playing on 80 teams.

Having lived in Lewisburg since 2001, he has been the girls basketball coach at Greenbrier East High School since 2003, having won the state championship in 2012. In 2011, he also became the head coach for the boys basketball teams. He is the only coach at the AAA level (the state's largest classification) who coaches both the girls and boys basketball teams. Justice stated that though he will place his business interests in a blind trust upon becoming governor, he will still coach the basketball teams while serving. In discussing the coaching position, Justice said, “There are three things I know that I can do, and that’s shoot a shotgun, make a deal and coach basketball. I’m excited about it.”

He has been director of the Mountain State Coal Classic since 1995. The basketball classic has enjoyed tremendous success awarding hundreds of thousands in scholarships and direct support to participating schools.