Morrisey's health push proving to be quite the hike
Gov. Patrick Morrisey hikes the newest Mountaineer Mile Trail at Summersville Lake State Park in Summersville, W.Va. on May 9, 2025. (West Virginia Office of Gov. Patrick Morrisey video screenshot)
Among the new construction and second-growth forest above the rock cliffs of Summersville Lake, Gov. Patrick Morrisey cut a ribbon, did some media and walked the third Mountaineer Mile hiking tract. Steps from where the local edition of his gubernatorial predecessor's Almost Heaven Swing offers a selfie-ready sit, the governor walked the loop of the newly designated trail. The obligatory press availability of such festivities involved the governor extolling the virtues of setting an example of 'if I can do it, with all the challenges in place, certainly everyone in West Virginia, if you have the chance, get out and walk a mile.'
While Summersville Lake State Park is the first new officially designated one in over 30 years, West Virginia's State Parks have long been a source of not only recreational opportunity but local pride. As gateways to some of West Virginia's best scenery, natural wonders, and preserved environments, the state park system has been the public facing portal for the wild and wonderful for generations. Country roads might take you home, but designated camping and outdoor recreation areas are vital to attracting West Virginia tourism as well as being go-to places for locals. Plus, along with West Virginias, walking is always free in addition to being good for the body as well as the soul.
The Mountaineer Mile initiative is planned to expand to 32 West Virginia State Parks. The benefits of such a marriage are obvious: Take a new initiative, marry it to one of West Virginia's most successful state-run programs, let the press and social media streams cross on something that is common sense and everyone across the political spectrum can agree is a good thing.
But politics, like hiking the hills, isn't about how you start, it is how you finish. Which is a good thing for Morrisey. The Mountaineer Mile is part of a larger push for healthy legislation, regulation and policy proposals. During a 'Make America Healthy Again' joint event in March with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Morrisey found himself on the receiving end of what many took to be weight jokes from RFK. The reaction ranged from laughing it off, which is what Morrisey did, to fat shaming accusations in national outlets, to others finding it a cringy and inappropriate break in the West Virginia ethos of 'we can poke fun of us and ours, but you can't' regarding outsiders.
The viral moment with the highly controversial Kennedy highlights the problem of walking the line between prudent policy and performative politics. Morrisey — to his credit — has the self-awareness to realize that in the highly-visual world of modern politics talking about government-enforced health in others has a prerequisite of taking action and personal accountability himself. That is just common sense, a little media/political savvy, and also good basic leadership.
Trickier is balancing his current battle to remove soda from SNAP benefits while the southern coalfields of West Virginia are struggling under a water crisis. Or being in lock-step with the still very popular in West Virginia Trump administration's ongoing efforts to cut federal funding to a state like West Virginia which receives 27% of its annual revenue from Washington, D.C. Or the escalating vaccination fight that has combined health care debates, education issues, and personal freedom with legal questions, contradictory policy and plenty of raw emotions.
Then there is still the looming need for a legislative special session to potentially deal with a PEIA can that is annually kicked down the road by delegates and state senators who are under the umbrella of a supermajority but have been shown to have plenty of divisions beneath it.
Medical science tells us exercise in general, and walking specifically, is great not only for physical health but also mental health and stress relief. Trekking out and back from the newly-designated Hughes Ferry Day Use Area at West Virginia's newest state park on a glorious May day was surely a respite for Morrisey and the many claims on his time and attention. The Mountaineer Mile is one of those initiatives where good policy and good politics meet at a place of agreement. A rare place these days, agreement … one that doesn't have much demand for a sanctioned hiking trail to get there, nor will have a well-worn trail there and back again. Shame, that.
Performative politics that has good policy behind it is just good politics and good policy in a good public package. A good politician dreams of such things. A great politician makes such things a reality. But that is a fine line to try and walk for anyone — Morrisey included — for any stretch, let alone a mile. That's a long way to lug a health initiative that is light on the science and heavy on the internet feels and populist politics. A distance that is still early days in a four-year term leading the Mountain State into the future. For Morrisey, the start has had missteps in putting in his miles when the performative politics outweighed the prudent policy. We will see how he finishes.
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