Huge THANKS to the West Virginia Legislators who signed the letter:
Sen. Mike Azinger, R-Wood
Del. Jarred Cannon, R-Putnam
Sen. Anne Charnock, R-Kanawha
Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier
Senate Majority Leader Patrick Martin, R-Lewis
Del. Jonathan Pinson, R-Mason
Deputy House Speaker Matt Rohrbach, R-Cabell (Rohrbach was the lead sponsor for HB 2552, our spay neuter funding bill for WVSNP)
Sen. Chris Rose, R-Monongalia
Go to link below to read the letter.
Understanding “The Greyhound Money” and why WV is the last state standing. Its historical legacy of political favoritism.
For decades, the West Virginia Greyhound Breeding Development Fund has funneled between $15 million and $22 million annually into dog racing. To understand why this massive payout persists, we must look past modern economic talking points and confront a historical legacy of political favoritism.
The financial survival of greyhound racing in West Virginia was never dictated by public demand; it was engineered by powerful politicians. The roots of the modern Breeding Development Fund trace back to the mid-1990s, during the tenure of Earl Ray Tomblin as Senate Finance Chair and later Senate President. During his rise to power, his family’s business, Tomblin Kennel Inc., was one of the state’s most prominent greyhound operations, drawing immense scrutiny for benefiting from state-administered subsidies.
For decades, political insiders used state power to insulate their interests from the market realities facing dog racing nationwide. Earl Tay Tomblin became WV Gov. 2010 -2016. The moment Governor Tomblin left office, the true will of our representatives was revealed. In 2017, the West Virginia Legislature finally passed a bipartisan bill to eliminate the greyhound fund. Yet, Governor Jim Justice used his veto power to block it, once again putting the financial interests of a politically connected network ahead of the public interest.
That is why the subsidy remains! By maintaining this artificial mandate, West Virginia is actively choosing to fund greyhound breeders instead of other worthy projects which would benefit many more citizens. It is a government-mandated transfer of wealth to an industry that would immediately collapse under its own weight without state intervention. The bipartisan Greyhound Protection Act continues to advance through Congress as a provision within the federal Farm Bill, aiming to implement a nationwide ban on commercial dog racing. The end of this industry is an absolute inevitability. Keep letting your congressional leaders know 65% of WV wants greyhound racing to end.
See below for contact info.
Call to Action on the Greyhound Protection Act!
Remember in March, it was enthusiastically added to the Farm Bill!
Finally, the Farm Bill will be voted on this week in the House of Rep. & it will outlaw Greyhound Racing throughout America forever!
But wait, our very own WV Rep. Riley Moore at the 11th hour tried to derail this historic bill by filing Amendment #269 to dismantle the Greyhound Protection Act and create a permanent carve-out for West Virginia, the only state with live racing! The amendment was degeated. Now the Farm bill moves to the Senate but the process has to start over again to get the committee to add The Greyhound Prtoection Act OR they can accept the House bill as it.
The greyhounds need your help now. Please write to your House Members right away and tell them we do not want greyhound racing in our state. We want the $17 – $22 million yearly subsidy to end, to stop propping up this cruelty! 65% of West Virginians oppose greyhound racing.
Share this with your friends in other states too to get this federal bill passed with The Greyhound Protection Act included in the farm bill.
House Representative Riley Moore: 202-225-2711
House Representative Carol Miller: 202-225-3452
Senator Shelley Moore Capito: 202-224-6472
Senator Jim Justice: 202-224-3954
Go to the link below and send your emails on the template and make your calls now: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ask-your-members-of-congress-to-support-the-greyhound-protection-act-and-end-dog-racing-in-west-virginia