For the first time in 65 years, the nation's governors are holding their summer meeting in West Virginia.
The National Governors Association meeting starts Thursday night and runs through Saturday at The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs.
About 25 to 30 governors plan to attend the event. Absent will be the four Republican governors eyeing presidential bids in 2016. Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Chris Christie of New Jersey, and John Kasich of Ohio are expected to be no-shows, according to the Associated Press.
The governors association would only confirm the names of three governors who will be there for sure: Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. Hickenlooper and Herbert hold NGA leadership posts, and Tomblin is hosting the event.
"NGA meetings are one of the only by-partisan forums for governors to get together," said Jodi Omear, the group's spokeswoman. "It offers governors of both political parties the chance to share best practices in their states and talk about challenges their states face and develop solutions that improve state government and federal-state partnerships."
Another 1,000 people - corporate executives, nonprofit leaders, foreign diplomats, volunteers, and local state and federal officials - also will be on hand at the meeting.
The Greenbrier's owner, Jim Justice, said the event is a great way to showcase West Virginia.
"It gives the opportunity for governors from all over the country to see our state and see our people," said Justice, who's also running for governor in West Virginia's Democratic primary next year.
Justice, who's never run for office before, plans to meet with governors and talk about issues facing West Virginia and other states.
"I'll have the opportunity to rub elbows while they're here," he said. "I'll be trying to pick up as much knowledge as I can about the successful things they've been able to do in their states, things that we may want to do in West Virginia."
Topics of discussion at the governors meeting include tourism, health-care reform, heroin and prescription drug abuse, and workforce training.
"The topics are representative of a lot of the top priorities of governors," Omear said.
Featured speakers are U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who grew up in West Virginia, and U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez. Pittsburgh Pirates baseball board chairman Robert Nutting will sit on a panel about tourism and economic development.
There also will be several governors-only sessions.
"They're candid off-the-record conversations that take place just between governors," Omear said. "I've heard some of them say, 'When you're in the room, it's not about what's Republican and what's Democrat. It's about what's best for the states.' Those are unique conversations for them."
On Thursday night, Tomblin will speak at a welcome reception while governors and their spouses and staff members snack on hors d'oeuvres and sip mint juleps, according to a meeting agenda. That night also will feature a performance by a band called The Dueling Fiddlers. Governors will meet with corporate executives later in the evening.
On Saturday night, the governors will tour The Greenbrier's famous bunker, the former emergency fallout shelter for Congress.
The summer meeting wraps up with a reception that spotlights "Mountain Stage," a West Virginia-based live music program that's broadcast on National Public Radio stations.
The national governors group last held its summer meetings in West Virginia in 1950 and 1922. The governors always hold their winter meeting in Washington, D.C., but they meet in different states each summer.
About two years ago, Tomblin pitched The Greenbrier as a site for the group's summer meeting.
"For West Virginia, it was this great first-class hotel and meeting facilities, and the overall appeal of summer in the Mountain State," Omear said. "The bid was really strong with the venues we needed, security and volunteer needs."
Reach Eric Eyre at
ericeyre@wvgazette.com,
304-348-4869 or follow
@ericeyre on Twitter.