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Warner claims Tennant sabotaged transition; she’s astounded by accusations

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The new Secretary of State is doubling down on the war of words between his office and his predecessor.

Really doubling down.

The staff of new Secretary of State Mac Warner sent out a release this afternoon to take aim at the former officeholder, Natalie Tennant, and two hours later sent out another release with the same claims phrased differently. The office asked that the first release be rescinded.

Mac Warner

Warner’s office sent out its first release at 3:48 p.m., accusing Tennant of sabotaging some aspects of transition, including delaying the purchase of stationery and other office supplies, disposing of some perfectly good office supplies and having the business and licensing portal on the Secretary of State’s website stop functioning at midnight on the night of the transition.

“Former Secretary of State Natalie Tennant’s vindictive nature did not begin with the recent false allegations she created regarding the release of certain employees, but is consistent with her pattern of deceit during the entire transition process,” the statement from Warner’s office said.

“While these transgressions by Tennant and her exiting staff are very disappointing, they are not surprising to the new administration because of her previously shown pattern of unethical behavior.”

The release invited journalists to photograph and video the office supplies in dispute.

By 5:15 p.m., Warner’s office sent out a new version, with a message from Communications Director Mike Queen:

“CORRECTION: This press release is being sent to replace the press release sent at 3:48 p.m. today. The information below will help better explain Secretary Warner’s response and I ask that you disregard the prior correspondence. I apologize for the confusion on my part that this omission may have created.”

This is the 3:48 release

This is the 5:15 release

The second release began with a summation of efforts the office is making to become more efficient.

It then continued with a bullet-point list of grievances against Tennant, expressed somewhat differently.

“Unfortunately, in our four days in office, this new administration has instead been harangued by inaccurate claims of wrongful termination by a trial lawyer, and sabotaged by intentional acts by prior officials of this office. While taxpayers deserve a peaceful transition of power once elections are over, the prior Secretary of State’s administration has done anything but yield a smooth transition,” stated the second release.

The second release concluded by stating, “We do not intend to continue entertaining this media-driven gamesmanship and look forward to its end.”

Then, at 9:35 p.m., Warner’s office sent reporters a picture of a blue recycling bin filled to the top with envelopes and paper. The subject line was, “Tennant ordered disposal of thousands of dollars in stationery.”

This is one of the bins that Mac Warner’s office says was stuffed with stationery and envelopes as the earlier administration departed.

The blue bin picture was captioned, “One of the six large garbage bins where the official SOS stationery and thousands of envelopes were dumped by request of Secretary Tennant.”

Natalie Tennant

Reached by telephone after the first release went out, Tennant was beside herself.

“If there’s anyone who is not being genuine and not standing up, it’s their side,” she said after being read portions of the accusations. “Why say this stuff? It’s not very helpful to the people. Is he still running a campaign? After that, it becomes your responsibility. Come on, just govern. Just govern. Be responsible for your actions.”

Warner, a Republican, beat Tennant, a two-term incumbent Democrat, in the general election last fall.

The transition turned testy on Jan. 3, when Warner’s team sent a letter to Tennant’s office saying it would turn over 16 positions in the office staffed at 51. Some of those positions were already vacant, so the letter affected 13 then-employees.

Warner’s team said the move had to be made to set a new direction for the office, part of campaign promises to reform the Elections Division and the Business and Licensing Division.

Tennant contended that the employees affected have necessary expertise and that many of them were with the office prior to her administration. She said there was no legitimate reason to cut them loose.

Two days ago, a lawyer for 11 of the employees who were fired confirmed that a lawsuit is under consideration on the grounds that some of those fired might have been of a class protected because of age, gender or race. One employee who lost her job, Rose McCoy, was a business and licensing specialist who had worked in state government for 50 years.

All were at-will employees, and no one disputes that.

Warner’s team complained that Tennant had set up the lawyer, Ben Salango, bringing him into the office to speak with employees.

“We are deeply disturbed by former Secretary of State Tennant allowing taxpayer office space for a private sector trial lawyer to set up shop and solicit business from employees inside the state Capitol,” according to the second release from Warner, adding that Salango was a maximum donor to Tennant’s campaign and this week announced as a candidate for a Kanawha County Commission vacancy.

In both of the releases it sent out today, Warner’s office fired more shots.

The claims sent to reporters said the previous administration had thrown out useful office supplies in an apparent attempt to make the office unable to function after just a couple of days of normal business activity.

“Due to vigilant employees of the office’s efforts, several thousand envelopes, a large bulk of stationery and other office supplies were retrieved and will be used in keeping the office functioning.”

Tennant said there was no such attempt, but that she and her employees had tried to clean up the office before the transition.

“I made one last walk through the division when I left. I saw all kinds of envelopes and letterheads at each individual station,” she said, adding that it seemed like a courtesy to not leave a mess for the next administration.

Warner’s release says his team discovered that the portal for the Business and Licensing Division was set to stop operating at midnight on Jan. 15, the night before transition. So, the release said, Warner took the oath of office at 12:01 a.m. and the new administration had the portal back running by 12:10 a.m.

Warner’s team also says it warned the Tennant administration, through a written message to chief of staff Sheryl Webb, not to destroy information that belonged to the office.

“Despite that reminder and affirmative acknowledgement of receipt by Sheryl Webb, cursory review of records retention for the office indicates the deletion of online profiles for exiting executive level management to include emails, phone records and faxes,” Warner’s office claimed.

Tennant said she was puzzled by the accusations and added that Warner’s transition team made its point of contact unclear.

“That is so wrong and disingenuous. They didn’t keep up their end of the bargain,” she said. “It was supposed to be Chuck Flannery on the Warner side and Sheryl Webb on the Tennant side.”

Tennant said she left an encouraging note for Warner, similar to the one George H.W. Bush famously left for Bill Clinton, who had defeated him.

“I left him a note. I made it a point to leave one for Mac and wish him best of luck,” Tennant said. “I just think it’s important to respect democracy and respect the process, and I do.”

She said she still has some advice if Warner will take it.

“They need to step back, quit making it an election – they won, Natalie’s gone – because they’re going to lose out. They need to step back and just build on the success that we’ve had because they’ll be successful.”





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