Justice’s Labor commissioner resigns

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Another member of the Justice administration is departing, following the governor’s party switch.

David Mullins

Labor Commissioner David Mullins has resigned, effective Friday. Mitch Woodrum has been appointed acting commissioner.

Mullins, a Democrat, was the Labor commissioner from 2010 to 2013, during the Tomblin administration. He was also appointed Labor Commissioner by then-Gov. Joe Manchin in 2007. He assumed office again in 2017 when Jim Justice won the governor’s race as a Democrat.

Mullins ran for the state Senate as a Democrat in 2004. He was a longtime member of the International Union of Operating Engineers.

The Division of Labor enforces the contractors licensing law, crane operator certification, manufactured housing installations, and amusement ride and elevator inspections. The wage and hour division oversees overtime, child labor, minimum wage and related issues.

Woodrum has been the deputy secretary.

The administration has gone through some significant transition since Governor Justice announced early this month that he would switch his party registration from Democrat to Republican.

On Aug. 3, the governor announced at a rally for President Donald Trump that he would be switching his party affiliation.

The next day, a Friday, Justice had a news conference at the Capitol to elaborate on the reasons for his party switch and to sign the paperwork. The only visible member of his administration there was communications director Butch Antolini.

That afternoon, Justice administration spokesman Grant Herring, left work and has not returned. Herring came up through national Democratic Party politics. Also leaving was another communications staffer, Marcus Constantino.

One of the administrations’ top lawyers, Joey Garcia, has applied for an ethics exemption to seek work elsewhere. Garcia was a veteran of former Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s administration.

At midday Monday of this week, Justice called his chief of staff, Nick Casey, and fired him. Casey was a former Democratic Party chairman and ran for Congress as a Democrat.

On Tuesday, the administration announced the hiring of state Senate Finance Chairman Mike Hall, a Republican, as the new chief of staff.

 





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