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Impeachment Day 3: Court employees describe Loughry’s moves on couch, desk

By Brad McElhinny 
House Judiciary Chairman John Shott listens to impeachment testimony while flanked by vice chairman Roger Hanshaw and Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, the committee's ranking Democrat.

The House Judiciary Committee is continuing hearings to determine whether to recommend impeachment of one or more members of the West Virginia Supreme Court. Moment by moment, here’s what’s happening:

5:15 p.m. Angus’s testimony is concluded. So we’re done for today, except for some remarks by Chairman Shott.

Starting up tomorrow at 9:15 a.m.

3:20 p.m. Next testimony from Arthur Angus, director of court security. Angus was one of the group of employees who moved couch and desk out of the Loughry household.

The couch was first moved to the garage, and then — as described before — they waited for a neighbor to leave before removing it from the home. “Let’s go, she’s gone,” Angus recalls Justice Loughry saying.

He says he was familiar with the desk, an antique associated with Cass Gilbert, the famed architect of the state Capitol.

I knew it was a Cass Gilbert desk because I’ve had a Cass Gilbert desk in my office since I’ve been here,” Angus says. “I didn’t know he had a couch or his desk at his house until the day we went to his house.”

Responding to Delegate Pushkin question about moving the furniture, Angus says: “It wasn’t a court function. It wasn’t a security function. I could have said no.” But he acknowledges there were quite a few firings around that time and people were nervous about their jobs.

Angus corroborates earlier testimony by his colleague Jess Gundy, who says their response to a memo from Justice Davis asking about the court’s vehicle policies prompted Loughry to stop talking to the two.

3:05 p.m. Mendez’s testimony concludes.

Meanwhile an unpopular (with me) announcement:

2:25 p.m. Paul Mendez, another of the Supreme Court workers who helped move desk/couch from Justice Loughry’s home, is now providing testimony.

Staff counsel Brian Casto: “You mentioned it was a Cass Gilbert desk. How did you know?”

Mendez: “Just from all the years of working here.”

Mendez says Justice Loughry wanted to announce he had gotten the Cass Gilbert desk out of his house. “News 8 was following us, and he wanted to report it to the press before they could see it.”

1:51 p.m. Delegates are asking followup questions of court spokeswoman Jennifer Bundy.

In response to questions by Delegate Andrew Robinson, D-Kanawha, Bundy says former Court Administrator told her several times about the couch at Justice Loughry’s house that had earlier belonged to Justice Joseph Albright.

Delegate Tom Fast, R-Fayette, asks about the relative extravagance of each justice’s office renovations.

Bundy says she isn’t comfortable judging “extravagance.”

“All of them were very specifically designed to the justices’ tastes,” she says.

Delegate Fast asks if Loughry and then-administrator Johnson had an ax to grind against her.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I was concerned for my job.”

1:18 p.m. Court spokeswoman Jennifer Bundy is on the witness stand. She is being questioned by staff counsel Marsha Kauffman.

She says she would answer reporters’ basic questions. But if there was a more nuanced question, she would seek guidance from justices, particularly the chief justice.

Bundy is being asked about an email about a court policy said to allow justices to have a home office.

Bundy says she asked then-Administrator Gary Johnson about the practice in response to a Kennie Bass question. She also describes a conversation with Justice Loughry that led her to telling media the court had a practice of allowing home offices.

She says the morning after the statement appeared in local media, at least three people told Bundy that Justice Davis was looking for her. She says “Justice Loughry told me to say that, word for word.”

Bundy on Loughry: “He was pretty adamant that there was such a policy.”

On the Cass Gilbert desk: “I didn’t know he had a desk in his home until a reporter asked me about it.”

Bundy: “I asked him, and he said yes.”

Bundy is asked if court employees had any contact with Justice Loughry about former Administrator Steve Canterbury’s termination. She says she told Loughry, “I consider Steve a personal friend, and I intend to continue to talk to him.”

She then describes Loughry’s response: “He just said OK. Over time, he would say ‘I know Steve is your friend, but how can you continue to be friends with someone who says this or that?'”

Bundy says her Christian outlook and attitude toward forgiveness helped her to accept both Canterbury and Loughry.

As the controversy continued, Bundy says, “I became concerned about my job.”

She says at one point, “I just found Justice Loughry and Justice Johnson — they were at a circuit judges’ conference downtown — and I just asked them ‘Am I going to lose my job?'”

1:03 p.m. This afternoon’s testimony includes:

  • Jennifer Bundy
  • Paul Mendez
  • Arthur Angus

Today is likely to go well into the evening. Delegate Shott is asking people to try to minimize repeating questions that have been asked already.

Then, on Friday, the Judiciary Committee plans to tour the Supreme Court’s offices.

And here’s something else were were told: Because of some of the subpoenaed witnesses obtaining counsel and asking for delays and other difficulties in reaching witnesses, the impeachment hearing schedule is somewhat abbreviated this week.

So, the Committee does not currently plan to meet on Saturday, as it had earlier planned. Testimony will resume at 9 a.m. July 26. Former court Administrator Steve Canterbury scheduled to testify that day.

12:04 p.m. Testimony has concluded for court security officer Gundy.

We’ll be recessing for an hour, returning at 1.

The committee had hoped to hear from two witnesses this morning but only heard from Gundy, who testified about a variety of topics, including moving a couch and antique desk out of Justice Allen Loughry’s house, the use of state vehicles by the justices and working lunches for the justices.

He also talked about the firing of longtime court Administrator Steve Canterbury.

11:42 a.m. “Talkline” appearance by me, updating the testimony from this morning.

11:19 a.m. Delegate Andrew Robinson asks point of order on Delegate Fast’s line of questioning about former court Administrator Steve Canterbury. Robinson wonders if it’s relevant to impeachment.

Chairman Shott says we’re pretty wide open and that Canterbury is expected to testify. He says the questions may illuminate a bit on Canterbury’s mindset.

11:14 a.m. Security employee Jess Gundy, being questioned by staff counsel, says the atmosphere in the court has become tense over the past few months.

He says Justice Loughry’s attitude toward him turned and that Loughry would turn and walk in the other direction if he saw him.

11:05 a.m. I asked Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, about his questions regarding whether it was appropriate for state employees to help Justice Loughry move furniture in and out of his home. Here’s what the delegate had to say:

11 a.m. I was out in the hallway for a little bit. Some interesting details were described while I was out.

10:22 a.m. MetroNews’ “Talkline” continues to focus on impeachment proceedings. Here, host Hoppy Kercheval discusses today’s testimony with lawyer Harvey Peyton:

9:51 a.m. Delegates now asking followup questions of Jess Gundy, court security employee.

He has produced a lot of interesting testimony.

Delegate Tom Fast, R-Fayette: “Have you ever accompanied Justice Davis on a trip from Wheeling to Parkersburg?”

Gundy says he was not on that trip but alludes to another court employee who was.

Fast asks if any other Justices have home offices, state furniture or extra state-issued computers in their homes. To the first two, he says he is not aware. To the third, he says he believes most do have a computer.

Delegate Amy Summers, R-Taylor, asks if there are checks and balances for court employees checking out state vehicles.

Gundy: “I guess we have to trust the integrity of the employees.”

9:43 a.m. Jess Gundy, court security employee, is asked how much he has driven justices around. He says he has driven each of them.

He then is asked if he has driven justices places that were not for court business.

He says everything has been for court functions.

This doesn’t quite jibe with a legislative audit that touched on how Justice Robin Davis used state vehicles.

She didn’t travel a lot on the court’s dime, according to a legislative audit. But there were some trips where the purpose wasn’t easily accounted.

There were seven such instances discussed in the second legislative audit. She was accompanied by the Court’s director of security, who drove.

One of those instances as a three-day swing that included two anti-truancy events a political fundraiser and, possibly, a political event. The political fundraiser part, as well as whatever expense would result from the time for the security director, is what is getting the attention.

Here’s what the legislative audit said:

During the review of Justice Davis’s vehicle use, it was also noted that Justice Davis attended a political fundraiser during a three-day consecutive period for which she had reserved a Court vehicle. From November 13th through 15th, 2011, Justice Davis had reserved a Court vehicle and traveled with the Director of Court Security to attend anti-truancy meetings in Wheeling, WV and Parkersburg, WV.

On November 13th, she was driven from Charleston to Wheeling and stayed overnight in Wheeling. The following day, November 14th, she participated in an anti-truancy event in Wheeling. At the conclusion of the program, she was driven to Parkersburg, WV where, according to her State of West Virginia Campaign Financial Statement of 2012, she attended a fundraising event. On November 15th, Justice Davis participated in the anti-truancy event in Parkersburg and then returned to Charleston. Both anti-truancy programs were announced in a press release from the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia on November 10th, 2011.

During this trip Justice Davis charged no lodging to the State, and only charged $115 for meal expenses for the three days of travel. Justice Davis also had indicated she made a stop at the Raleigh County Armory for what she believed was a political event incidental to court business, but a date and time for this event could not be confirmed or correlated to any vehicle reservation.

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9:39 a.m. Now Jess Gundy, who worked in Supreme Court security, is testifying about Justice Loughry’s use of state vehicles.

This is an area where Loughry and Justice Menis Ketchum, who announced his retirement last week, got in trouble. They did not claim the vehicles as a taxable benefit, for one thing.

A legislative audit looked into the vehicle issues a couple of months ago.

“The Legislative Auditor finds that the instances documented in this report, taken together with media reports, show a complete lack of regard for the principles of fiscal prudence and responsibility,” auditors wrote in the report.

MORE: Read the legislative audit of the West Virginia Supreme Court. 

9:22 a.m. First witness Jess Gundy, who worked in security at the Supreme Court, is now discussing the moving of the Cass Gilbert desk and a couch that had belonged to Justice Joseph Albright, both of which wound up in Justice Loughry’s home.

Gundy says Loughry “requested my help moving a couch from his residence. He made sure to tell me he wasn’t asking me to do anything improper.”

Staff counsel John Hardison: “Did you know exactly what couch and what desk he was referring to?”

Answer: “No.”

During one of the moves, Gundy says, Loughry was “waiting for the neighbor who took the photos to leave.”

As they left with the furniture “We saw a Channel 8 vehicle coming up the hill. It appeared to be Kennie Bass.”

Bass was the reporter who first broke stories about lavish spending on the remodeling of Supreme Court offices.

9:19 a.m. Getting underway here. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Shott begins with some housekeeping announcements.

One alludes to some difficulty scheduling witnesses. He says that will make us go long today, probably into the evening. But the schedule lines up to be a short day on Friday and then probably not a Saturday session as we had believed.

Four witnesses lined up today.

8:53 a.m. Still getting ready here in the House Chamber. This will be the third day of testimony. We expect to go Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week.

MetroNews’ “Talkline” has continued to talk about the Supreme Court impeachment. Here are some scene-setting interviews from this week.





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