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:
11:21 a.m. Here are some of the exhibits that were presented today. Happy weekend reading!
Exhibits 40-42 cover payments to JRP Consulting, the summary of renovation costs and invoices to the Carpet Gallery.
Exhibits 43-45 deal with lunches, an instance where Justice Loughry drove to Tucker County for a court case involving his father and Loughry’s apparent use of a state vehicle to travel to book signings.
Exhibit 46 is Justice Loughry’s financial disclosure.
10:57 a.m. We’re wrapping it up for the day. Next getting back together possibly August 5 and definitely August 6 and 7.
In the background, the staff and managers will be gathering and organizing more information relating to the impeachment proceedings.
10:32 a.m. Now up: whether Justice Loughry’s book signing dates match up with dates he checked out state vehicles.
Probably so, says staff counsel Brian Casto. The first such trip being discussed is to The Greenbrier.
10:22 a.m. The star witness on Thursday was fired Supreme Court Administrator Steve Canterbury, who testified for more than 8 hours.
Canterbury was a guest this morning on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
Former WV State Supreme Court Administrator, Steve Canterbury, joins @HoppyKercheval to give his personal opinion on the State Supreme Court’s spending. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/Noz15yeAy6
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) July 27, 2018
10:07 a.m. There are quite a few West Virginia teachers in my timeline because of this winter’s statewide walkout. (Hi teachers!) I’ve learned you don’t make the teachers angry.
This morning the teachers are angry at Supreme Court spending.
Bloody hell,people.
And I’m over here excited that I purchased 120 glue sticks for $15…
Something’s wrong here…? https://t.co/6EpW1AdUKN
— Amber J Brown (@AmberBrownWV) July 27, 2018
Let’s do some math…how many teacher salaries could have been paid w/ just the WVSupremeCourt office renovations—totaling $1,541,120.95?
Let’s say- 1st yr teacher, & let’s be generous & round up to $35,000 a year.
It’s 44. WV could have hired 44 teachers. https://t.co/DJexUaYsZ0
— Jessica Salfia (@jessica_salfia) July 27, 2018
9:54 a.m. Next up is ordering lunch out.
House Judiciary counsel John Hardison is leading the discussion.
Hardison said the total cost of working lunches at the court for five years was $42,314.76.
Of that amount, $4,322.67 was for unverified lunches
In 2013, attorneys only received receipts for March-December.— Lacie Pierson (@LaciePierson) July 27, 2018
Sobonya asking about whether the meals have timestamps. She notes that the most expensive meal she sees on the report so far is a $277 meal at Soho’s.
— Lacie Pierson (@LaciePierson) July 27, 2018
Justices have received criticism for having regular working lunches, ordering from places like South Hills Market and Cafe and Soho’s (both fine and delicious restaurants).
The court has contended the working lunches saved time. They would occur after oral arguments or during all-day administrative conferences.
The Judicial Investigation Commission, earlier this week, concluded that the working lunches that became routine for the court were meant to make the workday more efficient.
A report from WCHS-TV from earlier this year concluded the court spent $19,324 in public funds in 2016 and 2017 on meals for justices, clerks, administrators, security personnel and other staffers.
Over those two years, the court ordered out 108 times, buying a total of 1,141 lunches. Each instance cost about $179.
The state Auditor’s transparency website shows that over the past year, the West Virginia court system as a whole — not just the Supreme Court — has spent $277,487.43 on hospitality expenses, mostly relating to food.
The meals could play a role as lawmakers decide whether individuals or the court as a whole has committed maladministration, corruption, incompetency, gross immorality, neglect of duty or any high crime or misdemeanor.
Are such meals evidence of maladministration?
9:46 a.m.
Testimony this morning that the WV Supreme Court spent $114,788 on framing at the Art Store between 2009-2015. According to Zillow, the median home price in WV is $95,000
— Hoppy Kercheval (@HoppyKercheval) July 27, 2018
Seeing the framing described above is one of the stated reasons for delegates wanting to go on a tour of the Supreme Court’s offices.
9:31 a.m. The committee has been going down a list of the cost of each justice’s office renovations:
Justice Benjamin, $264,301.22.
Justice Davis, $500,278.23.
Justice Ketchum, $171,838.33.
Justice Loughry, $363,013.43.
Justice Walker, $130,654.55.
Justice Workman, $111,035.19.
9:18 a.m. We are under way. House Judiciary Chairman John Shott is saying the invoices and documents in the binder below will be scanned and made available to all of the delegates on the House Judiciary Committee for their reading enjoyment.
Justin Robinson of the Legislative Post Audits Division is taking the stand as a witness to describe the documentation of renovations to the Supreme Court. Earlier, I think I said there wouldn’t really be any witness testimony.
Robinson says about a thousand pages are in that binder. Robinson is saying the binder is not complete and there had been some items withheld, originally at the request of Justice Loughry. Robinson expects those documents will be provided.
8:54 a.m.
Today, members of the House Judiciary Committee will get information about the cost and scope of Supreme Court office renovations. Plus some information about other issues such as working lunches.
No witnesses are scheduled to testify.
This light reading is a binder of invoices and documents relating to Supreme Court renovations pic.twitter.com/3fYIygtsGW
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) July 27, 2018
Again, the committee won’t meet Saturday as it had earlier planned to do.
As for next week, the committee is getting some additional information from the Judicial Investigation Commission and needs time to go through it. Plus a couple of staffers will be out.
So the committee appears unlikely to meet at all next week. The *following week* will be the tour of the court, including media pool. That week is likely to begin Monday with a long day, continuing Tuesday. Follow that?