Fran Hughes from MetroNews Talkline
She calls it “poppycock.”
Former Deputy Attorney General Fran Hughes denies claims that she and others left the Attorney General’s Office in disarray when longtime Attorney General Darrell McGraw turned over the keys to new Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
“We’ve tried to make this a smooth transition from the very beginning,” Hughes said on Thursday’s MetroNews Talkline. “We want him (Morrisey) to succeed. We’ve done what we need to do.”
Attorney General Morrisey, though, told a different story on Wednesday’s MetroNews Talkline. “We’ve inherited a pretty big mess and we’re working diligently to fix it,” he said.
Morrisey said there is no centralized tracking system for all of the cases the AG’s Office is currently handling. But, Hughes says, staff members put together detailed memos on every case for the Morrisey team.
“I believe we have provided him with an updated list of all the cases,” Hughes says.
“There are memos to all the files. He has the ability to call every deputy, the head of every division and meet with them personally and talk to them about every case. That’s available to him today.”
Hughes says she met with Morrisey’s team members the day after the election.
She says she identified the major players in the AG’s Office for them, explained the budget process, provided a full list of AG employees and had staff members make themselves available to Morrisey’s transition team.
Hughes, who was running the Attorney’s Office when McGraw was in office, says she prepared a budget and left enough in the budget to cover the next three years.
As for Morrisey’s claims that the technology within the office is out of date, Hughes says improvement packages were part of the AG Office’s proposed budget during each of the last three years.
However, she says like many state agencies, the office had to deal with budget cuts at the same time.
Hughes says she stands by her work and the work of others within the AG’s Office and she says now is the time for everyone to move forward from here. “We wish Mr. Morrisey all the luck in the world,” she said.
“We want him to succeed because West Virginians will lose if he doesn’t succeed.”
10
Comments
Barry Bledsoe
I tend to believe that Patrick Morrisey's description of the issue is much more accurate than that given by Ms. Hughes. And where was the outgoing AG in all of this process? (Probably working on keeping the tax value of his home next to the capitol artificially low).
January 31, 2013 at 12:29 pm | Report comment
Habib Haddad
Methinks the truth lay somewhere in between.
January 31, 2013 at 12:59 pm | Report comment
Fred
Having worked with Fran Hughes and the former AG's office many times over the past several years, I can assure you she had her ducks in a row. She was always very good to work with took her position of serving the people of West Virginia very serious and in my opinion did a fantastic job at it. I'm sure Mr. Morrisey wants the office to run differently and it may not be operating by his policies yet. These things take time. New folks have new ways of doing things. That doesn't meant he old way was wrong
January 31, 2013 at 1:01 pm | Report comment
David
Look Ms. Hughes, Mr. McGraw and you were tossed out on your rear ends. The people of WV grew tired how the AG's office was run.
Of course Mr. Morrisey found a mess when he walked in the door. If the AG's office wasn't a mess, you'd still be working there.
A change has been made. The voters have spoken. Please just shut up and go away. And that goes for your former boss, too!
January 31, 2013 at 1:21 pm | Report comment
Jethro
Morrisey has claimed he will move on areas that he has no authority to do so. Does he remain confused regarding his role and places the blame on someone else as usual?
Morrisey claimed he was gonna have a trinket destruction showtime. How has that worked out?
Hoppy was in Ms. Hughes face like he was on the inside and that he knew better than what Ms Hughes was saying.
Hop would never do that with any of his Conservative guests.
January 31, 2013 at 2:42 pm | Report comment
cutty77
Both sides are lying. Do Tell a Lawyer Lying.LOL
January 31, 2013 at 2:45 pm | Report comment
WV Patriot
Memos? What about electronic copies and files on a hard drive. OMG, one can only imagine what archaic methods are being used in the other capital offices. Welcome to WV politics and state government. Out status in the nation starts with these offices. Just one more joke on WV. She would have been better to remain silent and not reply.
January 31, 2013 at 2:45 pm | Report comment
Smitty
Wow, tea party leader Barry Bledsoe believes Mr. Morrisey.....that's a shocker!
Barry, everyone knows you drank the cool-aid. Get a life will ya?
January 31, 2013 at 5:13 pm | Report comment
zerotolerance
No WV politician would do anything out of spite towards their replacement...........
January 31, 2013 at 9:23 pm | Report comment
Sherry Carpenter
After having worked in the AG's office for over 40 years, Mr. Morrisey will find that the Legislature has not given any money for major improvements to the last 5 AGs. They apparently just don't like this constitutional office (no matter who is in charge). Also, from what I understand he has hired support staff without legal experience. This will not work; in fact, perhaps that is one of his problems to date. Ms. Hughes is correct; he never talked about one issue that the AG has jurisdiction over. No one from his team every contacted me or any other support personnel. Again, this could be the problem. Read the Code and do the job. Attorney General McGraw and his staff did a great job with the limited resources the Legislature gave them and no one whined about it.
February 1, 2013 at 1:40 pm | Report comment