CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice led a news conference today after firing his chief of staff, naming a new one and also spending a week away from the Capitol recovering from illness.
The governor spoke for about half an hour and hit on a number of topics — introducing new Republican chief of staff Mike Hall after last week’s firing of Democrat Nick Casey and alluding to more staffing changes to come.
The governor again acknowledged going to Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore to be treated for a viral infection. He said he is feeling up to speed again.
It all came together last week as the governor was away and his administration functioned without a chief of staff. Justice said more changes are likely to come, but suggested they won’t be disruptive.
“That’s just how it has to be,” Justice said, alluding to the chief of staff change and the possibility of others. “The people who work with me have got to have the same views and the same goals. We can’t have things behind us that are pulling at us. We need to move forward.”
Asked by a reporter whether any coming changes would be initiated by the employees or by Justice himself, the governor said he would likely be the one instigating.
“It will probably come from me,” he said. “And again, I think you just have to be really fair and just state this: Some people on my staff — not in my cabinet — my staff has been primarily hand-picked all from the Democrat side, and that makes it cumbersome and difficult for them. It’s going to be cumbersome and difficult for them working for the Legislature and all that kind of stuff, so there’s some things we still have to address there.”
Justice’s news release initially described Casey’s firing as a matter of disappointment over the results of the legislative session. Then he said Casey himself described himself as tied to the Democratic Party, and Justice concluded that Casey wouldn’t be able to adjust to the newly-GOP administration.
“The other thing I said is if your party affiliation makes you uncomfortable, and it makes your job performance uncomfortable then you’ve got to go,” Justice said.
Asked by a reporter if he is being told by staff that they’re uncomfortable with the new shape of the administration or if he’s reading party affiliation into their work history, Justice said sometimes it’s clear.
“If you absolutely know and you know their performance is not going to work, then I would go to them and I would sit down and I would say this is not going to work,” Justice said.
Here’s what the governor had to say.
.@WV governor returns, leads news conference https://t.co/WcIkHdfdrI
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) August 21, 2017
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