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Governor describes conflict of interest concerns with resigning administration secretary

Gov. Jim Justice described conflict-of-interest concerns over outgoing Administration Secretary Mark Scott, who spent several months in a dual role as chairman of a political action committee called “Conservative Policy Action.”

Scott’s resignation takes place at the end of the month. Justice announced John McHugh, who had been deputy secretary for the Department of Administration, will now serve as acting secretary.

Justice was asked several questions about his departure during a news briefing today. MetroNews asked to participate in today’s briefing by the governor, but for the second week in a row received no response at all.

Gov. Jim Justice

Justice told reporters that his chief of staff, Brian Abraham, informed him about issues with Scott’s political activity: “There is a possibility that Mark Scott was doing stuff on government time that was basically the solicitation of some campaign funds and campaign dollars.”

The governor said his response was: “Get to the bottom of it. We don’t do stuff like that.”

Mark Scott

Justice appointed Scott to be the administration secretary starting  Nov. 1, 2021. His appointment followed former Administration Secretary Allan McVey’s appointment as West Virginia Insurance Commissioner.

MetroNews has attempted to reach Scott for his perspective, but has received no response.

In a resignation letter dated July 22, Scott wrote “I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities that I have been given in the past. I would also like to thank you for being supportive of my professional growth in State government. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the State and want to thank you for the opportunity to work with the State of West Virginia.”

The Department of Administration oversees a range of programs and services relating to personnel, purchasing, technology, facility management, health and liability insurance, real estate and more. The agency is over the Public Employees Insurance Agency, and Scott regularly chaired the insurance agency’s meetings.

While Scott was working as administration secretary, on Feb. 27, an organization called Conservative Policy Action — a federally-registered “super PAC dedicated to promoting conservative candidates in West Virginia” — announced Scott was appointed chairman of its board: “We are thrilled to welcome Mark Scott to the helm as our distinguished Chairman of the Board!”

So that meant that while Scott remained employed in his government job with oversight of state purchasing and health contracts, he was also working for a political organization that raised funds and endorsed West Virginia candidates.

The political action committee made a range of endorsements in West Virginia political races, including Justice’s race for U.S. Senate. Much of its focus was on promoting Republican Kris Warner’s candidacy for Secretary of State and working against his Republican opponent, Doug Skaff, who had previously been a Democrat.

HOPPY KERCHEVAL: Justice Administration cabinet secretary simultaneously raised money for PAC

Conservative Policy Action released a statement today in support of Scott’s work.

“Mark Scott has a long history in West Virginia raising funds for conservative causes and volunteered to help Conservative Policy Action during the primary election in West Virginia. He volunteered his personal time and resources for these purposes and indicated that he had clearance ethically to do so,” said Matthew Parker for the political action committee.

“We have no reason to believe that he did otherwise; nonetheless, to avoid distracting from our missions, Mark has resigned his position with our organization and is moving on in the private sector with new business opportunities. We wish him the best. Conservative Policy Action will continue to grow and work on electing governing conservatives in West Virginia.”

Justice today said he asked chief of staff Abraham to examine Scott’s situation after several people approached with concerns.

“Mark said he thought he was doing it exactly the way it should be done and exactly by the book,” Justice said.

“What did Mark do? He said, look, ‘I’m not going to cause the governor embarrassment or a problem. And really and truly, if I’ve messed up and I’ve crossed the line and I should not have done this or whatever then I’m going to resign.’ And so he resigned. That’s the end of the story.”

Justice concluded, “I think Mark Scott’s a good man, and I wish him the best.”

When asked why state officials took months to deal with Scott’s situation, Justice responded, “I can’t answer why it took so long. When it was brought to my attention — I think people want to take time to do the proper investigating and all that. When I was brought up to speed with regard to what was going on, or what was possibly going on — that information came to me from Brian Abraham and then there was some more, I guess, vetting and then the question came back to me is how do you want to proceed and I said ‘Go and get to the bottom of it.'”

Contacted this week, the West Virginia Ethics Commission said it could not confirm or deny whether Scott sought an ethics ruling on whether a state employee may serve as the chairman of a political action committee. As administration secretary, Scott had broad oversight of the Ethics Commission.

Kim Weber, executive director of the Ethics Commission, elaborated that no provision in the ethics act prohibits public officials or public employees from being involved in political campaigns on their own time — but other laws may apply. Public officials and public employees may not use public resources for political campaigns.

Conservative Policy Action is registered with the Federal Elections Commission and reported $327,337 in contributions from Jan. 1, 2023, to this past June 30.

Conservative Policy Action did not register its activities with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office or report its spending there.

Eric Tarr

Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline” that Scott’s second role leading a political action committee — even if by the book — could have resulted in a conflict. Tarr said he had been at a conference in recent days and was just catching up on the details of the situation.

“If you’re not using government resources and you’re on your own time, you can go do anything you want. You can’t say that you can’t have a political opinion or be politically active — and using funds to get a message out is part of free speech. If those are separated, legally I don’t think there’s an issue.

“Then you have to start getting down to, Can the governor get a black eye from this? So, I think, looking at it from the governor’s perspective, I would be nervous about it if I’m him, if I’m putting a secretary out there that could potentially be accused of it and it comes back on me. I don’t know all the details, but I can see why there might be concern from the governor’s perspective.”





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