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Dems, secretary of state’s office debate settlements

PARKERSBURG — Democrats in the West Virginia House of Delegates and the secretary of state’s office Tuesday responded to each other over the settlements of nearly $1 million for four former employees who were terminated when the secretary took office.

Democrats called the firings by Secretary of State Mac Warner political and called upon Republicans to consider impeachment of the first-term secretary for overspending.

“Republicans in the House of Delegates are pursuing impeachment of all Supreme Court justices for gross maladministration related to excessive spending yet turn a blind eye to one of their own,” Delegate Mick Bates, D-Raleigh, said in a statement issued Tuesday morning.

Warner terminated 16 employees, of whom 15 were Democrats, in January 2017. Twelve filed wrongful termination suits based on political reasons and four have been settled for a collective $965,000.

Warner Tuesday released a letter to the Board of Risk Management saying he was opposed to any out-of-court settlement, he didn’t know the party affiliation and any settlement “negates the concept of ‘at will’ employment.” The employees were terminated based on incompetency, Warner said.

“Secretary Warner tried to claim that these firings were to make the office more efficient, but these firings were clearly partisan, as 15 of the 16 were registered Democrats,” House Minority Whip Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said. “He replaced these 15 people with 22 new employees, and most of the new employees were partisan Republican hires or connected with right-wing groups. That math doesn’t add up.”

Warner hired 22 people, mostly Republicans, to replace the 16.

Michael L. Queen, Warner’s deputy chief of staff and director of communications, Tuesday afternoon said Warner and a transition team after the election evaluated every position and all 55 at-will employees.

“The tremendous accomplishments of the Warner administration over the last 19 months would have never been possible had Secretary Warner kept 100 percent of (former Secretary Natalie Tennant’s) staff,” Queen said. “If that was not the case, Secretary Tennant would have produced the very same accomplishments some time during her eight years in the office. She did not.

“The employees who are now suing were dismissed because (1) they were at-will employees and (2) they did not possess the competencies required to meet the goals and objectives set by the Warner administration,” Queen said.

Several positions were combined into one, a five-person liaison team with county clerks was created, an office to serve the Eastern Panhandle was opened and staffed and a National Guardsman with a top-secret security clearance was assigned to the West Virginia Fusion Center, Queen said.

“With all of those new elements to the staffing, we’ve only increased the overall staff number to 51 and were able to operate within the budget approved by the Legislature,” Queen said.

Warner, despite telling the House Finance Committee he was within budget, in his first year in office spent $3 million more than the year before, the Democrats said.

“This is unacceptable. If Republicans are serious about impeaching elected officials for gross misconduct in office, they should be looking at Secretary of State Mac Warner,” Delegate Andrew Robinson, D-Kanawha, said.

However, the increase in spending was from the $3.06 million approved by the Legislature to reimburse counties for all the costs of a special election, Queen said.

The four settlements to the employees totaled $965,000. Another eight cases are scheduled for trial in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

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