Reporter’s Notebook: Order in the court
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As most news reporters, I want to report the news. I don't want to be in the news. It's always a weird thing to see my work cited in the footnotes of court cases, but it gets weirder when it's one of your stories that gets a judge in hot water.
But that is what happened in the case of the admonishment of 3rd Judicial Circuit Judge Tim Sweeney, which resulted in oral arguments last week before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
In case you haven't followed my reporting on this matter, it stems from a story I wrote in February of last year when Sweeney ordered high-level staff of the state Department of Human Services to report to Ritchie County to begin work as Child Protective Services case managers.
The order stemmed from a confidential child welfare hearing where Sweeney was informed about the well-known issues of CPS staffing shortages and overworked CPS case managers causing a backlog of cases slowing down the judicial process. Sweeney did a phone interview with me and also spoke to WV MetroNews Talkline host Dave Wilson.
To be clear, these CPS issues were issues that began when Jim Justice was governor. Patrick Morrisey had barely been governor for a month, and his new DoHS secretary, Alex Mayer, had started his job the same week Sweeney issued his order. But to Mayer's credit, he met with Sweeney, the order was rescinded, and the message was received. DoHS under Morrisey/Mayer began addressing the CPS shortage issue and while there are still issues, things also have improved.
Sweeney's order for DoHS management to report to rural West Virginia to help move child welfare cases along might have been extreme, but those of us who cover these issues can tell you that it was warranted. However, Teresa Tarr, the Judicial Disciplinary Counsel for the Judicial Investigation Commission, was not pleased and opened a complaint against Sweeney around Feb. 10, 2025. Later that summer, the JIC voted 7-1 to admonish Sweeney.
In short, the JIC accused Sweeney of abusing his authority in issuing the DoHS order and revealing confidential information from a child abuse and neglect case. Unrelated to any of that, the JIC also accused Sweeney of abusing his authority by posting, re-sharing, and liking certain Facebook posts for fairly innocuous things, such as promoting the local annual St. Marys Volunteer Fire Department Ice Cream social.
Let's get one thing clear: Sweeney did not reveal any confidential information from any child abuse and neglect case to me or to Talkline. CPS staff shortages are not secret. We in the media have been covering the problems in West Virginia's overburdened CPS system for years. Testimony from an abuse and neglect case might have been the catalyst for Sweeney's DoHS order, but none of that testimony was shared with myself or on statewide talk radio.
I was also particularly amused by Tarr's argument before the state Supreme Court, stating that "(Sweeney) went to the news media and talked to the news media to strong arm them into doing what he wanted." Are you kidding me? No one strong armed me. A judge ordering DoHS staff to show up at a field office and take calls and conduct CPS investigations? There is no reporter in this state who wouldn't happily write that story.
More importantly, as raised by Sweeney's attorney during oral arguments, no one at DoHS filed any objections to Sweeney's order. Not only were there no motions made by DoHS attorneys, but former DoHS secretary Mayer met with Sweeney and the two had a fruitful meeting, resulting in Sweeney rescinding the order.
As for the Facebook posts, those charges seem silly. Over a six-year period, Sweeney liked or shared posts about law enforcement job announcements, community events and fundraisers, public safety alerts, human trafficking awareness posts and a satirical drug enforcement meme. There were no direct postings calling for people to donate or to like or share these posts.
The JIC filed a similar complaint against Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Maryclaire Akers regarding comments during a court case and on Talkline in a separate child welfare case (the Supreme Court later ordered a dismissal of her admonishment charges). I won't predict what the Supreme Court will do in regard to Sweeney's admonishment, but I detected some skepticism of Sweeney's charges by some of the justices.
No doubt that judges have to maintain an appearance of impartiality and be careful what they say or do regarding open cases and proceedings. But our judges are on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic that ravaged this state and continues to reverberate. They still deal with the aftermath, which includes our overcrowded foster care system and those other children in state custody. When they call out for help, they should not be admonished.
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Speaking of being in the news, over the weekend I was awarded my fifth West Virginia Press Association first-place award for best legal affairs reporting among the largest category of newspapers in the state for my reporting on the compulsory vaccine law legal case. This makes my second first-place award in the legal affairs category.
While I am honored to be awarded this, I remain amused that I cannot clinch a first-place award for best government affairs reporting, which is my primary beat. Court cases, especially those involving challenges to state laws, can be a hard thing to write about and simplify for readers who do not have time to read court filings. The judges must think I do a good job doing that.
Our annual West Virginia Press Association convention highlights the great work of newspaper reporters, editors, paginators, photographers, graphic designers and advertising professionals in newspapers across the state, both big and small, daily and weekly. I'm proud to be among these people, especially those in this paper.