West Virginia Secretary of State dismisses Conley complaint against Hendershot
(Capitol Notes - Graphic Illustration/MetroCreative)
PARKERSBURG — The West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office has confirmed a complaint filed against a Wood County Board of Education member has been dismissed. Chief Deputy and Chief of Staff Donald “Deak” Kersey said he could not comment on the specifics of the case but could confirm the complaint filed against Board member Debbie Hendershot had been dismissed. The investigation, which began in February, was centered on residency claims made by Chad Conley, who finished second in the Nov. 5 election to fill a seat left vacant when Hendershot stepped down earlier last year to run for magistrate. At the time, Conley expressed concerns over the residency of Hendershot after she was appointed on Nov. 14 to replace another board member, Sarah Townsend, who stepped down due to health concerns. By law, no more than two members can be seated from the same magisterial district, of which there are three – A, B and C – in Wood County. Townsend was from District C. Board member Ron Tice and newly elected member Randy Modesitt are from District A, with board President Justin Raber and board member Judy Johnson from District B. This means the board could only appoint a replacement from District C. Conley claimed Hendershot was a resident of District A and therefore could not be appointed to the open District C seat. “Miss Hendershott was appointed to the board when she resided in District A, and her voter registration did not change to the correct district until days after her appointment,” Conley said. He said he filed the complaint because election integrity is a “huge issue right now” and that something as simple as filing for an appointment in the incorrect district is a “significant voter integrity problem.” “I’m doing this to hold the board of education and local government officials accountable and ask them to have a little bit of integrity and do the right thing,” Conley said. The Wood County Clerk’s office confirmed in November that Hendershot did apply for a change of address but informed her at the time she did not need to formally change her address with their office prior to the appointment because this was not an election matter. “She’s not campaigning. She’s not on the ballot. We have no ballot. It’s whether the Board of Education decides they want to appoint her or not,” Wood County Clerk Joe Gonzales said in November. Gonzales said it was up to the West Virginia Secretary of State to determine residency. “They did a very thorough investigation,” Bill Merriman, Hendershot’s attorney, said. “At one point there were two investigators here… (who) looked in her bathroom, looked in her closet and interviewed people.” He said the investigation team found there was, “not sufficient evidence to go forward to prove that Miss Hendershott was lying about where her residence was.” Kersey said he could not comment on the specifics in this case but could talk about the proseduce the Secretary of State’s Office takes for any complaint. “Anyone can file a complaint and we have to open an investigation,” Kersey said. He said the initial complaint would be handed to the investigation division who would then determine if the Secretary of State’s Office had jurisdiction to investigate further. He said if it was determined the office did have jurisdiction, a report would then be given to the investigation division director to see if further investigation is needed. He said individual investigators would then be dispatched to do a more in depth investigation with a final report having three possible outcomes. Kersey said the first possible outcome is that investigators found a technical violation and that an “educational letter” would be sent to the individual to correct a minor error. “This wouldn’t be a criminal violation,” Kersey said. “More of a clerical error.” He said the second possible outcome would be there was enough evidence found to suggest that the complaint was true, and criminal, and those results would then be shared with the local courts and prosecutors to proceed. “We only do the investigations,” Kersey said. “It would then be up to the local courts and prosecutor to bring charges against an individual.” He said the third outcome would be the complaint was dismissed due to lack of evidence. “This would happen if we found there wasn’t enough evidence to take to the prosecutor, or the prosecutor told us there wasn’t enough evidence for them to pursue the matter,” Kersey said. Merriman, who made a statement on Hendershot’s behalf, said this dismissal follows a previous decision by the West Virginia Ethics Commission, which also found “no probable cause” for the allegations. He said they were very happy with the decision by the Secretary of State’s Office. “She’s very satisfied with the outcome of these investigations, and she knew, and I knew, that she would be successful from the beginning,” Merriman said. He said a civil suit remains pending in Wood County Circuit Court, though he hopes Conley will voluntarily dismiss the case given the state’s findings. Conley said he had no intentions of doing that. “I’m far from giving up on it,” he said. Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com