Lavish court spending in poor W.Va. triggers scandal
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A $42,000 antique desk. A $32,000 blue suede sectional sofa. A $7,500 inlaid wooden floor map of West Virginia’s 55 counties.
A scandal involving lavish office renovations and other financial abuses by the highest court in one of the poorest states in America has triggered an extraordinary move by one branch of government to essentially fire another.
The West Virginia House of Delegates on Monday impeached four justices of the state Supreme Court on charges of extravagant spending and other misconduct, setting the stage for a Senate trial that could lead to their removal.
One of those impeached retired Tuesday, averting the prospect of sitting through a proceeding that is sure to explore the justices’ fancy tastes in embarrassing detail. And the court’s fifth member retired under pressure last month.
Some Democrats have decried the impeachment drive as a power grab by the Republican-controlled House and Senate, timed to allow GOP Gov. Jim Justice to name temporary replacements.
Tuesday was an important deadline: Any justice who left or was removed by that date would be replaced by a special election in November. After that, any vacancies would be filled by the governor.
Republican Delegate John Shott, who oversaw the House Judiciary Committee hearings that drew up the articles of impeachment, said the court’s spending of more than $3 million in office renovations earlier this decade came at a time when the state was struggling so hard it made tens of millions of dollars in budget cuts.
Justice Robin Davis, a Democrat, spent $500,000 in upgrades to her office alone — the kind of money it would take most West Virginians a decade or more to earn.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 17.9 percent of West Virginians live in poverty, the fifth-worst rate in the nation.
The state’s median household income is near the bottom at $43,385, or about $14,000 below the national figure.
Impeachments in state government are rare in the U.S., especially among Supreme Court justices. But impeaching an entire slate appears to be unheard of.