West Virginia house cleaning

The West Virginia House Judiciary Committee approved 14 articles of impeachment against the four sitting justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

[...]

The articles of impeachment charge Chief Justice Margaret Workman and Justices Robin Davis, Allen Loughry and Beth Walker with maladministration, corruption, incompetency, neglect of duty and certain high crimes.

In total, Loughry is the subject of eight articles of impeachment. Workman and Davis each are the subject of four and Walker is the subject of two.

Former justice Menis Ketchum was not a subject of impeachment because he resigned from the bench last month.

  Charleston Gazette-Mail

Saw the handwriting on the wall, perhaps. Or was tipped off.

Ketchum agreed to plead guilty to one count of federal wire fraud, according to a plea agreement announced by U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart last week.

I see.

Loughry is the subject of a 23-count federal indictment charging him with 16 counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, three counts of making false statements to a federal agent, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of witness tampering.

[...]

Loughry is out of jail on a personal recognizance bond, and his trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 2.

Loughry has been suspended from the bench without pay since June 8.

Maybe he should resign. Just a suggestion.

Each justice is charged with “unnecessary and lavish” spending of state taxpayer dollars to renovate their offices in the East Wing of the Capitol. All four of them also are charged with failing to develop and maintain court policies regarding the use of state resources, including cars, computers and funds in general.

Loughry faces additional charges related to his alleged use of state vehicles for personal travel, having state furniture and computers in his home, having personal photos, documents, photos and artwork framed on the state’s dime, and handing down an administrative order authorizing payments of senior status judges in excess of what is allowable in state law.

Davis and Workman are charged with signing documents authorizing that senior status judges be paid in excess of what’s allowable in state law.

[...]

Judiciary Minority Chairwoman Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, [...] proposed adding language that additionally charged Loughry with lying to lawmakers in January in an attempt to deceive them regarding his knowledge of, and involvement in, renovations to his office.

The committee eventually rejected Fleischauer’s amendment and instead made the amendment into a separate charge, establishing the 15th article of impeachment.

[...]

Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, also suggested the nature of grouping all of the justices into one set of articles of impeachment appeared to be an attempt to allow Republican Gov. Jim Justice an opportunity to appoint four of the five Supreme Court justices for at least two years on the bench.

That's interesting because...

Pushkin originally drafted a resolution to initiate impeachment proceedings in February. At the time, Senate President Mitch Carmichael said it was a political stunt, and the resolution didn’t gain traction.

“Now, I see an effort to capitalize on this entire affair by taking out an entire branch of government and replacing it through appointments,” Pushkin said.

Once again the old adage "Be careful what you wish for" rears its head.

“We said this to our committee when we started, this was a no-win situation,” Shott said. “Especially in an election year, there’s going to be people who will spin it however it creates the most advantage to them. That’s just part of the process.”

[...]

If a majority of the elected members of the House, or 51 delegates, votes to adopt any or all of the articles of impeachment, the process advances to the Senate.

[...]

Then, if the Senate, by another two-thirds majority, determines that any or all of the justices committed the impeachable offenses, the “guilty” justices would be removed from the bench and banned from ever seeking public office again in West Virginia.

Good luck there. Sounds like you have your work cut out for you.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.