Democrats call out auditor for hiring sitting state senator

CHARLESTON –The West Virginia Democratic Party is asking state leaders to explain why a state senator holds an executive branch job, which is a violation of the state Constitution.

According to a Dragline report, state Sen. Jay Taylor (R-Taylor) is employed by State Auditor Mark Hunt’s office while simultaneously serving in the West Virginia Senate and sponsoring legislation to expand the authority and power of that office.

Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin says he is calling on Gov. Morrisey, state Attorney General J.B. McCuskey, Hunt and Senate President Randy Smith to explain.

Following a request from Hunt, McCuskey already had warned against any arrangement that would make Taylor a full-time state employee. But Democrats say emails regarding Taylor’s salary and employment arrangement suggest Taylor is “functioning as a de facto full-time public employee while simultaneously serving in the Legislature.”

Article VI, Section 13 of the West Virginia Constitution prohibits a sitting legislator from holding any “lucrative office” with the state during the term for which they were elected. And Article VI, Section 15, according to McCuskey, “flatly declares that no member of the Legislature may ‘be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with the state, or any county thereof, authorized by any law passed during the term for which he shall have been elected.’”

“Auditor Hunt needs to explain why he ignored the Attorney General’s clear and direct warnings regarding what looks to be a political hiring expressly prohibited by the West Virginia State Constitution,” Pushkin said, adding the issue raises serious constitutional and ethical concerns.

 “The West Virginia Constitution is crystal clear,” said Pushkin, a delegate himself. “Legislators are prohibited from holding lucrative public office. This provision exists to protect the integrity of our government and prevent exactly this kind of conflict – where a sitting senator appears to be drawing a taxpayer-funded salary from a constitutional office while sponsoring legislation to expand that office’s power.”

Pushkin said the issue is about more than one legislator or one office.

“If state lawmakers can simultaneously hold lucrative public employment within the executive branch, what is to prevent a governor or constitutional officer from simply doling out taxpayer-funded jobs to legislators with the expectation that those legislators support a particular political agenda?” Pushkin said. “That creates the potential for a dangerous ‘jobs for votes’ scheme that could corrupt the independence of the legislative branch and undermine the constitutional separation of powers designed to protect the people of West Virginia from exactly this type of political patronage and insider dealing.”

Pushkin said the warnings from McCuskey make the situation even more alarming.

“If the Attorney General’s Office warned against creating a situation where a legislator was effectively serving as a full-time state employee, and internal emails now suggest exactly that occurred, then West Virginians deserve to know whether the Constitution was ignored and whether public funds were used to create an unlawful employment arrangement for a sitting lawmaker,” Pushkin said.  

Pushkin also said the state Constitution says each legislative house shall determine how to handle such matters.

“Senate President Randy Smith needs to make clear why he determined that Senator Taylor is qualified to remain in the state Senate while simultaneously being employed in another branch of state government in light of the prohibition outlined in Article VI, Section 13 of the state Constitution,” Pushkin said.