State Democratic chair blasts recent Morrisey appointments

CHARLESTON – The chairman of the state Democratic Party is critical of some recent appointments by Gov. Patrick Morrisey, including the daughter of one of his longtime staff members.

Gwyneth Capehart is the 20-year-old daughter of Curtis Capehart, Morrisey’s director of policy.

Curtis Capehart previously worked with Morrisey in the Attorney General’s office as a deputy AG. Gwyneth Capehart of Winfield is a senior honor student at Marshall University with plans to obtain a doctorate in occupational therapy.

“Governor Morrisey’s appointment of a 20-year-old non-attorney — whose only qualification appears to be that she’s the daughter of a staffer — to the Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission is not just laughable, it’s insulting to the people of West Virginia,” state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin told The West Virginia Record. “Our judiciary is no place for political favors and resume-padding. This is a body tasked with vetting candidates for the courts, not a summer internship program for friends and family.”

But Pushkin said such moves are par for the course with Morrisey.

“Unfortunately, this is part of a larger pattern from Governor Morrisey,” Pushkin said. “Just like his recent appointments to the Health Care Authority — where he installed three individuals who openly support abolishing West Virginia’s Certificate of Need law — the governor is once again trying to rewrite policy through political appointments after the legislature refused to back his agenda.”

Pushkin is referring to the appointments of family nurse practitioner Heather Glasko-Tully, retired physician Doug McKinney and Robert Cheren, a former special assistant to the AG.

“Let’s not forget his attempt to gut decades of proven public health policy by issuing an executive order to allow so-called religious exemptions for childhood immunizations after the legislature rejected his bill,” Pushkin continued. “That’s not leadership — it’s an abuse of the appointment process to bypass the will of the people’s elected representatives.”

Pushkin isn’t the only one critical of Capehart’s JVAC appointment.

“So much for nonpartisan West Virginia judges,” Patrick McGinley told the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

McGinley is a government ethics expert and law professor emeritus at the West Virginia University College of Law. McGinley also told the paper Capehart’s appointment draws into question Morrisey’s commitment to the integrity, impartiality and fairness of judges.

Morrisey “only looked across the hall rather than make a serious effort to find a highly qualified young person,” McGinley told the Gazette-Mail.

But a Morrisey press secretary defended Capehart’s appointment.

“It’s particularly important to have young West Virginians represented when making decisions that will affect the future of our state and judicial system,” Drew Galang, deputy press secretary for the Governor’s Office, told the Gazette-Mail. He did not return messages from The Record seeking comment.

Two other JVAC appointees are associated with groups that contributed or spent large amounts of money to help Morrisey’s gubernatorial campaign.

Jason Huffman is the state director for Americans for Prosperity-West Virginia, which is a libertarian conservative political advocacy firm that spent nearly $600,000 to support Morrisey’s gubernatorial campaign. Huffman also personally contributed to Morrisey’s campaign.

And Michael Donnelly is the COO and general counsel for Club for Growth, another conservative advocacy group. It spent more than $13 million to support Morrisey’s campaign last year.  He also personally contributed to Morrisey’s campaign.

“I am honored to be selected to serve on the Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission. Excited to work alongside @wvgovernor to fill judicial vacancies with principled judges who respect the rule of law, exercise judicial restraint, and uphold the Constitution,” Huffman posted June 3 on X formerly Twitter.

The JVAC is made up of four attorneys and four non-attorneys. It assists the governor in filling state judicial vacancies. The commission reviews applicants for vacancies on everything from the state Supreme Court to magistrate courts. It interviews candidates and submits a list of top candidates to the governor’s office for consideration, but the governor isn’t required to follow the JVAC’s recommendations.

No more than four members of the JVAC can be from the same political party, and no more than three appointed members of the commission can be residents of the same congressional district.

The JVAC soon will play a role in selecting a new state Supreme Court justice because Justice Beth Walker is retiring at the end of this month. These new JVAC appointments were made a month after Walker announced her retirement.

“West Virginians deserve better than a government run by cronyism, backdoor power grabs and political gamesmanship,” Pushkin said. “Our courts, our healthcare system and our public health policies are too important to be handed over to unqualified insiders or ideological extremists.

“The people of West Virginia are watching — and they deserve competence, not connections.”