Scandals Emerge Inside The WV Attorney General’s Office & Campaign Headquarters?

The WV Attorney General Is Concerned About Our News Website (And We Are Flattered!) by, Jack Swint & Sam Webber..... Westvirginianews@gmail.com
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That’s according to at least two confirmed sources in the Attorney General’s Office….
***Update - 10/31/2008*** (see bottom of story)
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On October 23, 2008, at approximately 10:58 am, Fran Hughes approved an e-mail to be sent out to all Attorney General Employees warning them that our website, West Virginia News, was going to be writing a negative story about the Attorney General on Tuesday October 28, 2008.
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At first, we decided not to write one. But, when this e-mail and memoranda surfaced through one of the AG’s employees, we decided to investigate. Plus, we have copies of these documents to back it all up!
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Two people (one pretty high up the ladder) said Hughes OK’d everyone in the office to use their state owned computers, and while working on the clock, to write comments on our website e-mail address in order to voice their opinions on any negative story we were going to write about Darrell McGraw or the AG’s department. Here is what the e-mail said….
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“To all employees: ..We have learned of a blog at http//www.westvirginianes.blogspot.com that is preparing to print a piece against the Attorney General’s office on Tuesday, October 28. They invite members of the staff to talk about the issues. You are encouraged to send a response to this blog at westvirginianews@gmail.com”........ END OF E-MAIL
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And yes, we always state that if anyone would like to contribute to our stories, to e-mail us.
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If this e-mail wasn’t mind boggling enough, we later received a copy of a “memoranda” from within their office that is dated September 8, 2008. It says it is from Fran Hughes (which also contained her initials in pen above her name) titled “Campaign Questions.” The memo is too long to write out word for word, so here is a synopsis of what it says. It is an 8 line memo encouraging all AG employees to volunteer to put out signs and or volunteer to do “campaigning” in the field or at the campaign headquarters.
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But, in all honesty, there was also wording stating that it is important to remember not to campaign on state time. And, that no one actually has to campaign for the attorney general, and “your job is not dependant on you even supporting Judge McGraw.”
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It appears that the e-mail and memoranda was created on state time, distributed and read on state time, and OK’d by McGraw’s number one member of his staff. If memory serves me correct, I thought that one Kanawha County Prosecutor (last name Charnock) lost his job for this exact same thing.
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Then this evening, as we were writing this story, another document was sent to us with a note saying “if this helps.” It is a letter created and written from McGraw’s office thanking everyone for supporting him. The source who sent it claims the letter was printed from the AG’s office. At the bottom, it states “printed in-house”…. The heading reads…..“Friends of Attorney General Darrell V. McGraw” with a big gold seal of WV in the middle of the letterhead. The name of the recipient had been cut out, but the rest of the letter was very interesting.
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It goes on to say that McGraw is a democratic leader in Kanawha County and how he has been targeted by the National Chamber of Commerce to lose the election. It also explains why he uses outside counsel to enforce the law and how he has accomplished a lot over the years while he has been in the AG’s office. And, to vote for him on November 4.
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Actually, this author understands how it is possible that the Attorney General has to use outside counsel for some litigation because some of his upper staff attorneys, like Christie Utt, who earns $96,000 a year, is too busy counseling (running) the Racing Commission on every little tiny problem that arises there. Ms Utt, who was mentioned in another one of our stories, has been the focus of another investigation we are working on that includes a 25 minute phone conversation that occurred this past summer regarding the racing commission, greyhound members, staff and people she did not like. Now I’m sure we are on that list.
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During our tape recorded conversation, Utt actually stated she would be willing to provide our watchdog group with some “off the record” information from time to time if we could keep her name out of it. That deal fell through when we wrote about her in another story.
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According to reports provided by our source in the AG’s office, Christie Utt bills the racing commission for each and every phone call, letter and other expense she alleges occurred with the racing commission. One would think that her time could be better spent and money saved in the state’s budget if she was defending some of the legal issues that the Attorney General is “outsourcing.”
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Not being proficient on state laws and regulations, this author is only assuming that it is not policy to use state owned computers, printing equipment and/or be on company time when sending or receiving e-mails of a personal nature.
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And, there is probably some WV state law against sending a state memo to employees that indirectly, but, makes subtle hints that the staff of the attorney general’s office should be out putting up campaign signs and/or volunteering to work at the AG’s campaign headquarters. Memo’s that appear to be created, produced and distributed on “company time.”
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Finally, somewhere, I’m sure there is another statute prohibiting the AG from creating, printing and mailing out letters pre-thanking everyone for supporting his campaign. Letters that actually states they are “printed in house.”
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Note: It is our understanding that whenever someone speaks out against the AG, Fran Hughes calls local media and says the state is going to sue them. We hope so….. And as always, anyone who wishes to see any of the documents mentioned in this story, send us a mailing address, and we will send them straight to you.
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October 31, 2008... The AG's office has denied all recent stories, both ours & the medias, on Darrell McGraw. Fran Hughes has said that all of the news on the internet, TV & Newspapers is "a lie." So, today we distributed copies of our documents to the media and other state agencies, showing proof to back up the story we wrote. Sorry Fran Hughes, we have proof.
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End Of Story
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Jack Swint & Sam Webber
PWDGroup
P.O. Box 78
Shoals, WV 25562
304-549-4978
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PWDGroup@gmail.com
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