The West Virginia State Capitol will be decorated for Christmas in December 2024. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
As 2024 draws to a close, I have one hope for 2025: that the new state leadership will take transparency and clear communication more seriously than the Justice government.
Gov. Jim Justice’s office and the West Virginia First Foundation — while not technically a state office created by the Legislature and responsible for allocating millions of state dollars — are among the worst offenders.
Justice began holding virtual news conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic, but as other government operations returned to normal he never held them in person again. It’s easy to understand why: they give him the upper hand.
Often a reporter can personally ask a follow-up question, or another reporter in the group can pick up the thread of the questioning. Reporters might even ask a few more questions as the governor walks away. On a Zoom call, the reporter is muted as soon as the question is asked. No sequel. And when the press conference is over, someone in the Justice Department immediately closes it with a click of the key.
And Justice is not the clearest speaker. I understand all the words he says individually, but they don’t always form a coherent sentence or complete thought.
After hearing Governor-elect Patrick Morrisey speak at a press conference, I was impressed that he was able to explain himself clearly and that the media was allowed to be there in person – but the bar is so low.
Now we are experiencing problems with the West Virginia First Foundation. Although not an official government agency, the board members voted to create one public access policy to remain transparent with the public and the press.
The policy came after a rocky start, with the board not publicly announcing its first meeting and West Virginia Watch reporter Caity Coyne spending an entire day trying to confirm the meeting. Once the policy was established, communication improved.
Until a few months ago.
In September, the board stopped asking reporters questions during their virtual meetings, saying it was to ensure accurate answers for a complicated process. Often Caity is the only member of the press who attends the meetings and asks questions. She now has to email her questions after the meeting and wait much longer for answers.
Last Monday, the board held a special meeting to approve the allocation of $20 million for a regional addiction recovery project. The meeting was confusing without much detail. A press release was then sent out stating that the project is the Appalachian Continuum of Care for Overdose Reduction Network, or ACCORN. She couldn’t figure out if it was a new project or something existing.
While the meeting was still in session, she emailed the First Foundation’s media account at 3:31 p.m. in an attempt to get answers as quickly as possible. At 5:18 p.m., the media account responded by telling her that a press release had been sent out and that they could let her know if she had any questions.
She did.
At 5:46 PM, Caity responded with her questions. She received a response at 10:04 p.m
The next morning she asked if they could give her some of the partners involved in ACCORN, as the project receives almost 10% of the First Foundation’s current funds. This is the answer she got:
“ACCORN expects partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders, including municipalities, health departments, healthcare systems, universities, targeted recovery and housing providers, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) providers and more.
“As for the West Virginia First Foundation (WVFF), we can only speak to our commitment at this stage. However, as the application progresses, we aim to keep the media and public informed with more detailed updates. We look forward to sharing the significant collaborative efforts that will move this initiative forward.”
On Tuesday, December 10, Steven Allen Adams of both Caity and Ogden Newspaper heard rumors that Marshall University was involved with ACCORN. Instead of confirming when Caity asked, the media spokesperson replied: “I talked to Dr. Spoke to O’Connell and it sounds like you’re connected to someone on her team who can help provide more details.”
And so she is confirmed the First Foundation actually worked with Marshall. Not because they told her, but because she contacted Dr. Lyn O’Connell, associate director of the Division of Addiction Sciences at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University, to see if she knew anything about Marshall being involved.
A whole day of eight hours was spent on this. Don’t get me wrong. I realize that most people spend long hours working in much worse conditions and under much worse conditions. But our government officials and people responsible for spending public funds must be transparent, and the best way to do that is to talk to reporters and provide them with timely and accurate information that they then pass on to the readers – the very people of the government. servants are supposed to serve.
But a new year is coming. Let’s all start over. Let’s all be better communicators.
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