Earlier this year the failed governor of WV, Pat Morrisey, hosted Bobby Junior in Martinsburg to celebrate some meaning MAHA victory. After Bobby Junior viciously insulted Morrisey, he mentioned he’d gotten to know the governor while they were both staying at Dr. Oz’s house during the transition:
“We were working on the transition at Mar-a-Lago, and we were both invited to stay during that time at Dr. Oz’s house. I said to Gov. Morrisey the first time I saw him: ‘You look like you ate Governor Morrisey.’”
This struck me as very odd. Morrisey was the WV attorney general at that point, and since he’s from New Jersey, he’s not a hotbed of information about WV. He’s also pretty useless, so I had no idea why he would have been part of the transition.
So on July 29 I sent a FOIA request to the WV AG’s office asking for, among other things, Morrisey’s travel documentation, travel reimbursements, and copies of his annual leave requests (assuming that he would have properly taken annual leave on business days where he was not working on WV business) for the period November 1, 2024–January 31, 2025.
WV state law is pretty clear about how the FOIA process works:
(4) All requests for information must state with reasonable specificity the information sought. The custodian, upon demand for records made under this statute, shall as soon as is practicable but within a maximum of five days not including Saturdays, Sundays, orlegal holidays:
(a) Furnish copies of the requested information;
(b) Advise the person making the request of the time and place at which he or she may inspect and copy the materials; or
(c) Deny the request stating in writing the reasons for such denial.
I had no response after 5 business days, so on August 6 I emailed the contact person again. On August 8 he responded that he was out of the office and that I would have my response the following Monday (August 11). I had no response on August 11, so as he had not specified which Monday I would hear back from the office, I followed up again on Monday, August 18 and Monday, August 25.
I guess I should not be surprised since we all know that Republicans have no respect for the rule of law and consider themselves above the law. In fact, the WV Senate passed a bill trying to exempt itself from the FOIA legislation and made an effort to generally weaken public access to state records:
The bill overturns the presumption of openness
For decades, West Virginia’s FOIA said that all government records were presumed to be available to the public, unless they fell within a narrow list of exemptions. This bill deletes that “presumption of public accessibility” language from the statute.
It eliminates the burden of proof on agencies in FOIA litigation
Under West Virginia’s FOIA, citizens can go to court to challenge an agency’s decision to withhold records. Currently, the law puts the burden of proof in those lawsuits on government agency defendants to show why their denial of access should be upheld. This bill eliminates that language.
The legislation expands what agencies can charge for records
West Virginia law currently does not allow agencies to charge fees for time employees spend searching for records to respond to requests. The law has instead only allowed agencies to charge for the actual cost in making copies. This bill allows search fees.
Response times will greatly increase
Instead of having to respond within 5 days, agencies will have 14 days to respond to FOIA requests.
Already, there are often long delays in obtaining records, largely because the current 5-day response time allows a response to simply tell the requester some future time and place when they can get the records.
Based on how my simple request is being handled, I have to assume that the records of the governor’s trip(s) to Florida during the presidential transition contain incriminating evidence. Maybe one day I’ll be able to see them.
It feels right to close with this:
Sue the bastards
i might.