By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice’s office claimed $28.3 million in state corrections money for COVID-related spending, saying the agency could be reimbursed with federal coronavirus relief money.
But instead of doing that, the Governor’s Office has sat on most of the money since transferring it Sept. 30 to a discretionary account the governor controls, while spending $10 million of the total on a new baseball stadium for Marshall University.
Berkeley Bentley, general counsel to the Governor’s Office, made that acknowledgment to the Senate Finance Committee in a hearing Friday to learn about the $28.3 million transfer.
Less than 1% of the $28.3 million had been reimbursed to state corrections as of Jan. 31, according to the state Auditor’s Office. Roughly $280,000 from the discretionary account, the Governor’s Office Gifts, Grants and Donations Fund, went toward human resources in a mid-December transfer, according to Auditor’s Office data…
