To quote comedienne Anna Russel, “I’m not making this up, you know.”
The West Virginia House Judiciary Committee approved 14 articles of impeachment against the four sitting justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals on Tuesday.
The eighth day of the committee’s meetings regarding possible impeachment produced the first material results when 14 articles of impeachment were introduced at 9:25 a.m.
By the time the committee adjourned at 6:15 p.m., its members had added two new articles to their draft and rejected two of the original proposed articles, advancing the possibility of impeachment for the majority of the elected officials in the Mountain State’s judicial branch of government.
“It’s a sad day, and it certainly isn’t a cause for celebration,” Judiciary Chairman John Shott, R-Mercer, said Tuesday as the articles were distributed to the 24 committee members present in the House chamber.
Much of this appears to be about spending money like drunken sailors on office renovations, spending in aggregate millions of dollars.
I will make a point about all this: West Virginia’s state supreme court judges are elected, and I’m wondering how this fits into all this. (I do recall that coal industry types have been packing the courts for years)
This makes New Jersey look ethical, Florida look normal, and Texas look sane.
(UPDATE)
The issues seem to be things like spending too much money redecorating their offices, the use of state vehicles, and the like.