DSCC Files New Legal Actions Requesting Court Immediately Order Jim Justice to Release Work Schedule

Today, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) filed a new motion requesting the Circuit court of Kanawha County immediately order Jim Justice’s office to release records pertaining to the Governor’s official schedule or official calendar from January 2017 to present and opposing his motion to dismiss the case. 

The DSCC’s underlying lawsuit against Justice over his refusal to release his work schedule is available here. 

Justice has faced an ongoing scandal over his work schedule. The Associated Press reported Justice was “largely absent in job,” while the Charleston Gazette-Mail wrote that “work hasn’t always been top of mind for the two-term governor,” and he continues “refusing to release his official schedule and calendar.”

The DSCC has also launched a website,  , highlighting his refusal to release his work schedule and financial documents, questions about his stamina and well being that have been raised by West Virginia media outlets, and the barrage of financial controversies that his primary opponent Alex Mooney is already attacking him over. 

“Jim Justice cannot continue to hide his work schedule — or lack thereof — from West Virginians. We fully expect Justice’s schedule will receive further scrutiny in his nasty primary and in a court of law,” said DSCC spokesperson Amanda Sherman Baity. 

Key points from the motion:

• The Governor’s Office’s denial of Plaintiff’s Request violates FOIA because the Request seeks public records of a public body, and no exemption applies.

• In its motion to dismiss, the Governor’s Office asserts that records of official meetings held by Governor Justice and his senior staff do not relate to the “public’s business.” If the Governor and his staff were not doing the public’s business in their official meetings, whose business were they doing?   

• No exemption shields the requested records from FOIA’s disclosure requirements. “There is a presumption of public accessibility to all public records, subject only to” the Act’s express exemptions. W.V. Code § 29B-1-4(a) (emphasis added). Those exemptions “are to be strictly construed.” Syl. Pt. 4, Hechler v. Casey, 175 W. Va. 434, 442, 333 S.E.2d 799, 808 (1985). None covers the records Plaintiff seeks.

• Plaintiff is therefore entitled to denial of the motion to dismiss and to summary judgment that the Governor’s Office’s complete refusal to disclose records responsive to Plaintiff’s request violated FOIA.

See also:  Governor Jim Justice’s Office Again Refused to Release Records Pertaining to His Official Schedule or Official Calendar; TODAY: Jim Justice Faces Court Deadline to Respond to DSCC Lawsuit Over Refusal to Release Work Schedule; What They’re Saying: DSCC’s Lawsuit Against Jim Justice Over Refusal to Release Work Schedule; Quick Facts on DSCC’s Lawsuit Against Jim Justice Over Refusal to Release Work Schedule; What They’re Saying: DSCC Launches WhatIsJimJusticeHiding.com;DSCC Highlights Jim Justice’s Failure to Release Official Schedule Outside DC Fundraiser; New Video: WV TV Highlights DSCC Lawsuit Against Jim Justice; On West Virginia TV: DSCC Sues Jim Justice Over Work Schedule Amid “Ongoing Scandal” That “Justice Was Largely Absent In Job”; What They’re Saying: DSCC Files Lawsuit Against Jim Justice Over Refusal to Release Work Schedule Amid “Ongoing Scandal”; DSCC Sends Jim Justice Litigation Hold Over Refusal to Release Work Schedule; What They’re Saying: DSCC “Seize[s] On Reports Jim Justice ‘Largely Absent,’” Will File Lawsuit To Obtain Official Schedule And Calendar; ICYMI: Justice is blind (to document requests) [POLITICO Playbook PM].

###