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It's a shame, but West Virginia continues to earn its reputation among federal officials that it simply cannot be trusted with U.S. taxpayer money.
Last week, a federal grand jury indicted Timothy Priddy -- who held positions ranging up to director of the state Bureau for Public Health's Center for Threat Preparedness -- on charges of making false statements to federal agents in August 2022 and in grand jury testimony the following month about coronovairus pandemic relief payments. Priddy is accused of having approved more than $34 million to a private firm without verifying that vendor actually provided the goods and services it was under contract to deliver.
There is some confusion about whether there were one or more vendors providing COVID-19 tests and mitigation services to the state, which then overbilled or otherwise received payment from federal funds disbursed through the Department of Health and Human Resources.
But prosecutors said a vendor reported the results of about 49,000 COVID-19 tests between October 2020 and March 2022 but submitted invoices reflecting the cost of about 518,000 test kits. And, they say, Priddy certified at least 13 of the invoices totaling approximately $34 million.
Gov. Jim Justice says Priddy has been suspended. The AP says an email to Priddy was returned with the message "As of October 17, 2023, I am no longer with the DHHR Center for Threat Preparedness." The Department of Health and Human Resources says its contract with the company ended in October 2022, and that it is (as always) cooperating fully with the federal investigation.
"DHHR takes extremely seriously its responsibility as a steward of taxpayer dollars and is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accountability," DHHR spokesperson Jessica Holstein said.
Do they? How many times has a state (or county ... or municipal ...) agency in West Virginia been met with federal accusations it was doing rather the opposite? If stronger oversight is in order, public officials at all levels must begin the effort to put that structure in place. We can't afford to continue shooting ourselves in the foot because our reputation in such matters precedes us.