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By Dianne Weaver
A criminal investigation of House Education Chairman Jerry Mezzatesta has
been launched in Kanawha County by Prosecutor Mike Clifford.
The investigation comes a day after former Kanawha County school board
candidate Tifney Terry said the West Virginia Ethics Commission was misled
into dismissing an ethics complaint against the Hampshire County Democrat.
Terry has said Mezzatesta and state schools Superintendent David Stewart
"lied" under oath that Mezzatesta had not solicited a state grant for his
employer, the Hampshire County Board of Education.
Mezzatesta was not to take such action, being a legislator and being an
employee of Hampshire schools.
Mezzatesta had launched an effort to return Stewart to his position after
Stewart resigned from the state superintendent's job, giving a passionate
speech on the house floor and seeking to increase the official's salary to
$200,000.
The state ethics commission had dismissed all the complaints against
Mezzatesta, related to his double-dipping and obtaining a $70,000 education
grant, some of which he reportedly used for funding local fire departments.
Mezzatesta has also brought $800,000 of "Mezz Money" back to his home
county from the Budget Digest, a legal pork barrel system where certain
legislators appear to be rewarded for their support of the house and senate
leadership.
Mezzatesta is also charged with changing the school funding formula to
benefit his county.
State School Superintendent David Stewart now appears to have recanted his
sworn testimony after letters he wrote were posted on a web site.
Several West Virginia newspapers have written editorials calling for the
abolishment of the State Ethics Commission.
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