| Assistant state schools Superintendent G. A. McClung steered more than $2.3 million dollars of replacement school furniture to his longtime friend Phillip "Pork Chop" Booth, after floods destroyed schools and property in McDowell and Wyoming counties.
Booth, according to purchase records, provided more furniture than was required and charged up to four times the market value. News reports say much of the excess furniture is still in storage.
"This is just awful," said newly appointed State Board President Howard Persinger, Jr., who replaced Clay banker J. D. Morris, who was just charged with stealing $172,000 from his bank, after which he resigned.
A former State Superintendent of Schools left state service with charges of misappropriation of funds, creating a cloud over the state's educational servants.
Booth's company had never sold school furniture before, and McClung did not contact usual suppliers with a suspension of the normal bidding process related to a flood emergency.
Also in question is $11 million related to another contract for cleaning up and repairing flood damaged schools.
In 1997, Thomas Kamm filed a lawsuit against the new furniture salesman "Pork Chop" Booth, claiming he had been swindled out of $500,000 in an investment plan. That case is expected to come to trial next year. Joe and Deborah White accused Booth of swindling them of $275,000 in an elaborate stock scheme, which was settled out of court with other cases.
The State School Building Authority is investigating the charges related to the furniture contract.
The authority is promoting the construction of the most expensive school ever built in West Virginia. The proposed Lincoln County school is expected to cost more than $30 million for only 800 students.
The state Legislature's Commission on Special Investigation is looking into the furniture matter.
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