Statehouse Beat: Vaccine lottery under the microscope again

If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Fowler was featured prominently in the April 10, 2022, edition of Statehouse Beat, having received a 1099-MISC tax form from the Governor’s Office placing the value of the Chevy Silverado 1500 she won at $85,162.

That, she found, was a steep price for a mid-level Silverado that lacked leather seats, a sky roof or even a bedliner, with similar models retailing in the $47,000 to $52,000 range.

Even though the dealership dressed it up with a lift kit, oversized tires and steps, it was hardly the top-of-the-line luxury pickup that Justice claimed would be awarded as prizes in the vaccination sweepstakes.

The only thing about the truck that was top-of-the-line was the price, and as I reported at the time, that was because the Governor’s Office staff were gadding about the state trying to buy 14 luxury pickups at the height of the new vehicle shortage, when pandemic-related production issues left many dealerships with nearly empty lots and little to no inventory.

In other words, it was a seller’s market in extremis.

Unfortunately for Fowler and the other winners, they were obligated to report the sky-high prices the Governor’s Office had paid for the trucks — not the fair market value — as income.

The CBS report had one nugget of new information, reporting that federal investigators are looking into the sweepstakes expenses, issuing subpoenas focusing on whether the governor overpaid (or was overcharged) for the sweepstakes trucks.

Justice at his weekly virtual briefing Tuesday devoted a good deal of time to disputing the CBS report, even having chief of staff Brian Abraham tell state media that the feds had subpoenaed sales documents for one truck purchase, and that he believes the U.S. Attorney’s Office has closed the case.

While there’s no evidence that the Justice administration conspired with car dealers to jack-up truck prices, or that there were kickbacks or any other quid pro quo, the whole affair reeks of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars and poor judgment.

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Looking back, the Do It For Babydog vaccine lottery was more of a fiasco than first thought.

When launched in May 2021, Justice said the program would use $10 million of the state’s $1.25 billion in federal CARES Act funds to incentivize residents to get COVID-19 vaccinations.

Actual total cost of the sweepstakes, according to the state Auditor’s Office, was a whopping $23.46 million.

At the time, Justice said $1 million would go for $100 gift cards to be awarded through random drawings.

While total spending on gift cards is not spelled out in the auditor’s report, cash sweepstakes prizes totaled $5.68 million. Recall that Justice gave out five $1 million sweepstakes prizes, so we can presume the cash cards totaled in the $680,000 range, suggesting about 6,800 prizes were awarded.

However, according to the auditor’s report, the Governor’s Office paid $1,030,029 to purchase an undisclosed number of unloaded electronic gift cards, and then paid a vendor (not disclosed in the report) $3,192,000 to load the cash value onto the cards.

If my math is correct, the governor’s office paid the vendor nearly $470 for each card loaded with a $100 cash value. If that’s correct, maybe that’s where the feds should be looking.

(Recall that the Governor’s Office bypassed normal Purchasing Division requirements for sweepstakes purchases, and none of it was competitively bid.)

As the Gazette-Mail reported at the time, and again on Wednesday, the program — like many vaccination incentive lotteries launched by states during the pandemic — was an abject failure.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the sweepstakes, an average of 931 vaccine doses a day were administered in West Virginia. Prior to the launch, the state had been averaging 4,584 doses a day.

(Perhaps a fatal flaw of the sweepstakes was that any resident with proof of vaccination could enter, rather than limiting participation to persons who got vaccinated during the lottery.)

However, the sweepstakes did accomplish one thing.

In the fall of 2019, Justice’s approval rating was underwater at 42%, sixth-lowest among U.S. governors.

He was equally distrusted by Republicans, having run as a Democrat in 2016, and by Democrats, whom he had betrayed by flopping back to the Republican Party in 2017.

At the time, a lawsuit contending that Justice was violating the state Constitution by refusing to reside in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä was in the headlines, creating the impression that Justice was treating the high office as a part-time job.

Two state budget impasses in prior years had also revealed Justice’s ineptitude in negotiating with the Legislature.

Then the pandemic hit.

In short order, Justice launched his virtual COVID-19 briefings — hermetically sealed, rigidly controlled press briefings in which he offered guidance and testimony from health care experts like WVU Medicine’s Dr. Clay Marsh.

During the briefings, Justice managed to tell everyone exactly what they wanted to hear.

Everyone should get vaccinated, he would say, unless you don’t want to, because ‘Merica.

Then came the vaccination sweepstakes, and Justice repeatedly went flying around the state like a game show emcee, awarding all manner of cash prizes, trucks, cars, ATVs, motorboats, guns, scholarships, vacations, sports season tickets, dream wedding packages, and even lawnmowers, all with his crack PR team and local media in tow.

There’s a reason why game show hosts are among the most popular TV personalities. How can you not like someone who gives away cash and prizes?

Big Jim rode the $23 million of taxpayer dollars to his current 66% approval rating — which, from his perspective, is likely considered money well spent.

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During the briefing, Justice devoted considerable time to denigrating the CBS News report — a report for which he had declined to be interviewed — calling it “18-karat garbage,� and suggesting it was a partisan hit job.

During the question-and-answer portion of the briefing, Metronews’ Brad McElhinny advised Justice that Scott MacFarlane, the lead reporter for the CBS report, was participating in the Zoom teleconference, and asked if MacFarlane would be allowed to ask a question.

Justice did not respond, and ultimately, did not allow MacFarlane to participate.

Although Justice claims he takes questions from each and every reporter participating in the virtual briefings, I and many of my Gazette-Mail colleagues can attest that is a lie.

Of course, the virtual format — which persists long after the COVID-19 state of emergency has passed — allows Justice to control access and to block reporters who might ask tough questions.

There’s a word for someone who goes on at length in a public forum to dispute the accuracy of a news report, and then refuses to take a question from the reporter who coauthored the report.

That word is coward.

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Justice closed out Tuesday’s already bizarre briefing with a bizarre, 12-minute plea essentially calling on the media to lay off coverage of the financial difficulties facing the Justice family businesses.

“What I would hope you would do is just calm down a little bit and let Jay and Jill do their thing,� Justice asked, referring to his son and daughter, who are ostensibly in charge of the family businesses while Justice is governor.

The plea came on the same day a federal judge rejected a motion by Justice’s attorneys to defer turning over financial records in a suit by a coal marketing company seeking payment of a prior nearly $2 million judgment against Justice coal companies on the grounds the documents could be used against him in his U.S. Senate campaign.

Attorneys for the marketing company noted rationally that the easiest way for Justice to avoid possible public scrutiny of his financial records would be to pay up the $2 million he owes.

In a pique of paranoia, Justice went on Tuesday to say that, as a U.S. Senate candidate, he is the target of “weaponized� Biden administration agencies and hit jobs by the “liberal media.�

More than 10 months to go to the 2024 primary, and the guy’s already cracking.

This as the far-right Club For Growth has barely tapped into the $10 million it plans to spend on attack ads against him, as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has barely geared up its attack machinery, and as key primary opponent Alex Mooney has yet to go full-out ugly on him.

It’s going to get a lot hotter for Justice between now and May 7, 2024, and I fear he’s too thin-skinned to handle it.