A well-placed source tells me that the subpoena to the Division of Highways was for all contracts, communications, and other documents involving Puccio and York and its employees from 2002 to the present.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A little more illumination on the subpoenas in the federal grand jury investigation: A well-placed source tells me that the subpoena to the Division of Highways was for all contracts, communications, and other documents involving Puccio and York and its employees from 2002 to the present.
Speculation since the first round of subpoenas went out this time last year was that the feds were looking into contracts awarded to the Fairmont-based property appraisal firm, co-owned by former Manchin chief of staff and current state Democratic Party Chairman Larry Puccio.
Which is interesting, since as reported here previously and confirmed by the source, Puccio and York never got a particularly big chunk of Highways right-of-way appraisal business -- and the amount of work dropped off considerably after Puccio became Manchin's gubernatorial chief of staff in 2005.
What may have piqued the feds' interest is that, at Puccio's direction, Highways changed the way it awards appraisal contracts. It went from a no-bid system using a list of approved appraisers, to a system that required that contracts be put out to bid and awarded to the lowest-bidder from appraisers on the approved list.
(You may recall that in 2009, Gov. Joe Manchin introduced legislation to require the same bidding process for state engineering design contracts. It was shot down after throngs of engineers showed up at the Capitol and convinced legislators that the bid process would cost more and provide inferior work compared to qualification-based selection system.)
Which is what happened, I'm told, with the appraisal contracts, which went from an average of about $2,500 per appraisal up to the $5,000 to $7,500 range. (The approved appraiser community in the state is a small one of 31 individuals working for about eight to 10 different firms, and the source believes they are able to "discuss" among themselves how much to bid for particular projects.)
How does Puccio and York fit into all of this? Apparently, the reason their DOH contracts dropped off so noticeably after Puccio left is that the quality of the appraisal work became so poor under partner Linda York that folks in the Right-of-Way Division were skipping over Puccio and York when awarding contracts under the old system.
Requiring a bidding process, the source believes, was intended as a way to give Puccio and York at least a chance of landing some of the right-of-way work.
The total amount of subpoenaed documents, I'm advised, turned out to be quite voluminous, taking a week of nearly 'round-the-clock work to compile, and filling an entire conference room at Highways.
***
Speaking of Manchin, while I question whether his lead over Republican businessman John Raese has slipped to 6 percentage points, as a recent Rasmussen Reports poll indicated, one thing is clear: Raese's message (via some $400,000 of TV and radio ads to date) that he won't be a rubber stamp for President Barack Obama is resonating with West Virginia voters.
To date, Manchin has danced around the Obama issue. On primary election night, when asked about Obama's energy policy, Manchin said something to the effect of, he would tell the president, "Let me show you a better way to do it..."
At some point, Manchin will have to (to paraphrase the words of Sgt. R. Lee Ermey chug out of mamby-pamby land and take a firm stand in opposition to the administration.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A little more illumination on the subpoenas in the federal grand jury investigation: A well-placed source tells me that the subpoena to the Division of Highways was for all contracts, communications, and other documents involving Puccio and York and its employees from 2002 to the present.
Speculation since the first round of subpoenas went out this time last year was that the feds were looking into contracts awarded to the Fairmont-based property appraisal firm, co-owned by former Manchin chief of staff and current state Democratic Party Chairman Larry Puccio.
Which is interesting, since as reported here previously and confirmed by the source, Puccio and York never got a particularly big chunk of Highways right-of-way appraisal business -- and the amount of work dropped off considerably after Puccio became Manchin's gubernatorial chief of staff in 2005.
What may have piqued the feds' interest is that, at Puccio's direction, Highways changed the way it awards appraisal contracts. It went from a no-bid system using a list of approved appraisers, to a system that required that contracts be put out to bid and awarded to the lowest-bidder from appraisers on the approved list.
(You may recall that in 2009, Gov. Joe Manchin introduced legislation to require the same bidding process for state engineering design contracts. It was shot down after throngs of engineers showed up at the Capitol and convinced legislators that the bid process would cost more and provide inferior work compared to qualification-based selection system.)
Which is what happened, I'm told, with the appraisal contracts, which went from an average of about $2,500 per appraisal up to the $5,000 to $7,500 range. (The approved appraiser community in the state is a small one of 31 individuals working for about eight to 10 different firms, and the source believes they are able to "discuss" among themselves how much to bid for particular projects.)
How does Puccio and York fit into all of this? Apparently, the reason their DOH contracts dropped off so noticeably after Puccio left is that the quality of the appraisal work became so poor under partner Linda York that folks in the Right-of-Way Division were skipping over Puccio and York when awarding contracts under the old system.
Requiring a bidding process, the source believes, was intended as a way to give Puccio and York at least a chance of landing some of the right-of-way work.
The total amount of subpoenaed documents, I'm advised, turned out to be quite voluminous, taking a week of nearly 'round-the-clock work to compile, and filling an entire conference room at Highways.
***
Speaking of Manchin, while I question whether his lead over Republican businessman John Raese has slipped to 6 percentage points, as a recent Rasmussen Reports poll indicated, one thing is clear: Raese's message (via some $400,000 of TV and radio ads to date) that he won't be a rubber stamp for President Barack Obama is resonating with West Virginia voters.
To date, Manchin has danced around the Obama issue. On primary election night, when asked about Obama's energy policy, Manchin said something to the effect of, he would tell the president, "Let me show you a better way to do it..."
At some point, Manchin will have to (to paraphrase the words of Sgt. R. Lee Ermey chug out of mamby-pamby land and take a firm stand in opposition to the administration.
Short of that, given Obama's extremely high negatives among state voters, we could see more national political forecasts move the November election from "solid Democrat" to "leans Democrat" and perhaps even to "toss-up."
***
As reported here, Manchin hosted a class reunion for Farmington High's classes of 1964, '65, and '66 on at the governor's mansion party tent on special primary election night.
Some of the attendees, who were staying at downtown Charleston hotels, stayed past the 11 p.m. cut-off for hotel shuttle bus service, and were given rides back to their hotels by State Police assigned to the governor's security detail.
(I didn't realize people that old could party past 11 ...)
***
Finally, it seems that the national media apparently believes that Raese's last name is pronounced "race."
Last Sunday morning, I was watching cable news coverage of the special primary election, only to hear the Fox News fox declare that the November special election would pit Manchin against Republican "John Race."
(My first thought was of"Race" Bannon ... Manchin versus Race Bannon, now, that would be a campaign!)
Then, an article Monday on the TIME/CNN website Real Clear Politics regarding the Rasmussen poll was headlined, "A Real Raese in the Mountain State?"
Perhaps the Raese campaign can send out a pronunciation guide to the national media.
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.
