CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former Division of Natural Resources supervisor Eugene Thorn was fined $5,000 Thursday for state Ethics Act violations stemming from his involvement in the operations of the gift shop and snack bar at the French Creek Wildlife Center.
Ethics Commissioners also ordered Thorn to reimburse the commission $2,362 for the costs of the prosecution and issued a public reprimand against him.
Commissioners concluded that Thorn, who was the DNR supervisor at the wildlife center, had an improper financial interest in the gift shop by loaning Ulrika Browning $5,000 to pay for a surety bond she needed to operate the facility, and by demanding immediate repayment of the loan, with interest, after his wife, Sandra Thorn, stopped working in the shop.
During a commission hearing in July, Browning testified that Eugene Thorn had recruited her in late 2012 to bid on the gift shop contract, something she said she agreed to do only if Sandra Thorn would be her partner in the business.
Browning said she and Sandra Thorn agreed to split profits 50-50, but when the shop brought in little revenue initially, Thorn demanded to be paid as an employee.
“I just gave her $100 a day cash,” Browning testified. “Not knowing what else to do, I paid her.”
Sandra Thorn testified at the July hearing that she barely knew Browning, but said she did agree to help out at the shop when it opened in the spring of 2013, and said she did write a $5,000 check from a joint checking account with her husband to cover the surety bond.
After a “falling out” that summer, Browning said Sandra Thorn stopped working at the shop, and that Eugene Thorn ordered her to immediately repay the loan, with 18 percent interest, in monthly payments of $500 — something Browning said she did, fearing that Thorn could terminate her contract as shop operator.
On Thursday, Thorn’s attorney, Jack Tinney of Charleston, asked commissioners to dismiss the charges, arguing that commission attorneys had failed to prove the allegations against Thorn.
“What we have here is essentially the word of Ms. Browning…who can provide no corroborating evidence to any of the complaints,” Tinney said.
Tinney noted that, despite the allegations of malfeasance, Browning has twice renewed her contract to operate the gift shop, and remains the current operator. Thorn retired from the DNR in October 2013.
Testimony at the July hearing and on Thursday established that Thorn was one member of a three-person review committee, and that the actual awarding of the contract was made by the DNR director. Browning was also the only bidder for the contract.
Commissioners ordered Thorn to pay the fine and costs by Feb. 3.
Also during Thursday’s Ethics Commission meeting:
Commissioners granted an employment exemption to state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette.
Burdette is the 24th ranking member of the Tomblin administration to be granted an employment exemption, allowing him to begin seeking employment with businesses or persons otherwise regulated by his department. Like the others, Burdette indicated he would suffer an adverse financial impact if he could not immediately begin a job search prior to the end of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s term of office in January.
Commissioners authorized the state Fire Marshal’s Office to produce and sell calendars featuring children’s fire safety posters, and to donate a portion of the proceeds to the West Virginia State Fireman’s Association to help maintain the Fallen Firefighters’ memorial statue at the state Culture Center.
Commissioner Betty Ireland said the commission should stipulate that no names of public officials may be included on the calendar.
“I’m sure this is innocent, but we’re in political times, and I don’t want to see elected officials’ names on this calendar,” said Ireland, a former secretary of state.
However, commission attorneys noted that the Legislature expanded the so-called trinkets ban in the Ethics Act during the 2016 session to include prohibiting officials’ names and likenesses on a variety of publications and educational items, including calendars.
Executive Director Rebecca Stepto advised that the commission has received a total of 93 verified complaints of possible ethics violations this calendar year, down from a record 136 complaints at this point last year.
Reach Phil Kabler at [email protected], 304-348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.