By Steven Allen Adams, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Just as scaffolding is going up in the upper rotunda to begin work on the final four of eight murals in the State Capitol Building, a lawsuit was filed to halt the project, accusing state officials of not following state law.
West Virginia residents Gregory Morris and Tom Acosta filed a lawsuit Friday afternoon in Kanawha County Circuit Court against Capitol Building Commission Chairman and West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History Cabinet Secretary Randall Reid-Smith, members of an informal committee that signed off on the final renditions of the murals, and John Canning and Co.
The lawsuit also names Department of Administration Acting Cabinet Secretary Jon McHugh and State Treasurer Riley Moore.
Harvey Peyton, an attorney representing Morris and Acosta, is asking the court to declare a contract for the murals between Reid-Smith and John Canning and Co. null and void, an order directing the Department of Administration’s General Services Division to remove the murals and prohibit any further work, prohibit any further payments to Canning, require Reid-Smith and Canning to repay the state, as well as any attorney fees.
“The entire project for placement of the subject murals in the Capitol is the result of a void contract entered into by Randall Reid-Smith and Canning in violation of the statutes, rules and regulations governing government purchases in West Virginia and without the mandatory approval of the CBC,” Peyton wrote.
