MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A review of emails sought by the Teamsters Union in a Freedom of Information Act suit against WVU doesn’t appear to show any smoking gun of collusion to tailor a study that supported right-to-work legislation.
In unredacted versions of the emails in question, John Deskins, director of WVU’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER), states his pleasure for the opportunity to conduct the study, and at one point, states his opinion on how right-to-work legislation in other states has affected union membership.
Exchanges between Deskins and Richie Heath, chief counsel for Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, indicate that the study was intended to influence pending right-to-work legislation, not that Heath (and legislative leadership) and Deskins planned to skew the study.
First redacted email…