Parkersburg Mayor Bob Newell
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — A complaint filed Tuesday with the West Virginia Ethics Commission alleges an anonymously distributed set of electronic files shows Mayor Bob Newell had an affair with the city finance director, Ashley Flowers, whose salary was increased this year by 20 percent.
Newell said he was limited in what he could say because the flash drive is the subject of an open criminal investigation by the West Virginia State Police – in which he said he is the victim.
Flowers said she was involved in nothing unethical.
“This is a bogus ethics complaint,” she said.
The complaint was filed by Wood County Republican Party Chairman Rob Cornelius, who provided a copy of it to the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. He said he also notified the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office and the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia.
“This disk, if the nearly 1,400 files on it are genuine, alleges many facets of a year-long affair between the 61-year-old Mayor and the 30-year-old City Finance Director, Ashley Flowers,” the complaint says. “There are text messages, letters, emails, audio recordings, video recordings, and hundreds of pictures.”
The complaint also says the alleged affair resulted in “improper use of municipal time, monies and property/equipment for several months from early 2014 to present.”
Ethics commission executive director Rebecca Stepto said that under state code she could neither confirm nor deny the filing of a complaint.
Attorney General spokeswoman Beth Ryan also said she could not confirm or deny the material had been submitted.
Attempts to reach the U.S. Attorney’s office after regular business hours were unsuccessful.
West Virginia State Police Capt. A.L. Cummings, stationed in Kanawha County, said recently that an investigation was opened Jan. 9 into “a thumb drive containing some personal information.”
“All indications at this point is that there’s nothing criminal, at least on behalf of the mayor” or any other city employees, he said.
Cummings did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday. After the initial interview, he said he did not expect any charges to be filed in the matter, but it had not been officially closed.
Newell said Tuesday the investigation involved material being illegally obtained, including government emails. He said he has not seen the flash drive and cannot speak to the validity of anything on it.
“I will make a decision, as the victim, whether to file criminal or civil charges against those who manufactured it or disseminated it,” the mayor said.
Flowers said she hasn’t seen the drive either.
“I do know there was information stolen from me,” she said. “I cannot verify anything on the disk as to whether it is true or fabricated.”
In the complaint, Cornelius qualifies his remarks by saying “if” the allegations are true.
“I just wanted law enforcement to tell me is this real or is this not,” he said Tuesday.
Cornelius said he wasn’t overly concerned about the identity of the person who sent him the disk because it seems legitimate. If someone wanted to fabricate allegations against the mayor, they might do so with a couple of files, he said, but the sheer volume of material, to him, lends credence to the claims.
“If any of it is even remotely close to true, I would assume it’s actionable,” Cornelius said.
Cornelius questioned a raise Flowers received recently that moved her annual salary from $60,000 to $72,000. He said for an employee who had been with the city less than a year to receive “a five-figure increase” and allegedly be involved in an affair with the mayor raises red flags.
“To me, that clearly violates the (state) Ethics Act. That would be up to the Ethics Commission to decide,” Cornelius said.
Flowers vehemently denied the accusation that her raise had anything to do with Newell.
“Any raises given were not given by him,” she said. “They were given by council.”
Flowers worked as an assistant finance director for the city in 2013, leaving the job in October. Prior to departing, she said, she agreed to work an extra week to develop suggestions for reorganizing the department.
She returned to the city in late November of that year and was named finance director in December 2013. Newell said in a News and Sentinel article then that raising the pay to $60,000 to make it more competitive was a factor in Flowers taking the job.
This summer, the administration proposed a restructuring of salaries in the city to eliminate problems caused by longevity pay and make base salaries more competitive. Initially, an increase was not proposed for the finance director position, Flowers said.
Flowers said she met with all nine council members over time to present the plan and the reasoning for the changes to job classifications and pay rates for jobs ranging from engineering associate to public works director.
Documents she provided show comparisons of the proposed salaries for department heads and the amounts in place in other West Virginia cities. The finance director position ranged from $70,612 in Huntington to $96,542 in Charleston.
“We did not compare at all,” Flowers said Tuesday. “These new amounts were based off of all the other cities and the level of responsibility that you have.”
The pay restructuring was unanimously approved by council in September. Other department heads saw their salaries increase by 11.5 percent to nearly 27 percent.
Parkersburg City Councilwoman Sharon Lynch said she had suggested a new approach to the city’s salary structure for years.
“I’m the one that asked for the market study of all the positions in city government,” she said.
Lynch said she did not know about allegations of an affair between the mayor and the finance director.
“I think he’s doing a good job” as mayor, she said. “Whatever he does in private life’s his own business.”
Asked about a relationship with Flowers, Newell said, “I cannot comment any further than what I just (said).”
When asked about a relationship with Newell, Flowers responded, “Due to the volatile divorce I am going through and with my daughters’ safety at the top of my concerns, I don’t really feel at this time I should comment on that in either way.”
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