An editorial from The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — You might think that public employees would take a little extra care to protect the privacy of people connected with the state Legislature’s most powerful member who also happens to be running for governor.
But that apparently was not the case recently when a newspaper asked for information related to an auto dealership owned by state Senate President Bill Cole, a Republican gubernatorial candidate. The Charleston Gazette-Mail had asked the state Division of Labor for information related to wage complaints filed against businesses owned by candidates for governor in West Virginia. The division reviews those complaints.
It turns out four complaints had been filed against dealerships owned by Cole’s automotive group, and they had to do with pay withheld from employees’ final paychecks after they quit working for the dealerships, according to a Gazette-Mail report.
“It’s incredible that we have a state agency that would act recklessly,” Ralph Vines, general manager of Cole Automotive Group, told the Gazette-Mail. “I can’t imagine how something like that could happen.”
It is rather difficult to believe, in this day and age…
