Governor should have ensured funds for flood recovery were used to rebuild homes

No one was forced to step down in light of the RISE West Virginia scandal today.
Though this scandal has yet to rise to the scope of some, the more dots we connect, the more that appear.
Some advise that to get to the bottom of government bureaucracy, you start at the bottom.
We don’t thumb our nose at conventional wisdom often, but this time we’re going to start at the top.
That is, Gov. Jim Justice and his insistence he had no way of knowing about the issues with this long-term flood relief program.
Oddly enough, scores of his constituents from right in his backyard called for months about RISE, not only about its red tape, but more importantly, its lack of any presence or assistance aside from its website application.
Almost exactly on the two-year anniversary of a deadly flood on June 23, 2016, lawmakers learned none of the 1,200 houses destroyed were rebuilt.
That’s despite the state sitting on $150 million in funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to address recovery from this disaster.
The governor did indicate later that 18 homes were rebuilt, but did not indicate they were rebuilt with RISE funds. It should be noted the legislative auditor’s office gave Justice weeks to make corrections in its report prior to its release.
It also should be noted that no one from the governor’s office was present to answer questions about the audit or provided a written response.
This month, the governor told a news conference that HUD did not release that $150 million for long-term flood relief until February.
Actually, HUD approved a state plan for funding in June 2016, but officials didn’t seek authority to use the funds until January 2018.
Still, there’s something more stunning than the fact that this program languished in a bureaucratic stupor for nearly two years.
That is, the governor’s home and The Greenbrier resort — owned by Justice — were at Ground Zero of this flooding.
And despite this devastation, The Greenbrier still managed to host the PGA tour only a year later.
Which, of course, happened as a result of that resort spending millions to restore its golf course and facilities.
Yet, the governor knew nothing of the hundreds of families who lost their homes?
These people were hoping and praying for government assistance two years ago and are still waiting.
On June 4, the governor said, “Give us a month. Give us a month, and find out what happens.”
Gov. Justice needed to rise to the occasion months ago.