CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice says he knows very little about the garnishment of his salary over a debt.
The governor says his company will make good.
And, finally, the governor described the actions of a bank to have its debt repaid through his state salary as politically motivated.
“I hate this. I really, really hate it because I don’t know anything about it,” Justice said during a briefing Wednesday. “I’m sure I signed a personal guarantee on an equipment loan years and years ago, maybe even before I became the governor. But from the standpoint of notifications to me, I found out about it when you found out about it.”
The wage garnishment order was filed this month in circuit court in Randolph County on behalf of Citizens Bank of West Virginia. The garnishment was first reported by the West Virginia Record.
West Virginia’s wage for governor is set at $150,000, although Justice has often said he donates his to charity. His most recent state ethics disclosure form specifies that he donated all of his 2022 earnings as governor to the state Department of Education’s Communities in Schools program.
“You know I give away 100% of my salary, and I give it to Communities in Schools.”
The garnishment is a response to a judgment from last October for $850,000 in debt by Bluestone Resources, the coal business owned by Justice’s family. The total amount also includes $13,793 in interest plus a cost of $27 for the court filing.
Citizens Bank contended that it loaned Bluestone $2,371,764 to buy six large pieces of machinery in April 2018. It made a second loan for $278,014 to purchase more equipment.
Justice had signed documents personally guaranteeing all obligations of Bluestone. The original complaint contended Bluestone defaulted on its obligations, accusing the defendants of breach of contract.
Since becoming governor, Justice has declined to place most of his family’s business holdings into a blind trust, instead saying he has turned over their operation to his adult son and daughter.
“Immediately, when I heard about this, I called my son. He said they were in the process of satisfying this judgment. I think equipment has been delivered even to the bank,” Justice said. “I know all of this will go away. I don’t want to be critical to the bank, but it’s just a political grandstand. It’s just a way to hit back.
“I probably sympathize with the bank if the bank is frustrated and everything.”
Justice, a two-term Republican governor, is considering a high-profile run for U.S. Senate. As Politico noted last week, if Justice enters that race he would have to file personal financial disclosures that could lead to heightened scrutiny of his financial holdings.
“Without any doubt this will all be resolved, but we don’t need the grandstanding,” Justice said. “If the people just picked up the phone and called me and said, ‘We’re really, really frustrated; we can’t get this done and that done,’ I would have intervened in some way and tried to get a resolution.”
