CHARLESTON — It has been 11 months since Woody Thrasher, the former secretary of the West Virginia Department of Commerce, resigned at the request of Gov. Jim Justice. Now, the Republican candidate for governor is speaking out about the program that led to his ouster, while the Governor’s Office pushes back.

Thrasher sat down Thursday for his first interview regarding the RISE West Virginia disaster relief program since he resigned June 14.

“At the time, I did not make comment on that because I thought it was awfully important for the program to go forward because it impacted a thousand families or so,” Thrasher said at the offices of the engineering firm he started with his father in the 1980s.

“I did not want to be disruptive at the time of my dismissal over that program,” Thrasher said. “I was certainly upset with how it had been handled and felt at some point in time it would be important for me to set the story straight.”

Thrasher inherited RISE when he took office as commerce secretary Jan. 16, 2017. Parts of southern and central West Virginia were rocked by massive floods starting June 22, 2016, sweeping away homes, businesses and people across multiple counties.

On Oct. 28, 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the first of more than $149 million in Community Development Block Grant funds for disaster recovery — the first time West Virginia had received this kind of funding. The first award of $17 million became the seed that would become RISE West Virginia, managed by the department’s Development Office.

Under former Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, former Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette requested emergency purchasing authority to accept bids for consulting companies to help the state develop an action plan for the funding to submit to HUD. The company would also help the state with guidance, design and development on how to best use the funding. On Dec. 12, 2016, the state selected Horne LLP as the consulting firm to help RISE use the massive influx of federal dollars. “That’s a lot of money, and it warranted me paying attention to it,” Thrasher said.

When Thrasher came into the Commerce Department, he was briefed on the divisions under his supervision, including the RISE program. Thrasher Engineering, the company he ran before putting it in a blind trust to run Commerce, had years of experience dealing with block grant funding through HUD for water and sewer projects in cities and towns across West Virginia. The Commerce Department had never received more than a few million dollars at a time for HUD projects. This was new territory for Thrasher and the Commerce staff.