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Corruption

One reason public corruption is so persistent in West Virginia is that too often, the penalty for getting one’s hand caught in the till amounts to a slap on the wrist in comparison to the rich rewards of cheating taxpayers.

After receiving a tip in 2015, federal investigators uncovered a scheme to award certain West Virginia Division of Highways projects illegally to a South Carolina firm, Dennis Corp. Four men have pleaded guilty to crimes in connection with the corruption.

Two are former DOH traffic engineers. Another is an engineering professor at Marshall University. The fourth is Mark Whitt, who also happens to own Bayliss & Ramsey, of Scott Depot.

It happens that Bayliss & Ramsey has a contract with the state to maintain traffic signals. Since 2006, that has garnered the company $65.4 million, according to a published report.

Dennis Corp., which received more than $1 million from the DOH, also got some state money by acting as a subcontractor for Bayliss & Ramsey.

Reportedly, both companies are still eligible to bid on future contracts with the state.

You read correctly: Companies involved in chicanery involving previous state contracts apparently are welcome to seek new ones.

That makes no sense. None at all. Why on earth would state officials trust people and companies with records of attempting to take advantage of taxpayers?

It really is no wonder our state’s long, sordid history of corruption seems to be continuing unabated. It seems state officials do not buy into the old adage: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

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