TENNANT RELEASES “NANCY’S STORY” TO HIGHLIGHT FIRED EMPLOYEES

Charleston, W.Va. – Former Secretary of State Natalie Tennant is telling the story of the 16 employees illegally fired by Mac Warner on his first day in office in her latest campaign commercial hitting airwaves and social media this week. The $4 million dollar lawsuit is the largest settlement in state history.

“It’s a amazing that during this time the Republicans in the West Virginia Legislature were impeaching a Supreme Court Justice for spending $32,000 on a couch, and yet turned a blind eye to Warner breaking the law that resulted in the equivalent of Warner purchasing 125 couches,” Tennant said.

Throughout the court case, Warner kept changing his story on why he fired the employees. First he told the public it was for budgetary reasons and that he had to reduce staff size. He fired 16 employees and then hired 22. Later he claimed the employees were incompetent even though he never took the time to interview them personally or review their personnel files.

Nancy Harrison worked at the Secretary of State’s office for ten years after being hired by former Secretary of State Betty Ireland. In the commercial, Nancy’s Story, Nancy shares a very personal story about her work ethic despite her personal struggles.

“I had never been fired before,” Harrison said. “I was a dedicated employee who rarely missed work even through my dying daughter’s battle with cancer and my own cancer.”

Despite Warner’s public claims that he did nothing wrong, his sworn deposition tells a different story. His actions and damaging comments about the employees he fired and even comments he made about supporters, who wanted a job, show how he broke employment laws.

In one case, a Wood County supporter asked for a job, but Warner refused to give him one because he was “older” and would not get the “active/enthusiastic activity” from him [Warner email (p. 198 of deposition)]. In sworn testimony, Warner also referred to this supporter as “a larger man” (p. 40).

“More than anything else, elected officials should represent the best of West Virginia and that includes treating our fellow citizens with dignity and decency,” Tennant said.