Wv Gop Senators Question Justice Sba Appointee Over Potential Conflict

By Ryan Quinn West Virgina Senate Majority Leader Ryan Ferns and a fellow Republican senator questioned Friday one of Democratic Gov. Jim Justice's appointees over a potential conflict of interest - and it was only after they further pressed the appointee that he revealed the full extent of his relationship with the company that presents the potential conflict. Ferns, R-Ohio, said he actually was in Friday's Senate Confirmations Committee meeting with Frank "Bucky" Blackwell, Justice's appointee to be the School Building Authority's executive director, when Justice said he's done "more in his little finger for West Virginia and West Virginians than Ryan Ferns has done." Justice made the comment to MetroNews' Hoppy Kercheval in response to Kercheval reading a past tweet from Ferns that was critical of the governor. "It's almost like a grizzly bear walking through the woods and a poodle walking behind him, just barking and nipping and all this kind of stuff, for nothing," Justice told Kercheval.