Leaked Flash Drive of Texts and Emails Is Creating a Huge Sex Scandal for a Small West Virginia Town
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When most people think of West Virginia they think of small, sleepy towns with not much going on. But in Parkersburg, a city of more than 30,000 residents, scandal is in the air.
Parkersburg Mayor Bob Newell (D) is caught up in a massive public embarrassment that includes an affair with the city’s finance director, misuse of government funds, five claims of sexual harassment, and citizens filing a petition to have him removed from office.
Information has been slowly coming out into the public view since January, via a leaked flash drive containing text messages, pictures, and emails detailing the affair between Newell and the finance director, Ashley Flowers. These files have led to ethics complaints and lawsuits. According to the Wheeling Intelligencer:
The complaint was filed by Wood County Republican Party Chairman Rob Cornelius, who provided a copy to the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. He said he also notified the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office and the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia.“This disk, of the nearly 1,400 files on it are genuine, alleges many facets of a year-long affair between the 61-year-old Mayor and the 30-year-old City Finance Director, Ashley Flowers,” the ethics complaint says. “There are text messages, letters, emails, audio recordings, video recordings, and hundreds of pictures.”
Newell and his lawyer have been vigorously fighting back, saying that these allegations are politically motivated and that he has done nothing wrong. From WV MetroNews:
“All I can say is that it has been exaggerated and I don’t want to say much until we get before a three-judge panel,” Newell said during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.” He sought to tell his side of the story amid allegations of a salacious affair, racy e-mails, and corruption in city hall.The original allegations surrounding Newell were spurred by the alleged affairs. Flowers has since admitted to the relationship, but Newell believes she deliberately embellished the level of their activity.
According to the WV state code, public officials can be removed from office for incompetence defined as “the wasting or misappropriation of public funds by any officer, habitual drunkenness, habitual addiction to the use of narcotic drugs, adultery, neglect of duty, or gross immorality, on the part of any officer”.
A group of Parkersburg residents, calling themselves The Committee, have filed a petition calling for the removal of Newell from office. According toWTAP:
The petition to remove Parkersburg Mayor Bob Newell from office was officially filed Monday, by Wood County Republican Leader, Rob Cornelius. The Circuit Court will now forward the petition on to the State Supreme Court in Charleston. Once it’s received by the State Supreme Court, a three-judge panel is expected to be assigned. Previously, WTAP believed that process to be completely random. But as a representative from the West Virginia State Judiciary told me today, that’s not necessarily the case.
Once the three-judge panel is formed, it will examine all the evidence and rule on whether or not Newell’s actions meet the requirements for removal from office.
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