Photo caption: Former Del. Mike Honaker during his swearing-in ceremony, Jan. 4, 2022. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
BY: LORI KERSEY – OCTOBER 13, 2023 4:01 PM
Mike Honaker, a former state senator whom Gov. Jim Justice appointed to the newly created position of inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security is now in an “existing” hired role instead, the governor said Friday.
“He has been hired into an existing position as the inspector general,” Justice told a reporter during his administration’s briefing.
Justice’s chief of staff Brian Abraham clarified that Honaker is in an inspector general position that was previously within the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“We took that position and put it within the secretary’s office to be responsible for more than just Corrections, and put him into that staff position within the secretary’s office,” Abraham said.
After Justice announced Honaker’s appointment, officials from the Senate raised issues about the constitutionality of Honaker’s appointment, according to reporting in The Real WV.
EditSign prohibits lawmakers, during their elected term of office, from being appointed to offices created while they’re in office.
House Bill 3360, passed during the 2023 legislative session, created the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Homeland Security.
The appointed position of inspector general for Homeland Security is unfilled, Abraham said.
Justice added that “as soon as [Honaker] will be eligible, he is absolutely the right man for the job.”
Abraham said the Justice administration plans to appoint Honaker to the inspector general position when he’s constitutionally eligible, after his elected term of office has expired In 2025.
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