The Kanawha County Commission has yet to certify the results of a magistrate division that includes a candidate who is the defendant in several discrimination lawsuits and caused a social media uproar with a recent Facebook post.
The magistrate race is for Division 7, with incumbent Jess Bailes and newcomer Mike Ferrell. The main issue is that campaign finance reports are incomplete and missed the deadline. Ferrell told WOWK-TV that COVID-19 was at fault for the filing mishaps.
While the campaign finance reports are what stopped the commission from certifying the results, another issue people are having is that of a Facebook post shared on Ferrell's Facebook page after Geroge Floyd's death.
"Stop this stupid (expletive)!!! Everyone politician in this country have no (expletive)! Start shooting them!!!" the post read. Ferrell didn't deny the post when speaking with WOWK-TV, but he said his Facebook page had been hacked.
“Someone hacked my account before the election because they didn’t want me to win," Ferrell told WOWK.-TV.
Ferrell said he didn't know who had hacked him but that it looked bad on him because he is a family man.
The post started a social media uproar, with someone even starting a Change.org petition to disqualify Ferrell from becoming magistrate, even though, as of June 17, unofficial results have him up by 6,000 votes.
"It is very important that we the citizens, have Magistrate Judges in Kanawha County that are impartial and fair at all times," the petition states. "The candidate that won the 2020 election for Division 7 Magistrate was Mike Ferrell. After the election, Mr. Ferrell's Facebook post alluding to shooting protesters and condemning politicians that would not stand up to them was called into question at the height of the George Floyd protests across the country and locally."
The petition states the Facebook post was inappropriate and offensive and even violates the Judicial Campaign Ethics Handbook.
WOWK reported that the Judicial Investigation Commission has been alerted to the Facebook post.
Another issue comes from Ferrell being a named defendant in several lawsuits alleging a hostile work environment, discrimination, breach of contract and wage payment laws.
The lawsuits were all filed in Kanawha Circuit Court. One of the lawsuits was filed in 2019 against Ferrell, American Staffing Inc., The Chestnut Group and Shannon L. Wells after the plaintiff, Employer's Innovative Network (EIN), agreed to purchase American Staffing. That suit alleges breach of contract and fraud after the plaintiff had begun paying on the purchase agreement and discovered many of the American Staffing's clients were actually not its clients and were actually clients of The Chestnut Group.
The other three lawsuits were filed in April against Ferrell and ASI One and allege that after EIN acquired the company, Ferrell made promises that if the plaintiffs stayed on with the company, he would give them cash bonuses, which he failed to do. They also claim the Ferrell subjected the women to discriminatory conduct by making disparaging comments about women.
