The federal investigation of West Virginia Governor and Democratic Senate candidate Joe Manchin's administration is spreading but still not all the way to the mainstream media. What began in August with subpoenas issued in connection with the state's Department of Highways has grown as more subpoenas have been issued for West Virginia's Aviation Division director along with flight logs and records for official government aircraft. (source)

Continued...

The initial investigation into the Department of Highways centered on the $150 million Fairmont Gateway, a 1.3 mile, 4 lane road in the governor's hometown which has been under construction for several years. Governor Manchin's former chief of staff Larry Puccio has a real estate business in Fairmont and of the $150 million total cost of the Fairmont Gateway project, $57.6 million was to buy properties and relocate utilities. (source)

The state Aviation Division maintains flight logs for all state aircraft, keeping records for each flight on the state's King Air and Cessna Caravan airplanes, as well as for the state's helicopters. Governor Manchin also leases space in the Aviation Division's hanger at Yeager Airport for his personal Piper Saratoga airplane, at a rate of $115 a month.

Investigators are also looking into work done on the governor's office by Clark Diehl, a wallpaper man who pleaded guilty to bypassing the contract bidding process and is cooperating with authorities. In 2005, Diehl's company did work on the Governor's reception room and some offices including the Governor's Chief of Staff Larry Puccio. The information filed against Diehl says he submitted bids after the work had been done to make it look like there were bids for the project and that he was the lowest bidder. In exchange for his guilty plea, Diehl is working with the government and his sentencing has recently been delayed due to a "sensitive and ongoing investigation." (source)

When asked by local media about all angles of the ongoing investigation, Manchin spokesman Melvin Smith referred all inquiries to Charleston attorney Dwane Tinsley who would only say, "As has been the case since I was hired to represent the state, I cannot comment on the specifics. However, as far as I know, little has changed with the investigation. I am still working with State agencies to gather and provide information to the Federal Government. To my knowledge, no one working for the State, past or present, is the focus of this or any investigation."

West Virginia Republican Chairman Mike Stuart recently issued a statement saying, "The folks here deserve real answers from our Governor and his staff. We are a week away from an historic election and voters here deserve the truth on these subpoenas and the Federal investigation that began with Clark Diehl and now included the Governor’s airplane." (source)

Evidently the "no-comments" are enough to keep the mainstream media off the story at least until Governor Manchin's tight Senate race against Republican businessman John Raese is over.