Lawmakers Call For Investigation, Resignation Of State Auditor

Lawmakers are expressing serious concern over reports that the state auditor intervened directly in the sale of properties with delinquent taxes.   

West Virginia Watch reported Sunday they discovered nine instances of Auditor Mark Hunt signing tax deeds for the sale of properties where the previous owner failed to pay their property taxes. State law delegates that duty to the deputy commissioner, making the appearance of the auditor’s signature on deeds notable. 

All the sales were to a company owned by an employee of the auditor’s office, Robert L. Johns. Two of the sales appear to have happened after a statutory deadline had passed.  

Hunt told Watch that when he came into office in 2025 he inherited an office that was in disarray, and that he took it upon himself to issue some deeds that had been delayed by that disorder. 

Monday evening JB McCuskey, state Attorney General and Hunt’s predecessor as state auditor, came to the defense of workers in the Land Division of the State Auditor’s office. He told Metro News that “claims that the land division was left in disarray do not match the facts of eight years of positive reform and success.” 

Monday morning the West Virginia Democratic Party called for an immediate, independent state investigation into the actions.  

“What’s very concerning is that those deeds were to the benefit of a close personal friend who works in the auditor’s office and whose, I believe his wife, has donated to the auditor’s campaigns,” Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, and chair of the party said. “That’s very concerning, and we’re calling for further investigation into the into the auditor’s office.” 

Pushkin said he believed Hunt is owed due process, but the core issue is following the proper process when taking people’s property.   

“It’s very important that government officials follow the procedures to a T when you’re talking about the taking of property,” he said. “What it appears is that the property was taken and then turned over to a friend and a contributor of Mark Hunt, so it’s incredibly concerning to say the least.”  

Pushkin said any investigation will be complicated by Senate Bill 687, a 2024 law that shifted control of the legislative auditor’s office to the Speaker of the House of Delegates and the President of the Senate. 

“We used to have our own auditors in the legislature that were just for this, but unfortunately, Speaker Hanshaw and President Smith gutted that office,” he said. “What we’re calling for, though, is for oversight. It’s the legislative branch’s role to perform oversight, and it is very needed right now when the person who is supposed to be doing the auditing is the one who needs audited.” 

Del. Tristan Leavitt, R-Kanawha, went a step further, calling for Hunt’s immediate resignation.  

“The question of who signed, I think, is secondary to the question of was it legal for them to finish giving this property to someone else at all, and that’s where the law is very clear that there was shot clock, there was a window of time within which the auditor’s office could do it,” he said. “That shot clock had ended. This was past the window of time. There was no opportunity for the auditor’s office to go ahead and deed this property, but Mark Hunt did it anyway for a friend of his, and he was the one that personally signed all nine deeds, showing that he had personal knowledge of it.” 

Leavitt said he personally corroborated much of West Virginia Watch’s findings on the state Auditor’s own website.  

“This is a very black and white violation of the law. What I heard from the auditor was various defenses that don’t make sense. I think it’s important that people look at this for themselves and that the reporting follow up on that,” he said. “If he doesn’t (resign), then the legislature has options, including impeachment.” 

The state auditor’s office has also come under scrutiny in recent months after reports that the office is under federal investigation, and hiring a sitting state senator as a contractor.