A state emergency official who appeared in an online promotional video for a California company has been fined $525 by the West Virginia Ethics Commission.
The commission also ordered state emergency communications director Joe Gonzalez to stop taking part in company promotions and to attend ethics training.
Gonzalez’s lawyer, Joe Ward, tells the Sunday Gazette-Mail that his client didn’t intentionally use his office for personal gain for himself or others. Ward says the video was an informational interview that Aviat Network used without Gonzalez’s permission.
Aviat received $27 million in federal stimulus funds to install radio equipment on 17 new towers across the state. The company posted the video on its website last April.