I love turning data into something anyone can explore. The more accessible information is, the more informed we all become. Even the smallest flower can blossom quickly.

And in the era of LLMs, the accessibility and openness of data by the public is even more essential.

Stay tuned! I’m excited to have more time for projects with more local impact.

DMs are open if you or your organization need someone with 12+ years of experience in software, security, risk management, intelligence, and investigations.

Note: this only includes the 6 aircraft operated by the State Aviation Division (including the WV State Police), and not those operated by the US Government or the WV National Guard.

More info on this here github.com/AustinDizzy/....

🛫 wv-gov-flights.pages.dev

Even more gross is having the nerve as an elected official, chosen by the public to represent the public's interest, to remove yourself from the definition of a "public body" and from the scope of the public's mechanism for oversight and accountability.

It's unclear what they mean by applying "legislative immunity" to deny public access to records, and nobody seems to have challenged them on it (yet) ... but it's certainly concerning they continue leaning into this idea they are exempt from following accountability laws we expect others to follow.

However I've also noticed since August 2024 the WV Legislature has began citing a new code to deny public access to records (6 times now so far) ...

"W. Va. Code §4-1A-1 et. seq." ... "Legislative Immunity".

code.wvlegislature.gov/4-1A/

In those 422 WVFOIA requests, the WV Legislature has cited §29B-1-4(a)(8) (the "internal memorandums" exemption) 86 times.

The WV House alone has used the "internal memorandums exemption" in 34% of their responses, mostly in requests for emails & bill research materials.

The WV Legislature (House & Senate + legislative commissions) have received 422 WVFOIA requests to date since Jan 2016.

For comparison, in the same time frame the WV Governor's Office received 556, Marshall University received 1,114, and @westvirginiau.bsky.social (non-medical) received 2,743.

Check out the quote thread for some quick insights from the data.

Since devastating floods hit southern WV, the State’s aviation fleet has barely moved.

The State plane has taken one trip to DC and one to Martinsburg.

None of the five helicopters—including the two WV State Police helicopters—have been used.

wv-gov-flights.pages.dev/trips?startD...

This is not just coming from an outsider ... per a report by the WV Legislature's auditing unit released just two weeks ago, revenues from flights tend to make up less than 20% of the unit's expenditures.

They are literally just burning money in the air.

www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/re...

Another example of waste? 446 trips (at least), over 2,100 flight hours, and significantly over $1.2 million spent on "Marijuana Eradication" flights.

wv-gov-flights.pages.dev/trips?search...

So are all State aircraft uses wasteful? We've been through this before ... No, sometimes it does make sense economically to operate these flights ...

except times like this wv-gov-flights.pages.dev/trips/N1WV/2...

Justice called up the plane, they got there, and he decided to drive instead ...

WV Dept of Commerce twice allowed a Chinese national—former WVU professor & Asst to the Governor on China Affairs, later federally charged w/ fraud—to travel around mining sites in the state on the helicopter with associates.

wv-gov-flights.pages.dev/passengers/q...

www.justice.gov/usao-ndwv/pr...

The Governor isn't the only one using State aircraft ... the State Aviation Division's mission says they provide service for "State executives".

That includes administrators of WV's PEIA, who spent nearly $30,000 on in-state flights from 2017 to 2022.

wv-gov-flights.pages.dev/trips?divisi...

Yes, Jim Justice indeed only flew once in the State helicopter (N3WV) ... and over 130 times in the State airplane (N1WV).

During his tenure as Governor, his ass was on State aircraft for a total of 9 days 14 hours.

x.com/AustinDizzy/...

wv-gov-flights.pages.dev/passengers/g...

While serving as Governor, Jim Justice’s flights to Washington, DC on State aircraft increased ~11.5x after his election to the U.S. Senate.

wv-gov-flights.pages.dev/trips?depart...