Mezz Wants Back in the Mix

Disgraced former House Education Chairman Jerry Mezzatesta, D-Hampshire, wants his old job back as a "community specialist" for the county's school system, The Charleston Gazette reports.

Mezzatesta also seeks back pay from the $60,000-a-year post as he appeals a ruling that upheld his 2005 firing, the article said.

Mezzatesta had come under scrutiny before his downfall over whether he had used his powerful legislative post to benefit his employer, Hampshire County schools. He had previously promised the state Ethics Commission he would not.

But it was his attempts to conceal his deeds that proved his undoing, as the Gazette documented in its comprehensive series, Web of Deceit.

Mezzatesta pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor stemming from the cover-up, but was found not guilty by a federal jury earlier this year on fraud and related conspiracy charges.

Mezzatesta once described himself as "hummingbird on amphetamines" to The Associated Press. That only partly explains this line from the Gazette article: "Hampshire County Circuit Judge Donald Cookman recused himself from the case following an altercation with Mezzatesta and asked the state Supreme Court of Appeals to appoint a special judge."