West Virginia's Secretary of Commerce has refused to release the results of a taxpayer-funded report on the state's use of $126.3 million of federal stimulus funds for broadband investments. The existence of the report was revealed after a freedom-of-information request by the Charleston Gazette.

"The documents may be embarrassing to some people. Embarrassing because it was someone's opinion," West Virginia Secretary of Commerce Keith Burdette told the Gazette. "It was a specific document, citing specific companies, and making very specific suggestions to me."

Burdette argued that as an "internal memorandum," the document wasn't subject to the state's open records laws.

The state has been using stimulus money to subsidize the construction of fiber optic infrastructure around the state. The project includes stringing fiber to 630 new sites and installing 1100 new routers. "A recent West Virginia Legislative Audit report found that the state wasted at least $7.9 million—and up to $15 million—on the $24 million router purchase," the Gazette reports. "Auditors also are examining the use of the stimulus funds to build a $40 million fiber network."

Among the expenditures was a $22,600 router installed in a tiny public library.

Evidently, the report by the consulting firm ICF criticizes some of the contractors the state hired to perform the work. Burdette says the administration of Gov. Earl Tomblin does not come under criticism in the report.

House Minority Leader Tim Armstead, a Republican, has urged Burdette to release the consultant's findings. "When you have a project, and you're talking about millions of dollars in spending, and there are questions about whether those funds were efficiently spent, the public has a right to know about it," he told the Gazette. "It's insulting to tell the public they have to pay for something and they can't see it. "The public paid for that report."