In Committee On Legal Ethics of West Virginia State Bar v. Roark, 181 W. Va. 260, 382 S.E.2d 313 (1989), the respondent lawyer argued that holding public office when ethical violations occurred should not be an aggravating circumstance in a lawyer disciplinary proceeding. The Court rejected the argument and held, in syllabus point 3 of Roark, that "ethical violations by a lawyer holding a public office are viewed as more egregious because of the betrayal of the public trust attached to the office."