I really don’t care who paid for the trip, our whose bankroll they gambled on.
All I want to know is — who paid for the mustache rides?
I really don’t care who paid for the trip, our whose bankroll they gambled on.
All I want to know is — who paid for the mustache rides?
January 18, 2008 at 11:56 am
Cute!
What’s under the table?
January 18, 2008 at 12:22 pm
This reminds me of that Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau movie “Out to Sea.”
January 18, 2008 at 1:15 pm
They were free, naturally.
January 18, 2008 at 2:49 pm
no mustache rides are $.05
January 18, 2008 at 2:57 pm
They’re holding their third glass of beer under the table, natch.
January 18, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I was typing “Free Mustache Rides” into Google here at work so I could find a photo of those t-shirts from the ’80s, but luckily stopped just short and hitting enter. I’d hate to have to explain that to my IT guy.
January 18, 2008 at 3:19 pm
http://www.amazon.com/cent-Mustache-Rides-Pewter-Buckle/dp/B000BKCLX8
January 18, 2008 at 7:29 pm
WVState, that is the funniest thing i’ve read today.
January 18, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Ya know, if more people got to see their elected officials out acting like the real dorks that they (and we) are, we’d be pickier about our elections, donchathink?
January 19, 2008 at 12:44 am
i know i would.
January 19, 2008 at 4:02 am
They are ALWAYS Free. Thats why they print the T-Shirts. It is an effective add campaign.
January 19, 2008 at 9:41 am
I notice that no one on Amazon has fessed up to actually owning one of those belt buckles. :) When I first looked at the picture, I thought it was a beer opener, which would be way cooler.
January 19, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Shit… for some reason, Don Blankenship reminds me of Alejandro Sosa from “Scarface”…
January 19, 2008 at 1:24 pm
some are so quick to be the judge & jury
January 19, 2008 at 3:30 pm
This is awesome…..going to trade Maynard for Don Cookman…..the same Don Cookman who wanted to send Tony Arbaugh to jail, and Starcher/WMcG/Albright wouldn’t let it happen. Guess what? Massey should still win. Brent Benjamin looks like a genius this morning.
January 19, 2008 at 7:56 pm
We were talking “under the table” a few years ago that Blankenship could get a deal out of buying Saddam’s egomaniacal statues on ebay to place throughout Southern WV. They do have the same mustache and arrogance. Just our idea (but don’t quote us on that), PLLC.
January 19, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I see that RRS is singing again as a star at a state supported event this eve. How many does this make? More than Renay Conlin and her daughter? Just trying to keep track in the egregious scores.
January 19, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Actually, Renay Conlin never sang at a state event while Commissioner. She MIGHT have sung for the Symphony, not sure. Renay’s daughter sang at the Cultural Center once.
January 20, 2008 at 10:25 am
A WTF?!? diversion.
January 20, 2008 at 3:23 pm
WHat I want to know is, who were the two chicks these assholes brought with them on the trip?
One of the lady friends is the one that leaked the pictures after she was dumped by her mingo county mantoy.
January 20, 2008 at 3:24 pm
It was me. Burn in hell, Spike!
January 20, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I think my YouTube films explains, who paid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7iQRFP_e90
January 20, 2008 at 6:53 pm
That guy needs better quality drugs.
Or a vacation with Don and Spike.
January 20, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Nice dig by Phil Kabler in today’s column.
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/Columnists/Phil+Kabler/200801195?pt=10
“Just goes to show, a picture is worth a thousand words.
And those pictures undoubtedly will be featured in TV ads by pro-union political action committees and other groups making independent campaign expenditures in the 2008 elections.”
January 20, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Dear Hippie Killer,
I’ve just been alerted to the fact that there are comments posted on this blog, under my name, which I did not write. Prior to this post I have never bogged here. I did not even know of the existence of this blog. I hope you will expose the true identity of whomever is impersonating me.
Thank you in advance,
Cindy Frich
January 20, 2008 at 10:02 pm
It’s called satire, Cindy, and it’s protected. No one thought that you would really come before this august body and admit to having outed the Mingo Travel Club.
Ever wonder why nobody seems to like you?
January 20, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Isn’t it illegal to post another person’s name on a blog?
Cindy Frich did not submit a blog comment.
Of course, we know there is a person who is upset with
her new press credentials???
January 20, 2008 at 11:03 pm
This blog is very entertaining and informative, but I believe I speak for the vast majority in calling for an investigation into the fraud that was committed against the good name of past-Delegate Cindy Frich by using her name on a fake post. Also, I am glad to consider her a good friend and am appalled at the attacks that have been leveled against her.
January 20, 2008 at 11:27 pm
On the advice of an attorney, Cindy Frich should demand
that all use of her name cease. This goes far beyond
“protected speech”
January 20, 2008 at 11:39 pm
On the advice of another attorney, might I suggest that Cindy Frich and Andrew Sabak (if you are indeed the real Cindy Frich and Andrew Sabak) grow a sense of humor? Nobody was trying to sully the “good name” of Ms. Frich by actually trying to pass off a comment as really coming from her. It’s obvious that it was intended as a joke, and any misconceptions to the contrary (though I doubt there were any) have now been cleared up by the Overreaction Brigade that just swooped in here. No harm done.
January 20, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Isn’t it illegal to post another person’s name on a blog?
Come to think of it, you’re right! Truman signed the Uniform Blogger Act into law after an anonymous ENIAC punchcard was found that would make the computer print out “Turing is a Dork!!”.
January 21, 2008 at 12:35 am
I thought Republicans were against frivolous lawsuits?
The irony of all this is — I’m not going to go off on a tirade about how Cindy Frich needs to get over herself — because there’s no way for me to be sure that it’s the “real” Cindy Frich (or her friends) who have been emailing me insisting that I delete the 3:24 comment, and surrender the IP address of the person who left it.
However, it’s obvious to everyone that the 3:24 comment was a joke. You’ll find lots of those around here.
Sometimes they’re even funny.
January 21, 2008 at 2:33 am
What the hell HK? I, Mountain Daddy, have never posted before…neither has me mum…Mountain Mama…or me little cousin…Hill Cousin. Therefore, my lawyer, Mountain Attorney insists that you take off everything about Mountain Stage…as I know Mr. Stage…he is a hill just south of Bluefield and he has never posted before….well, at least not on a reputable site…one here’s rumors that he switches from hill to mountain when no one is looking, but I digress……
Just do it. Otherwise, I, like some washed up, tight ass folks who need to get a life, might just have a silly problem with you and get upset. And, HK, who would want to be seen as that kind of person…who, I ask you?
January 21, 2008 at 6:53 am
I demand this entire blog stop! My momma named me hippie killer and……
oh fuck it
January 21, 2008 at 6:56 am
Don’t do it, Hk. Don’t cave in to the bullies. They’ve got nothing - legally or morally. Public people have to take their lumps whether they deserve it not.
January 21, 2008 at 7:53 am
Eh, this blog has received more than a few emails and/or posts like this over the years. Is it illegal to type another person’s name into comments? Um, no. That’s not any more illegal than Phil Kabler typing (in boldface, no less!) Ms. Frich’s name into a column in the Gazette.
Besides, lawyers are expensive. Why bother?
January 21, 2008 at 8:28 am
LMAO @ Cindy and Andrew…..now there is a pair….sounds like something Frich would say and do….demand to be treated “better” than any other public figure….come to think of it, let’s ask her about Spike and his motivations….maybe she can use her investivative skills and manuever out of her mom’s basement…..shheeeshhhh
January 21, 2008 at 11:26 am
this thread makes me roll around on the floor and laugh!
January 21, 2008 at 11:45 am
If people like the “real” cindy, had half as much zeal going after real corruption, and waste, and fraud in our own government (dems and repubs alike), as they do going after a COMMENT (not even an actual blog ENTRY) using their name as satire, we’d all be better off.
Hell, we might not even need this blog.
January 21, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Cindy, get busy and tell us what Heather Bresch has been up to lately. And is it true Rich Rod knocked up a cheerleader? Provide pictures. And, on a nother “note,” WV State, I seem to remember that Renay Conlin DID get criticized for making the state symphonies and other music groups present her daughter as a featured singer to pad her career. Ethics reality check! MAKING the music groups you FUND feature you as a guest singer continually…………..is…………iffy at best………..especially if they pay you to do so. On said subject, anyone know if RRS wore blackface as he sang at the MLK gala concert at the cultural center this weekend?
January 21, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Rock on with your strange posts Dorothy. Rock on.
P.S. I would like to see the pictures too. Or even better, the video…
January 21, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Even though the remarks about Maynard and Starcher and Martin L King were made in a previous entry:
Mr. Maynard was on the printed agenda to speak today at the bell ceremony, but with no comment, Tod Kaufman called on Mr. Starcher to speak instead. One wonders if Spike bailed at the last minute, or if the Commission caved to Larry.
BTW, RRS was there singing with the children’s choir.
ABTW, I recall Conlin’s daughter sang once with the Symphony. But the previous comment was regarding Conlin herself singing at the Culture Palace.
January 21, 2008 at 3:38 pm
WVState: The Commission didn’t “cave.” I’d bet Starcher had a written speech in his pocket, written on the likely expectation that Spike wouldn’t show.
Spike’s a colorful figure, but he’s not one to support people of color, if you get my drift. They aren’t an effective voting bloc in W.Va., so he can ignore “them,” and anything associated with “them,” with ease.
Besides, didn’t the AP say that he has been out of the office on “sick leave” for the last few days? Never mind that justices don’t accrue sick leave, and he’s been AWOL from the office for most of the last 12 years . . .
January 21, 2008 at 3:48 pm
That “black face” comment is amazing. I laughed hard at that one.
Renay Conlin gave her daughter a $5,000 grant to perform in Charleston. Take that……. you peasants.
As for RRS, he doesn’t need money as payment…he takes his pay in other ways.
January 21, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Renay Conlin works for the Toledo Opera, former home to Randall Reid-Smith.
January 21, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Starcher is hardly a citadel of virtue when it comes to race issues. I always got the distinct impression that he does the MLK stuff so he can brag about it at parties.
January 21, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I personally know Andy Sabak and Cindy Frich. Cindy DID NOT post the original comment–that sort of language and attitude is not a part of her. Andy is a talented and thoughtful person.
I had been interested in some of the work this blog had done on the Heather Bresch story which had been forwarded to me by a friend. Much of it seemed well researched and thought out.
However, after viewing some incredibly irresponsible replies and comments over Cindy asking that her name not be falsely used to post–I have to rethink whether or not to ever believe another thing associated w/ this blog.
There is such a thing as character, decency and responsibility. It certainly seems to be in short supply–esp. on the internet. The false posting to Cindy’s name smacks suspiciously of a couple of dandies in Monongalia County w/ whom I had the mis-fortune to associate for several years on a project. Character, decency and responsibility are certainly foreign concepts to those wizards and this is just the sort of slime you find down their dark alley.
In the future I hope to see responsible, thoughtful, hardhitting facts and not just juvenile rantings which serve to convince that little said said here by several posters is of value.
January 21, 2008 at 5:37 pm
“Dandies”?
January 21, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Well that was just mean, hateful and nasty. You like em in threes don’t ya?
January 21, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Well, Joan, you have to take the good with the bad. This isn’t an ad-supported newspaper, it’s a free blog, so like so much of the internet (and Fox news), you have to sift through for the facts, laugh at the humor and ignore the bullshit.
Kinda like the way you have to deal with politics and government.
January 21, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Renay Conlin said some catty things about RRS when he was at the Toledo Opera. Something to the effect he CAN be charming or something. It was priceless. Bob Schwarz set it up in his original article when RRS was appointed also where RRS goes on about growing up in his mom’s pink cadillac. She was a Mary Kay regional rep. NOT making this up. Maybe somebody has the link. Who knew Bobs could be catty?
January 21, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Alright, enough.
The funny thing is, that comment was left at 3:24 pm, and little more than an hour later, I was getting emails from Cindy and her entourage demanding that I delete the post and give the the IP address of the person who left it. Does she sit around Googling herself, or what?
And why am I not surprised to learn that Cindy Frich’s friends are just as fucking crazy as she is?
Cindy Frich’s name wasn’t being used any more falsely than George W. Bush’s name gets used on SNL, Jimmy Carter’s on The Onion, or Al Gore on South Park. Guess what? If you’re a pubic official, us little people are allowed wide latitude when we make fun of you. If someone wants to make a joke about Cindy Frich tossing Spike Maynard’s salad, there’s nothing she can do about it. Except Google “tossing salad” to see what it means. If Cindy doesn’t like that, she shouldn’t have ran for office so many damn times.
I mean really. If there’s been a greater embarrassment to the West Virginia Legislature in the past few years than Cindy Frich, I don’t know who it was. Even Randy White saved his crazies for his personal life — Cindy was a nutjob on the House floor, and continues to be a nutjob in the “press core” on John Raese’s dime. Everyone hates her, and with good reason. She’s crazier than a shit house rat, and not very nice.
So spare me. There’s nothing anyone can do here to make anyone think any less of Cindy fucking Frich. Get over your crazy-assed self. So kick back, order some of that nice Marriott room service, and use that wi-fi John Raese is providing you with to research the difference between slander, satire, and parody.
January 21, 2008 at 7:44 pm
LawBot: Dandies = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandies
Joan: since you seem to have trouble with terminology, while looking up the terms slander, satire and parody (as suggested by HK), you should also get yourself a dictionary, thesaurus and grammar book. If you play your cards right, read real careful and copy from the books, you might even be able to speak, type and comment with some level of adequacy, aptitude and competence. Until then, you probably ought to keep it to yourself, refuse to defend the indefensible and go back to the crayons.
January 21, 2008 at 8:29 pm
We can have some fun with this one. List the top 10 dandies in WV. Sadly, Randy White is an aspiring dandy.
January 21, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Sigh.
January 21, 2008 at 11:00 pm
HK,
To answer why Cindy (or someone on her behalf) posted relatively quickly after the 3:24 comment, she probably has a Google alert set up for her name, which would then e-mail her with the post.
A lot of bloggers set up alerts for their names, their blogs’ names, etc. so they’ll be sure to know about any references, favorable or unfavorable.
But you’re exactly right about Cindy. I’m from Morgantown and she’s widely regarded up there as a nut. So it makes sense that a newspaper as absolutely pathetic as the Dominion Post would hire her, thereby enabling her to get press credentials (if that’s not an oxymoron) in Charleston.
For the most recent example of her ineptitude, check out her editorial over the weekend about the class action lawsuit against BrickStreet.
January 21, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Lawbot has dandy tendencies.
January 22, 2008 at 12:07 am
In homage to the SCOTUS case that upheld our constitutional right to make fun of Cindy Frich, I give you Republican Nuts.
January 22, 2008 at 8:15 am
HK, was this a Freudian slip?
“Guess what? If you’re a pubic official, us little people are allowed wide latitude when we make fun of you.” :)
January 22, 2008 at 8:48 am
LMAO @ Joan….”…slime down their dark alley…” No retort…..just laffing at the phrase…LOL
January 22, 2008 at 11:19 am
Does anybody have naked pics of Cindy for sale? I’ll pay top dollar for copies. I’m twisted like that.
January 22, 2008 at 11:36 am
Notice how Lara Ramsberg says bring in Scotland Yard, not Scotland yards like Mojo first did. The Mystery of the Missing Scotland Yards. Lara’s playing this situation like a pro, which is more than we can say about Garrison, his head of staff and the deans.
January 22, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I prefer fop.
January 22, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Ah, the rantings of the pusillanimous popinjays!! I presented a reasoned case for accuracy and responsibility on your blog and it brought a volley of invective verbiage from several. Obviously I struck a nerve with such a posting.
You proved to my complete satisfaction that your blog is just a forum for several to engage in four-letter words to describe anything you do not like or anyone who dares to disagree. Resorting to such language shows a lack of writing and thinking skills.
Your notion that someone in the public life is to be viewed “a priori” as a gratuitous victim, deserving of scorn is certainly showing unbecoming, plebeian tendencies which are all too common in today’s society. It also serves to explain why so few women of substance in West Virginia want to run for office.
Cindy, an extremely intelligent, well educated woman with a high degree of moral character, strikes a nerve with you. Therefore, you allow obviously false postings to her name on your blog and then blame her for them. You blame those of us who brought it to her and your attention and mount a pathetic attempt to question our sanity. The ignored falsity is further used as a springboard for more false innuendoes. Apparently, several are extremely uncomfortable with strong, independent, principled, conservative women.
I have personally found character to be intimidating to men of the 60’s generation and younger. You react by charging to the nearest forum to label us “nuts” or uneducated. Obviously, we are viewed as roadblocks to your less than honorable aims and desires.
I was fortunate to be reared in a household where my late father married a confident, principled woman (my mother) and with two older brothers who did not think me a lesser species. You make me smile.
January 22, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Cindy is still a moron.
What is your point again?
See, she lists her occupation (evidently before she lost), as FULL TIME LEGISLATOR.
http://www.vgt2004.org/a-wvmh/candidate-detail.go?id=1053203
Bullshit. The WV Legislature is a PART TIME JOB. It’s that kind of pretentious grandstanding and puffery, that makes people like us, hold people like her, in contempt.
January 22, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Listen, Joanie, the only problem anybody here had was with the demands for the name of the satirist and the implied threat that came with it. If Cindy Frich is of such great moral character, then she can hold up to a little abuse here. But it seems to me that her demand for retribution shows more of a vindictive and petty person than the one you describe. And I don’t dislike all Republican women - I think Lisa Smith is a fine example of WV Republican femininity. Bet you carried Lisa’s water too, didn’t you, Joanie.
I think you’re confusing bitchery with character. Character is recognizing satire and either responding with wit or discreetly e-mailing the host blogger with a tasteful and respectful request that she would appreciate it if he did not allow that to happen, thanks for understanding. Bitchery is how you and Cindy react. Get it? See the difference? More flies with honey, etc… Things we should’ve learned in kindergarten.
Seriously, nobody gives a shit about your pedigree and following along in the “P” section of the dictionary with Bill O’Reilly does not make you a “thinker”. Now get out there and start fund raising - your party is a disgrace.
And remember, Joanie: Honey, not vinegar.
January 22, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Obviously, Joan is a real Manchin with the genes of the grand A. J., unlike the present resident of the Governor’s Mansion, who only has the name Manchin. “Pusillanimous popinjays” indeed!
January 22, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Ooh, you had me until the “conservative” part. Joan, I for one am not a man of the 60s generation (I’m a woman of the 80s/90s generation, if that makes any difference to you) and I think the comments (and emails) from Cindy and her Overreaction Brigade (yourself included) are ridiculous. But they’re also endlessly entertaining, so keep ‘em coming!
Oh also, as for what you referred to as “obviously false postings” — first of all, dude, it was ONE comment that had like seven words in it. It takes some ego for someone (and her entourage) to turn that into an all-out attack on her. Secondly, thanks for admitting that the comment was obviously false. Now, what was all that fuss about again?
January 23, 2008 at 1:10 am
I think Joan needs to get laid
January 23, 2008 at 8:34 am
That would require a new blog thread.
January 23, 2008 at 8:48 am
Guys: The bell is ringing….would all the 7th graders please return
to your seats and think of something productive today?
Phil Kabler started all of this with his whinning in the G’zette
about Cindy Frich. It must be a “no girls allowed” in the
statehouse press room.
P.S. His column on the oil leak at the
garage is about how serious journalism? With all that is
going on at the Legislature — he writes about an oil leak email.
What is wrong, Phil, did the Manchins tell you not to write about
anything serious?
January 23, 2008 at 9:24 am
Joan sounds an awful lot like Oce Smith to me.
January 23, 2008 at 9:37 am
Methinks Cindy and her minions doth protest too much, to borrow a phrase.
Maybe there’s something to those old protective order rumors after all….
January 23, 2008 at 9:54 am
Nothingelsetodoclub,
Kabler’s story about the parking garage e-mail was just as enlightening as to the ways of our state servants as the stories on DaughterGate, Moonpie Museum, etc…When things are handled poorly, it is a story.
Lawrence Messina has a very fine, professional blog that keeps us up to date on things. This blog, however, is the equivalent of barroom gossip, innuendo, and verbal abuse and unlike 7th grade you are free to call a cab and go the fuck home if you don’t like the conversation.
January 23, 2008 at 11:02 am
I know nothing about Cindy Frich, not having followed state politics until just recently. However, she and her friends seem to have forgotten that the First Amendment defends our right to make as many stupid, nonsensical, paranoid, curse-ridden comments as we care to. That said, I am delighted with this blog and find it neither stupid nor paranoid. But we could be if we wanted to, damn it!
January 23, 2008 at 11:25 am
What the hell does Phil Kabler have to do with this? What started all of this was you and your pals getting all worked up over one stupid little comment that would have gone unnoticed otherwise.
January 23, 2008 at 11:59 am
Yeah, um, Joan? My wife went to law school at W&L, worked for a white shoe Southern firm, and her hero is Florence King. I’m not sure you could describe me as being afraid of “strong, independent, principled, conservative women.” Unfortunately, your posts and the posts you’re concerned about are just fucking boring. Jay’s right: go to Messina’s blog (which I visit every morning) if you want a news aggregator.
January 23, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Oh, Joan. Looks like you went to the Dan Butcher (Lincoln Standard) school of self-serving illogical editorials. But I do appreciate you trying to stand up for strong women, Republican or not. Personally, I would have voted for Betty Ireland for the next Gov. Ok, so some of us here at this blog act like 7th graders. Smart 7th graders who have provided better news on the Heathergate scandal than the NY Times so far. You or Cindy send us some info on what’s going on and impress us with your strong independence. FYI, I think Rudy Ditrapano has dandy tendencies. Is Troy Body more of a fop or a dandy? What was Richard Ressmeyer? Or dare I ask?
January 23, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I didn’t know there was such a thing as a Southern white shoe firm…
Oh, and come the fuck on — Kabler’s column is waaaaaaaaaaaaay more of a gossip rag than this is. Fanny was even worse.
January 23, 2008 at 1:00 pm
So the rumors are true — lawbot’s gone conservative.
January 23, 2008 at 1:07 pm
God, you know? It pays the bills. And those Southern girls love to cook with butter. Yes, I sometimes miss the fake Reuben from Veganopolis, but damn. An entire stick of butter in cheese grits does the trick for me every time.
January 23, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Well, like I always say, vegetables are what food eats.
January 23, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I can only imagine the kind of comments that one will inspire.
January 23, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I like this one: “There’s room on this Earth for all of God’s creatures — right next to my mashed potatoes.”
Anyway, I didn’t realize the Democrats have an abstinence-only butter consumption platform. Does anyone know whether Barack Obama is in favor of that? (He is quite trim.) I might have to reconsider my support.
January 23, 2008 at 4:29 pm
“P.S. His column on the oil leak at the garage is about how serious journalism? ”
Actually, that’s a really good inside look at how anal this administration is. They’re more concerned with collecting money from the state employees (or outsourcing em) than they are getting work done.
January 23, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Well butter my biscuits!
I turned my back for a day and got a surprise. You mean nasty reactionary men may say what you want about Joan, but she seems to have found a decent Thesaurus. Go Girrrl!
Now find sharper crayons and you may be onto something after all.
January 24, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Did anyone else see this?
http://www.wvgazette.com/latest/200801240555
Apparently the Supreme Court has decided to scrap the original decision and rehear the entire Harman v. Massey suit.
It appears that His Evil Majesty Don may have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with his heavy-handed tactics.
January 24, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Yes, Joan, I am an intelligent, Southern, conservative female with a law degree, and I can tell you that, even slathered in butter and toting a thesaurus, you make absolutely no fucking sense. Nice try though.
January 24, 2008 at 9:25 pm
And at least. watching the Republican debate tonight, you could maybe, just possibly, imagine a two party system sans Hiram Lewis.
Also: butter.
January 24, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I don’t care which, but either Cindy Frich or Joan needs to fix me a sandwich. Make it popinjay, toots.
January 25, 2008 at 12:25 am
Reading Joan’s comments reminds me of the line from Blazing Saddles:
“Golly, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty-dollar whore.”
January 25, 2008 at 9:13 am
Bo: I was thinking the same thing, except the line I had in mind was, “where’s all the white women at?”
January 25, 2008 at 9:40 am
GroupW it doesn’t sound like you have rehabilitated yourself.
January 25, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Group W said “no, no, no.”
January 25, 2008 at 3:01 pm
All of this picking on the object of my obsession is simply not right.
Can you people not recognize that Cindy Frich is the sexiest woman ever. That hair, those oversized glasses, and the way she shrieks like there is a hot poker up her ass simply makes me swoon!
But it is really the clacking of her spike heels on the marble floors at the Capitol which really turns me on. Thank you, Mr. Raese.
If you keep attacking her like this she may just go home and stay in her room at mommies house and never come out again.
Wouldn’t that be a shame?
January 25, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I am quite certain that I’m not moral enough to be commenting here (or anywhere else for that matter). That said, I am also quite certain that I’m more moral than most of our esteemed leaders, be they in Charleston or Morgantown. Or, in the words of WVState, “no, no, no.”
January 25, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You guys are some mean ass people!
January 26, 2008 at 8:38 am
8 nominated for 3 seats on WVU panel probing M.B.A.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
By Len Boselovic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University’s faculty senate will choose from among eight outside experts Monday when it selects three independent members to be part of a five-person panel investigating whether Mylan Inc. executive Heather Bresch earned an M.B.A. degree from the school.
The candidates proposed yesterday by the senate’s executive committee include seven nominees suggested by agencies that accredit the university or WVU’s College of Business and Economics, which administers the master’s in business administration program.
Four other candidates, including former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Thomas McHugh, were rejected because they earned degrees from the university.
The candidates are: Doyle Williams, former dean of the University of Arkansas business school; Arthur Centonze, former dean of Pace University’s business school; former Oklahoma State University president John Campbell; Lori Franz, former provost of the University of Missouri-Columbia; University of Cincinnati professor Ralph Katerberg; Jacalyn Askin, assistant dean at Arizona State University; Brenda Russell, executive associate vice chancellor at the University of Illinois-Chicago; and Texas A&M professor William Rundell.
Senate members will be able to nominate other candidates when the full senate meets Monday to select the final members of the panel. Faculty senate chair Steven Kite told executive committee members yesterday that it is important that the final members be selected Monday “if we want to continue to share governance.”
“Our standing in the state and in the nation will not be enhanced if we fail to make a decision,” he said.
The three candidates who receive the most votes will join two other members named by Provost Gerald Lang, who formed the panel Jan. 2. They are WVU professors Michael Lastinger and Roy Nutter.
Mr. Lang’s third choice, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission vice chancellor Bruce Flack, resigned this month after the faculty senate recommended that he be replaced by three people with no ties to the university or state government. The senate vote reflected concern that the panel’s finding would not be credible unless a majority of its members were independent.
Those fears stemmed from the fact that Ms. Bresch, Mylan’s chief operating officer, is the daughter of West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin and longtime friends and a former business associate of WVU President Mike Garrison. Her boss, Mylan chairman and co-founder Milan Puskar, is WVU’s largest benefactor.
The panel was formed after a Dec. 21 story by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette raised questions about how the university went about retroactively granting the degree even though university records showed Ms. Bresch had completed only about half of the credits required.
Ms. Bresch insists she earned the degree in December 1998. She declined to provide a transcript or other documentation and has declined further comment.
Len Boselovic can be reached at lboselovic@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1941.
First published on January 26, 2008 at 12:00 am
January 26, 2008 at 11:40 am
In the FWIT column….John Raese has financial interest in the Dominion Post, but his brother Dave runs the operation and I understand controlling interest (at least operationally) ….and they absolutely hate each other…..The DP hasn’t endorsed John in his last several races….so actually Cindy works for Dave….
Re: the “tip”-the reporters wouldn’t acknowledge it if it came from a well placed, personal friend inside Mylan
January 26, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Chronicle of Higher Education
W. Virginia Chief Faces Mounting Discontent
Campus roiled by charges of doctored transcript for governor’s daughter
By PAUL FAIN
Michael S. Garrison was controversial at West Virginia University even before his arrival in September as president. Now he is linked to a developing scandal that raises questions about the ties between the university and the state’s power brokers in politics and business.
The uproar began on December 21 with an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that alleged that the university had rewritten the academic record of Heather M. Bresch, a top executive at a West Virginia pharmaceutical company and the daughter of the state’s governor, Joe Manchin III, a Democrat.
University officials have a different view of the discrepancy. They blame a clerical error by the university for the appearance that Ms. Bresch was 22 credits short of her M.B.A. degree. But allegations that a political insider received favorable treatment have inflamed Mr. Garrison’s many critics among West Virginia faculty members, who were already fuming about his qualifications and his close ties to the state’s capital.
Mr. Garrison, 38, is a lawyer who has held several political posts, most notably as chief of staff to a former governor and as chairman of the state’s Higher Education Policy Commission. Some faculty members asserted that the presidential search had been rigged in his favor. And, in a rare step, the Faculty Senate voted to oppose Mr. Garrison’s selection even before it was official.
Ms. Bresch and Mr. Garrison have longstanding connections. They were classmates in high school and as undergraduates at West Virginia. The influence wielded by Ms. Bresch’s father, the governor, is rivaled by that of Milan (Mike) Puskar, chairman and co-founder of Mylan Laboratories Inc., a large West Virginia-based drug company where Ms. Bresch serves as chief operating officer. Mr. Puskar is one of the university’s most generous donors.
Another Ball in the Air
Milan Puskar Stadium is home to West Virginia University’s football team. The team, which won the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl last week, is a source of pride for the university and the state. But even the usually happy topic of football has been a problem of late for Mr. Garrison.
West Virginia’s head football coach, Rich Rodriguez, resigned in December to become the head coach at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. West Virginia sued Mr. Rodriguez for allegedly breaking his contract. The university wants to collect $4-million it claims he owes for leaving early.
When Mr. Garrison and other university officials were in Arizona for the bowl game, the university began its investigation of the degree controversy with an announcement of what it described as an independent audit.
Gerald E. Lang, the provost, cited public concern as the reason for the investigation, which will be undertaken by two university professors and an official of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. He said that the university’s governing board would not participate in the investigation, but that the university would follow the audit panel’s recommendations.
Mr. Garrison said he supported the audit.
“We have to maintain the integrity of our academic process,” he said in a written statement. “It is what is most valuable to us as an institution.”
Mix-Up or Favoritism?
The controversy grew out of an announcement, in October, that Ms. Bresch had been named chief operating officer of Mylan, the world’s third-largest maker of generic drugs. She holds an M.B.A. from West Virginia University, according to a news release about her appointment issued by the company. But when the Post-Gazette called to confirm her credentials, the university’s registrar said she had not completed the graduate degree.
After the newspaper called the university again to say that Ms. Bresch disputed that finding, an official there said Mr. Garrison’s office was looking into the matter. A few days later, a university spokeswoman called the newspaper back to say that Ms. Bresch had completed all the course work for the degree by 1998, but did not pay a $50 graduation fee and therefore did not receive a diploma.
But the newspaper’s long, carefully researched article detailed many problems with that account. Ms. Bresch stopped taking classes with 22 credits remaining in the 48-credit program, according to the article. It also quotes several unnamed sources among university employees and Ms. Bresch’s former classmates who said she had fallen well short of completing the degree.
After the article’s publication, university officials said Ms. Bresch’s class record had been rewritten only after an internal investigation by the College of Business and Economics found that her file had not been recorded properly a decade ago. Records were kept manually rather than electronically at that time, said a university spokeswoman, who noted that the transcripts and data for a small number of students were not transferred from the business school to the admissions office.
‘No Clue’
In an interview with the Post-Gazette, Ms. Bresch said she “had no clue” that her file indicated that she had failed to earn the M.B.A. She thanked the newspaper for finding the discrepancy, which she called an “administrative nightmare.”
But she has yet to turn over her transcript, as some West Virginia bloggers and faculty members have noted.
Mr. Garrison has said he will stay out of the investigation of the disputed degree. In an interview with the Charleston Daily Mail, he said he had spoken once about the matter with Ms. Bresch, only in relation to news-media inquiries. He said he had never been contacted by the governor or anyone else on her behalf.
“I’ve just known Heather like a lot of people and have kept track of her career. That’s really that,” Mr. Garrison told the newspaper. “The president does not confer degrees.”
But Mr. Garrison’s critics are likely to be unmoved by his explanation. Prior to his appointment, state lawmakers, a federal judge, reporters, and faculty members said the search for someone to fill the presidency was politically motivated. Some said Mr. Garrison was a finalist because of political connections rather than experience.
Stephen P. Goodwin, chairman of the West Virginia Board of Governors, has defended the search, calling it a “forthright, upright, open process.”
The university hired a prominent search consultant, R. William Funk, to vet a large pool of applicants. The finalists were described on the university’s Web site and also traveled to campus for open forums.
One of the most-commonly repeated complaints about Mr. Garrison has been his ties to Mr. Goodwin and other members of the university’s governing board. As the chief of staff of West Virginia’s former governor, Robert E. Wise Jr., a Democrat, Mr. Garrison was involved in the selection of five members of the board, including Mr. Goodwin.
http://chronicle.com
Section: Money & Management
Volume 54, Issue 18, Page A1
January 26, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Just wait until the members of this year’s class of graduates from WVU try to get out-of-state jobs and we’ll see the full effects of Heather-gate. Hell, I suppose those of us who already hold degrees from WVU ought to look closely at our paychecks in the coming weeks just in case they start sliding downward.
Wait a second. Does anyone else think that maybe, just maybe, this whole thing is really one of Joe’s ways of forcing Promise Scholarship recipients to stay in state - simply devalue the diplomas in other states. Conspiracy anyone?
January 27, 2008 at 10:59 am
I wonder if Joe actually has a vendetta against WVU?
First he forces them to play Marshall every year while he’s governor; that costs them money;
Second he send Mike Garrison to be president;
Third, he’s involved in Rich Rod (either by negotiating to keep him, or by forcing him to leave, take your pick);
Fourth, he forgets to tell his daughter to finish school. (ok, that’s stretching)
It’s a whole new conspiracy theory. The only thing that would make it better is if WVU faculty senate chose some Marshall alums to be on the investigative panel. LOL!
January 27, 2008 at 12:46 pm
MU alumns on the investigative panel, hilarious. Except Joe is also doling out millions to MU to try to swing some votes for Bob Byrd’s seat down in the Huntington area. So, alas, MU better not enter the fray.
January 27, 2008 at 1:09 pm
MU has better things to do than worry about WVU antics - and as far as $, MU gets a whole lot less than WVU, even on a per-student basis. Joe ain’t no friend of MU.
January 27, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Joe’s only a friend to his friends. Anybody that works for him in any capacity is not a friend, just a tool.
January 29, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Apparently mustache rides are five cents:
http://robotmantheblog.com/2007/08/29/strange-and-disturbing-things-i-found-on-my-c-drive/
January 30, 2008 at 12:55 am
So, Cindy Frich is running to get her old house seat back…I trust that journalistic ethics will come into play and the state capitol complex will be deprived of “citizen journalist” Frich from now on.
January 30, 2008 at 7:20 am
Be sure not to miss this one. Think Donny will sue John Grisham?
January 30, 2008 at 12:58 pm
How bizarre is it that Spike has stepped down from two Massey cases now, because of some (damning) vacation pictures, but Benjamin claims he’s not influenced by the guy who bought him his seat on the bench?
January 30, 2008 at 1:00 pm
BTW, the novel is set in Mississippi, how hilarious if they shot the film in West Virginia?
January 30, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Grisham ought to put this in his book.
I’d say that’d fly in Ol Miss or West Virginia. I wonder what story that boy is going to tell when he hits the cellblock?
February 3, 2008 at 4:37 pm
January 25, 2008
By Patricia Sabatini and Len Boselovic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
At first, West Virginia University officials said it was a simple record-keeping mix-up and that Mylan executive Heather Bresch definitely earned her M.B.A. degree in December 1998.
But in the weeks since a Dec. 21 story by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette raised questions about how the school went about retroactively granting the degree, officials have offered various, often contradictory, explanations of how they made the decision — including acknowledging they lacked the records to show she finished the degree.
Just how much has changed in what the university originally described as a clear-cut case is evident from the conflicting statements made by Provost Gerald Lang, the university’s chief academic officer.
On Dec. 14, Mr. Lang said there was no reason to pursue the matter further because errors had been appropriately corrected. A month later, he told WVU’s student newspaper that the odds that Ms. Bresch did not earn the degree were 50-50.
For most students, the discrepancy over the degree would have been handled quietly and internally, and would not have garnered the national attention Ms. Bresch’s case has. The interest in whether Mylan’s chief operating officer earned a master’s degree in business administration stems from who Ms. Bresch is. She is the daughter of West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin; the No. 2 executive at the Cecil-based drug company whose chairman is WVU’s largest benefactor; and a longtime friend and former business associate of WVU President Mike Garrison.
The controversy began with a routine call from the Post-Gazette to WVU to confirm Ms. Bresch’s academic credentials following her October promotion to chief operating officer at Mylan. The newspaper originally was told Ms. Bresch did not complete her degree, but when the Post-Gazette contacted Ms. Bresch about the discrepancy, she insisted that she earned the degree in December 1998. She declined to provide a transcript or other documentation and has declined further comment.
Subsequent Post-Gazette research found WVU officials retroactively added six classes, including grades, to Ms. Bresch’s transcript and changed two courses that were marked “incomplete” to show letter grades. Together, the revisions added 22 missing credits that were required to complete the 48-credit program. The newspaper’s research indicated the classes were added without hard evidence that Ms. Bresch registered, paid or did the work for them.
In recent weeks, WVU officials have said they reconstructed Ms. Bresch’s history at the school despite spotty records. Business school Dean R. Stephen Sears, who has declined repeated requests for interviews with the Post-Gazette, acknowledged this month in a lengthy television interview that Ms. Bresch’s financial and academic records were “incomplete.”
Without the records to show Ms. Bresch finished her degree, the decision to grant it was based on “conversations and so forth,” Mr. Sears said on the “Decision Makers” show broadcast the weekend of Jan. 12 by four West Virginia stations.
“It is a case that is very incomplete at least with the data that we had. We had more questions than we had answers for,” Mr. Sears said. “We made the best decision that we thought we could make.”
His statements contrast with the certainty with which WVU spokeswoman Amy Neil spoke in October when the decision was made to retroactively grant Ms. Bresch the degree.
“We found all the pieces of the puzzle and were able to verify that all the class work was completed. She did all 48 hours,” Ms. Neil told the Post-Gazette at the time, just a few days after the university initially said Ms. Bresch had not completed the degree.
Ms. Neil made the same statement when the Post-Gazette story appeared Dec. 21, telling the Charleston Daily Mail: “We have the records. We have all the transcripts.”
Officials originally blamed the missing credits on the business school’s failure to transfer record of nearly half of Ms. Bresch’s course work to the registrar’s office in 1998. Mr. Sears subsequently has said there were several other major snafus involving her records.
He contended, for example, that tuition payment records were missing because of multiple “slip-ups” with the office of student accounts. In addition, besides failing to report Ms. Bresch’s grades to admissions and records over multiple semesters in 1998, the business school lost her files several years later as documents were converted from paper to an electronic format, Mr. Sears explained in the television interview.
“The records that weren’t completed have now been lost,” he said.
Both Mr. Lang and Mr. Sears have said the business school conducted an extensive examination of Ms. Bresch’s case, lasting roughly two weeks, to determine whether to retroactively grant the degree. But e-mails obtained by the Post-Gazette under the Freedom of Information Act indicate they made their decision much more swiftly and with considerably less documentation than officials originally said existed.
The e-mail records show that top officials, including Mr. Lang and Mr. Garrison’s chief of staff, Craig Walker, discussed Ms. Bresch’s case Friday, Oct. 12, the day after admissions and records told the Post-Gazette she had not earned the degree.
On Monday morning, Oct. 15, Mr. Walker called a meeting with Mr. Lang and several other business school administrators. E-mails indicate the gathering was the only meeting Mr. Sears attended before making the decision to grant the degree.
Just hours after that meeting, the university issued a statement to the Post-Gazette saying Ms. Bresch had met all the requirements for an M.B.A. except for paying a $50 graduation fee, meaning she had never been granted a diploma.
“We confirmed she completed all the course work necessary to graduate but discovered that wasn’t put on the record because the fee wasn’t paid,” Ms. Neil said at the time.
She did not explain how not paying a fee at the end of the program would affect transfer of grades and course work over multiple semesters, or why there had been no apparent problem with admissions and records receiving the first 26 credits worth of grades.
Amid public concerns of favoritism, Mr. Lang formed a three-person panel on Jan. 2 to investigate whether Ms. Bresch earned her degree. Last week, the university’s faculty senate recommended removing one of those panelists, a top executive at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission controlled by Gov. Manchin, and adding three people with no ties to the university or state government.
The policy commission official, Bruce Flack, subsequently resigned, and the senate executive committee today is expected to consider nominations for the outside panelists.
The “most qualified and impartial” will be presented to the full senate for a vote on Monday, faculty senate Chairman Steve Kite said.
Mr. Sears, in his television interview, said he was “fully supportive” of the panel.
“Maybe the panel can discover more information and do a more thorough job than we did,” he said.
Patricia Sabatini can be reached at psabatini@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3066. Len Boselovic can be reached at lboselovic@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1941.
First published on January 25, 2008 at 12:00 am
EmailPrint
February 8, 2008 at 8:52 am
If there’s any more proof that our Supreme Court is fucked, it’s that Spike can’t even find a case he can sit on.
Maynard recuses himself for third time
February 14, 2008 at 9:25 am
Beth Walker, Republican candidate for the state Supreme Court in a press release stated, “I’m tired of our court system not giving both plaintiffs and defendants a fair shake. I am seeking the support of all West Virginians who agree with me that the Supreme Court should act in its intended role as an independent branch of government deciding cases based upon the Constitution, established law and precedent. The Court should not be an impediment to prosperity and opportunity in our state.”
4444
Sitting Justice Elliott E. “Spike” Maynard was elected to the Supreme Court of appeals in 1996. Maynard is the subject of recent controversy. Since his personal friendship with Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was exposed after participating in the decision of a high profile $76.3 million judgment that was decided in favor of Massey, Maynard’s integrity has been questioned. Elliott, if re-nominated for the seat, will have to stand the trial of his life facing a jury of 700,000 voters next fall. The recently released photos of Maynard in Monaco vacationing with Blankenship have cast a cloud over the court.
According to an account of his campaign, Maynard has said that, “Judge-made law is one of the primary reasons for West Virginia’s extraordinarily high insurance rates.” That account also stated, “We have too much silly and frivolous litigation. If the Supreme Court would allow trial judges to have the power to throw out silly suits, it would help the problem immensely.”
February 14, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I smells a shill.
February 14, 2008 at 1:32 pm
This story from today’s Register-Herald, shows that getting rid of Maynard or Elliot for being too close to the issue would preclude Beth Walker from the WV Supreme Court.
Coal Industry Grassroots?
February 19, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Screw that, when’s someone gonna smack Benjamin around and make him do the right thing? Right now he’s making Arch Moore look good.