Law? Steve Goodwin Wipes His Ass with the Law
Little Brother Goodwin is a big, loud, purple fist of rage. He’s one step away from a full-on tantrum at any minute. Maybe he’s pissed off about his 60 years in the shadow of two older brothers who were better than him at everything.
Last week, for example, he deftly handled the Bresch situation by telling the faculty to kiss his all-powerful ass:
“[The faculty] don’t appoint me, they have nothing to do with my selection or with my term at the University…We’re not playing ‘who can pound their chest the hardest’…The law prescribes how the University is administered — it is by the Board of Governors; if they don’t like that, the only way to change that is to change the law.”
In case you didn’t notice, the they have to “change the law” line was a little inside joke at our expense.
You see, if Little Brother had to follow the law like the rest of us, he wouldn’t be Chairman of the WVU Board of Governors anymore — he’d be busy packing his office. When he got that job in 2006, the law said he could only serve for 2 years. That meant his term would have been over in June — just a few weeks from now.
But Little Brother Goodwin wipes his ass with the law. He is Joe Manchin’s main man in Morgantown. And Little Little Brother — Steve’s son Carte — is the Governor’s lawyer. He literally writes the law, because he’s in charge of drafting legislation for the Governor.
So what do they do? They change state law so Steve can keep pulling the strings at WVU. I shit you not. W.Va. Code 18B-2A-1(i). Here’s the bill, and here’s the law, signed by the Governor. They changed the rules in the middle of the game, so Little Brother could be Chairman until 2010 – and be there to get Boss Garrison through the rough spots in his first few years. It sounds crazy, but it’s true.
That’s how life goes when you’re playing by Goodwin rules.
Tags: Mike Garrison, Steve Goodwin
May 7, 2008 at 6:09 am
One message is loud and clear, and echoes from every mountain in this great state:
Goodwin MUST GO.
Garrison MUST GO.
Manchin, leader of this sicko group, MUST GO.
Until we are cleansed of these parasites, we will never move forward as a state.
SEND THEM PACKING, and fast.
May 7, 2008 at 6:42 am
Garrison must go, Goodwin must go, Manchin must go!
I agree—SEND THEM PACKING AND FAST! We can not let this momentum stop.
BTW–PPG has a good editorial today.
May 7, 2008 at 6:54 am
Mr Goodwins comment,as listed above, is a very arrogant approach to an issue. The people responding on these sites are not random,raucous tiraders……these are well thought out issues from rational,intelligent people who are “sick and tired and can take it anymore”……….the governing bodies of this Institution must look at this very seriously to realize “the emperor has no clothes”..the problem is there are too many of these emporers running around nude (now there’s a disgusting thought)……..by God you people (HK) must continue to lead this charge!……….
May 7, 2008 at 7:36 am
This whole episode has been arrogance on parade: Bresch, Manchin, Garrison, Lang, Sears, Goodwin, King of WVU Foundation, etc., etc., etc.
Take your pick.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
May 7, 2008 at 7:39 am
From the PPG
No faith: A tarnished WVU president loses his faculty
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
That sharp tremor Monday was the earth shifting under the feet of West Virginia University President Mike Garrison. The faculty senate, by a margin of 4-1, called for his removal over the M.B.A. transcript concocted by university officials for Heather Bresch, Mr. Garrison’s friend and former business associate.
In an affront to academic integrity, common sense and the good of his institution, WVU’s president has dug in his heels and pretended that this debacle doesn’t involve him.
Yet an investigative panel put Mr. Garrison’s office at the heart of the deception to invent credits that would support a master of business administration degree for Ms. Bresch, the daughter of West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin and an executive at Mylan Inc. The group, whose scathing report called the decision to award the degree “seriously flawed,” said officials falsified her transcript by adding courses she did not take and entering grades “simply pulled from thin air.”
It’s no surprise that Provost Gerald Lang and business school Dean R. Stephen Sears resigned their administrative posts last week. What’s remarkable is that Mr. Garrison would rather see his university, his alma mater, suffer the indignity of academic derision than step down himself. Yet his attempts to keep a distance from the scandal just won’t wash.
The investigators said his office “reacted immediately” after Ms. Bresch called him and chief of staff Craig Walker about the case. Ms. Bresch and Mr. Garrison’s chief of staff traded nine phone calls over the several days last October between the Post-Gazette’s questions about her degree and the meeting where administrators decided to give her an M.B.A.
Mr. Garrison’s chief of staff was there with Provost Lang, Dean Sears and others at the Oct. 15 meeting when the decision was made to award the degree, even though official records showed Ms. Bresch had completed only 26 of the 48 credits. The panel’s report said “the prevailing sentiment” at the meeting “was that a way should be found to justify the granting of the degree, if at all possible.” The report also said that “the actual or perceived pressure to go along with this decision, not to ‘rock the boat,’ was palpable.”
No wonder WVU’s faculty senate was outraged and humiliated. “The prerogative of the faculty was subverted by fraud,” said Sophia Blaydes, who represents retired faculty. “I consider this a serious academic crime.”
Harry Gingold, a professor of mathematics, wants the state attorney general to launch a criminal investigation. Physiology professor Paul Brown is urging whistle blowers to reveal any illegal actions by the Garrison administration.
The senate’s 77-19 vote demanding Mr. Garrison’s removal makes it clear that the faculty has no confidence in the president. Evidence is mounting publicly that alumni and donors have no confidence in the university.
The people of West Virginia, who fund this institution, deserve better. The only remaining act that will purge the stain of the Bresch case is the departure of Mike Garrison. If he can’t find the door, the board of governors must show him.
First published on May 7, 2008 at 12:00 am
May 7, 2008 at 7:51 am
All three must go, but I suspect Goodwin is the one “calling the shots” - his family has the money.
May 7, 2008 at 7:59 am
Isn’t that documentary guy who wrote Super Size me from WV? Maybe his next film can be about the slow death of a once great University?
May 7, 2008 at 8:03 am
Gary Abernathy writes:
Manchin hurt by fall-out
Gov. Joe Manchin’s insistence on defending Mike Garrison’s job at West Virginia University is clearly taking its toll on the governor’s own standing among the citizens of the Mountain State.
The hard numbers tell part of the story — an approval rating that has dropped to only 53% even among members of his own party.
Just as telling is the anecdotal evidence, like how quickly he has become the punchline in countless jokes and wisecracks about the unearned eMBA degree claimed by his daughter over the past decade.
Whether Manchin is telling the truth when he says he had no involvement in the WVU decision to hastily make her degree official, the public is not buying it. From reports around the state, water cooler conversation and dinner chatter indicates that the belief that Manchin had a hand in the matter is almost universal, regardless of ideology or party affiliation.
Such a conclusion is not difficult to understand, given how Manchin, since the day he took office, has insisted on being one of the most hands-on chief executives in modern history. With his penchant for being right in the middle of everything happening in West Virginia, most people seem to wonder how they are expected to believe that the WVU-Heather Bresch scandal was any different.
Meanwhile, Dem consultant Tom Susman is reporting a poll that shows 17% undecided in the Democrat governor’s primary — an amazingly high number for a once- popular incumbent versus a virtually unknown opponent.
http://www.getelephantwars.com/republicangazette.html
May 7, 2008 at 8:12 am
Headline in today’s Gazette: “WVU fine, Garrison says” … just keep telling yourself that, Mike. Maybe it will come true. This guy is at the center of a hurricane and refuses to acknowledge the debris flying around him. The outright gall of these people boggles my mind.
May 7, 2008 at 8:21 am
Still, the damage is done, the rot is from the inside, and who knows when this will be over.
Until the main players are gone at WVU, the healing won’t start.
May 7, 2008 at 9:32 am
Abernathy wants to get rid of Manchin so he can try to get his daughter a bootleg degree.
My grandfather would not let us kill black snakes in the barn because they kept the more destructive rat population down.
May 7, 2008 at 9:46 am
Wow! How did you find this stuff HK? Great Job!
BTW, I am still looking for contributers at Garrison Must Go
We also have an open and unmoderated message board there.
May 7, 2008 at 10:02 am
The spin continues. . .
Selected quotes trom the DP letters page:
1. “. . . In short, it is long past time to set the Bresch issue aside and move the mission of the greatest university in the nation forward with the excelllent management and leadership that is in place.” Signed Lee Good, Uniontown, Ohio, a long-time donor to athletic programs.
2. “Garrison is a brilliant attorney who has contributed much time, effort and dedication to the state of West Virginia and WVU. He has excellent credentials and has been the recipient of many honors for the great work he has done to promote the citizens of our state.” Signed Maynard Slaven, R. Ph. [what's that?], Grafton
3. E. Shepherd, Fairmont, claims that Garrison’s detractors are like the Salem witch hunt accusers, and that since MG has been “[i]n office for merely a few months,” he “could not possibly have been even remotely involved in such a heinous scandal. . . . You must ask yourselves, who was truly at fault in this matter? Was it Bresch? Was it Lang? Was it Sears? Could it have been David Hardesty? Perhaps it was all of the above or none of the above, but it most certainly was not Garrison!” Garrison “is a highly educated WVU graduate, a Rhodes scholar and a man with exceptional credentials, character and integrity who has been expected to clean up a mess overnight that occurred long before he filled the office of president.”
So now it was the previous administration. . . and it is possible that Heather was not at fault, but allegedly the previous president may have been. . .
May 7, 2008 at 10:18 am
>>>>Signed Maynard Slaven, R. Ph. [what's that?], Grafton
He’s a pharmacist - with a really great name! I may name my next dog Maynard Slaven.
A Rhodes scholar! Exceptional credentials, character and integrity!
How did the Bresch “mess” occur long before Garrison became president if the PPG didn’t ask the fatal question until after Mike took office?
May 7, 2008 at 10:21 am
So now it’s being referred to as a “witch hunt”? This democratic process to reveal the truth??!! I cannot believe these people…do they really not care about the truth? This is becoming even more sad, if that’s possible. It’s probably time now for those in the know to step forward and present all the facts. This will require great courage.
May 7, 2008 at 10:21 am
Re: observer
RPh = registered Pharmacist = someone who already graduated at an accredited pharmacy school (obtaining BS or Pharm.D) and went through the registration process to become one R.Ph.
Pharm.D = degree awarded to those who attend pharmacy school…it doesn’t mean these indivitual already registered with the board of pharmacy.
Re: E. Shepherd, Fairmont
GARRISON WAS NOT A RHODES SCHOLAR!!!
May 7, 2008 at 10:22 am
Phone records on a PDF in the DM this AM. Call Mike’s cell at 304-276-3340.
May 7, 2008 at 10:43 am
Maynard Slaven, R. Ph.
Isn’t Slaven’s wife a Malone - would be the sister to the father (Chip Malone - owns downtown bars) of Garrison’s wife, Heather (Malone)? Ie. Maynard Slaven is Garrison’s wife’s uncle by marriage? Anyone . . .
May 7, 2008 at 10:45 am
Oh! I’ve heard “witch hunt”-used to hear it alot actually; apparently it was my “specialty” (unbeknownst to me) when I worked at WVU.
He was a ROTARY scholar!!!!! Big difference…
May 7, 2008 at 10:55 am
Spurlock… hmm… didn’t he just give Joe some money?
But funny thing. He’s got this movie out and a tv show that’s kicking off a new season. This would tend to put him within my peculiar little domain. I wonder what he thinks of all of this?
May 7, 2008 at 11:45 am
Garrison’s father-in-law is Chip Malone; owner of Chik-N-Bones and co-owner of Crockett’s and who knows what else.
May 7, 2008 at 11:57 am
The Rotary Club is like the Lions Club or the Jaycees: a bunch of local businessmen drinking cocktails and telling each other how great they are. They hand out about a thousand of these scholarships every year (compared to 32 U.S. Rhodes scholars). And I’m pretty sure you compete only with people who’ve applied in your local Rotary district. In other words, a Rotary Scholarship, while nice, doesn’t mean shit in terms of your qualifications. Comparing Garrison’s Rotary to a Rhodes is like comparing Morgantown Elk of the Year to the Nobel Prize.
May 7, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Here’s the connection on Slaven you’re missing:
Stuart Maynard Slaven, better known as Chip Slaven, works at Jackson Kelly in D.C.
Here’s his firm profile:
http://www.jacksonkelly.com/jk/index.asp?w=Attorneysbio&empl_uno=10948
And he was in charge of handing out license plates or some bullshit when he worked for Bob Wise. And we all know who Wise’s chief of staff was.
What does it say when there is an orchestrated campaign to drum up support for Garrison through the use of people like Slaven’s relatives?
I’ll answer my own question: it says that Garrison and his regime are desperate to stay in power and don’t have any real, i.e., objective, supporters to turn to.
May 7, 2008 at 12:07 pm
LITG- Mike P. spends a lot of time in C-n-B
May 7, 2008 at 12:22 pm
After listening to President Garrison on Hoppy’s show, I have to give it to Garrison on one point. He can certainly put on the blinders and keep to the talking points. If you say you are doing a good job at the University enough times, it must be true. I am still puzzled at how the person most responsible for this whole fiasco can be the same person who is put in charge of fixing it. Personally, I think the fix is easy. President Garrison, stop giving your friends preferential treatment at University expense. Problem solved. I can already hear people saying that Garrison was not the person responsible for this situation. For those people, I have just one request. Please descibe a situation in which this could have happened if Mr. Garrison were not President. It would not have happened. Garrison and his people are putting up so many smoke screens right now that it is difficult to determine fact from fiction. President Garrison said that he is a leader and leaders must work with those that want to work with him. Huh? Last time, I checked that is not what leadership is. Leadership requires that people believe in you to be able to lead them. 80% of the faculty have said that they do not believe you can lead them. Next, how does he not believe this has hurt our reputation (or as he conveniently prefaced it “ruined”). Again plausible deniability at work as of course it has not “ruined” the reputation but it certainly has damaged it. So now we are the party school that burns couches and gives away free degrees. I think that should be the next description in the set of rankings as we fall several places next year. At least we will have a President who will let us know that that ranking has not “ruined” our institution. Well I have vented a bit for now.
May 7, 2008 at 12:46 pm
HELP!!
I sent an email last nite to the BOG members. Just received a reply from Tom Clark (whoever he may be), rambling on about the length of contracts to Garrison, Huggins and Stewart (which had nothing to do with the email I sent). Nevertheless, TC tells me that he had received a death threat and then goes on to ask me what I was going to do for him?
I am lost for words!
All I said in my email is that they all should be ashamed, never claim to care about WV or WVU and the sooner they all resign, the better. And yes, I DID say that the faculty did not want MG and they should have listened to the faculty.
HELP!! WTF is going on???
May 7, 2008 at 1:00 pm
and people wonder why WV has such a bad reputation? They wonder why there are people still voting in Logan County long after death? They
wonder why political corruption still is a problem in WV? Well, Mike
Garrison and Ego Joe Manchin should be the poster boys for political corruption. At the very least….Mike Garrison should immediately resign.
The voters will have a chance to send Ego Joe a message on May 13..
May 7, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I am just so upset over the way our state is being maligned by the current govenor and his cronies that I want to spread the word to VOTE VOTE VOTE and get rid of Manchin now before he can do any more harm!! As a parent, he should be ashamed of his daughter’s educational negligence AND as a parent, he should be ashamed of his own trying to bend the rules for her - makes you wonder what other relatives he’s covering for……just a question, makes you think, esp. those of you in Fairmont, right?
May 7, 2008 at 1:01 pm
You people can do whatever you want, but I seriously doubt if the fat cats on the BOG enjoy receiving unsolicited emails.
I am reminded of the time dozens coal truck drivers came to Charleston to drive around the Capitol complex to protest weight limit legislation. It was like a bunch of loud, smelly medieval siege machines had surrounded the place.
It got the attention of lawmakers, but not the kind of attention they were hoping for. It did absolutely nothing to advance their cause, and almost certainly hurt it. Instead of eliciting second thoughts or sympathy, all they managed to do was piss people off.
May 7, 2008 at 1:14 pm
who do i complain to? I sent my $50.00 check to Mike Garrison, and I was suppose to get a law degree? all I got was an Associates degree in
political science!
May 7, 2008 at 1:22 pm
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”—John Maxwell
May 7, 2008 at 1:24 pm
connect more political dots
cam huffman worked for Gov Wise and for Mike Garrison
cam huffman best bud with Keith Burdette who worked for Wise/Garrison
cam huffman nephew of Mr. Goodwin
cam huffman/keith burdette best buds with Joe Campbell formerly
on the board of governors and ended up supporting Garrison
time for manchin/goodwin/garrison/burdette/camhuffman to goooooo!
be gone with the political corruption junkies
May 7, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I don’t remember the namesake of any civic organization scholarship colonizing a portion of Africa just to satisfy their pedophilic desires, so the Morgantown Elk Of The Year has that going for them.
May 7, 2008 at 1:35 pm
BOG member and Jackon Kelly attorney, Ellen Cappellanti, is best friends with Coal-Joe and Gayle. Ellen is also in charge of the fundraising campaign to continue the renovations that are destroying The Historical Preservation status for the governor’s mansion by turning it into a tacky Fairmont version of the Sopranos.
May 7, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Fraud…altering of permanent records…..is against the law….it’s against every tax paying citizen of the state of West Virginia. The people need to take these leaders of stewart hall to court, file charges of fraud.
May 7, 2008 at 2:14 pm
WVUAlum….could you possibly have gotten an email that was not meant for you? OMG…POST IT!!!!!
May 7, 2008 at 2:15 pm
WVUAlum….redact it of course, it’s the polite thing to do….
May 7, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Jay…..troll….nice work ignoring the bait, everyone.
May 7, 2008 at 2:23 pm
WVUAlum: Isn’t there a BOG member named Tom Clark?
May 7, 2008 at 2:24 pm
WVUAlum: Sounds like Clark might have hit “Reply” instead of “Forward”! You may have a gem on your hands! Please post!
May 7, 2008 at 2:33 pm
WVUalum:
Please forward me the Clark email!
May 7, 2008 at 2:34 pm
used to be medical director or something for mylan
May 7, 2008 at 2:34 pm
As Rome burns, it is good to know we have a site for the daycare center.
May 7, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Was a V-P at Mylan…..one of the originals
May 7, 2008 at 2:40 pm
oh, thanks for the clarification
May 7, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Turnip Truck Driver, now that you’ve fallen out of the back - yet again - get in the front and drive yourself to Cluesville. Do not stop in Notiontown.
I’m an indiscriminate smart-ass, not a troll.
May 7, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Poor Tom Clark. He is a nice guy, but went through a rough period in the 90s. He abused Demerol and went in for drug treatment in Minnesota. He lied about the treatment on his medical license renewal applications in 1987 and 1989. Someone sent an anonymous letter to the board of medicine. He refused to consent to the release of his records . . . . his license was suspended, he got a “public reprimand” and did some community service. He went on to become Vice President of Corporate Medical Affairs at Mylan Pharmaceuticals (now retired) and then a WV-BOG member!
http://www.wvdhhr.org/wvbom/orders/MD10802A.pdf
May 7, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Poor Tom Clark. He is a nice guy, but went through a rough period in the 90s. He abused Demerol and went in for drug treatment in Minnesota. He lied about the treatment on his medical license renewal applications in 1987 and 1989. Someone sent an anonymous letter to the board of medicine. He refused to consent to the release of his records . . . . his license was suspended, got a “public reprimand” and he did some community service. He went on to become Vice President of Corporate Medical Affairs at Mylan Pharmaceuticals (now retired) and then a WV-BOG member!
http://www.wvdhhr.org/wvbom/orders/MD10802A.pdf
May 7, 2008 at 8:12 pm
# Lurking In The Grass Says:
May 7, 2008 at 11:45 am
Garrison’s father-in-law is Chip Malone; owner of Chik-N-Bones and co-owner of Crockett’s and who knows what else.
Now, for the latest installment of…Connect The Dots…Here’s a blast from Morgantown’s Soprano’s past…Hun Pastoria.
May 7, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Hippie Killer, I can’t believe you didn’t catch the other change in this little gem. Mojo/Carte Goodwin also changed the law to allow the Higher Education Policy Commission to sell the WVNET property to Mylan. They were busy little beavers.
May 7, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I thought the HEPC at its meeting on Friday agreed to a lease of the WVNET property to Mylan.
May 7, 2008 at 9:21 pm
The ultimate goal is to sell the property … the lease is an expedient.
May 9, 2008 at 9:22 am
I feel compelled to point out that Mike Garrison also does not use his turn signals.
Rules don’t apply, right there.
May 10, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I believe failure to use turn signals qualifies for the death penalty.
June 3, 2008 at 4:35 pm
this site is filled with pure crap and most of the writers must not know their ass from a hole in the ground. you are the people who are bringing disgrace upon wvu. if you really had the interest of wvu , you would stop this axe grinding bit and put your energy into doing something constructive for our university.