Is there a more conflicted member of of the WVU Board of Governors than Parry Petropolus? I don’t think so.
Any time a member of a governing board is selling something to the organization he governs, he has a direct financial conflict of interest. His fiduciary obligation to make the best decisions for the organization is in conflict with his personal interest in self-enrichment. It’s a fundamental no-no.
This is one of those things that seems so obvious to me that I automatically assume everybody just gets it. But everybody doesn’t. So listen the hell up. The real story behind all of this — Garrison’s rigged search, the fake degree, all of it — is one of business owners exploiting the phenomenal growth at WVU and in Morgantown for their own personal gain.
It’s one of the oldest and easiest ways in the world to make money. If you know ahead of time where government is going to build, and if you can get out in front — a fortune can be made. Just ask Oshel Craigo. And if you can arrange for the higher-ups who just so happen to be your buddies to throw a few contracts your way, or work out a sweetheart deal or two for you — and hey, someone has to finance all that construction! — you can become rich beyond your wildest dreams.
This is what has been going on in Morgantown over the past few years. That’s why businessmen like Parry Petroplus, Mylan Puskar and Doug Leech — all former clients of Mike Garrison, by the way — were totally in the tank for him years ago. And that is why Morgantown’s so-called business leaders were so quick to circle their wagons around their boy Mike Garrison after he totally lost the plot. And If you recall, they were practically the only people to defend him.
And why not? They gave West Virginia’s flagship university to a 38-year-old political hack with no qualifications for a damn good reason. They turned WVU’s enormous budget into Mike Garrison’s personal slush fund, and literally stood to make millions off the guy.
Just think about that. Parry Petroplus adding another layer of gold plating to his mansion with our tax dollars and our tuition. All while most of us struggle to save money for gas.
But hell. Even if you don’t agree with my populist rhetoric, or even if you’re foolish enough to think it’s all on the up and up in Morgantown, I’ll make it simple: Parry Petroplus’s fiduciary obligation to make the best decisions for West Virginia University is in conflict with his personal interest in self-enrichment. Period.
He should not be a member of the WVU Board of Governors.
July 7, 2008 at 4:32 am
It may be old news but someone needs to investigate the Waterfront Place deal. Who was hired by WVU to find a site for its administrative building? Who identified HIS OWN PROPERTY as the perfect site?
July 7, 2008 at 5:48 am
Does the WV Ethics Commission have jurisdiction over the BOG? If so, you could request a written opinion of Perry’s self serving ways. They could sanction him, begin a court case, and make his life an open record.
July 7, 2008 at 6:29 am
“ah,come on HK,i am only trying to make a buck”…………once again HK you hit the nail squarely on the head!……..what happened to the HSC blog?
July 7, 2008 at 7:12 am
Where is this Scott Sears in all of this tangle of I-79 Morgantown-Charleston business ties? Who is he? How old? Is he from Fairmont? Did he attend high school with Garrison and Heather?
July 7, 2008 at 7:31 am
HK, I am so relieved to see this focus on yet another BOG member who has such amazing degrees of conflict of interest that I cannot believe the mainstream press has not written about it.
Parry Petroplus has every right to “develop” Morgantown, but no right to be on the BOG given these conflicts, and we might want to get a good list of those conflicts going.
It appears to the untrained eye that the Wharf District and Waterfront Place are not doing all that well. And that puts high pressure on Centra and Petroplus.
July 7, 2008 at 7:34 am
You left the businessman, Julian Bailes, out of that list of cronies. And he needs to exit (and the sooner, the better) the HSC Search Committee along with Drs. Brick and Butcher.
July 7, 2008 at 7:43 am
It used to be that an entrepreneur needed to get his foot in the door to have a shot at success.
In Morgantown, the key to success is having “inbred toenails.”
July 7, 2008 at 7:44 am
Does anyone know anything about the “Event Center” that is being built beside Waterfront Place Hotel? Are they hoping to turn it into a casino if/when table gaming passes for the rest of the state?
July 7, 2008 at 8:15 am
Scott Sears-
http://www.fairmontwv.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4
July 7, 2008 at 8:27 am
The really affecting point of this post, it seems, is that such a profile is delivered ex post facto and by a private citizen, instead of by the media or other watchdog group BEFORE the governor can install the bum.
Please respond with your favorite joke on watchdog/lapdog.
July 7, 2008 at 8:34 am
Linsley:
This link is to the event center/theater campaign. It is clearly a year behind, but you can see the plans, adjacent to the Waterfront Hotel (on R in picture). Other taller building on L is the WVU Waterfront Place/Foundation building.
Original plans were for a separate theater, but it bogged down years ago.
I have heard rumors also of the wharf district going to gambling, and there is plenty of room for it.
http://www.wvpublictheatre.org/dream.html
July 7, 2008 at 8:45 am
inthetrenches:
No watchdog jokes here - it’s too sobering to think of Mojo capable of appointing everything in WV. Since his interests need so much babysitting, perhaps he’ll use the new child care facility as a secret outpost as well. Lame joke.
A watchdog group is what WV needs, big time, to protect us from the Manchin lapdogs.
With BOG - I think this would make for a great thesis or dissertation project: Chronicle BOG for a year, beginning with tomorrow’s meeting and swearing in of new members.
Let’s hope a newspaper like PPG is already planning to do this.
When is Parry P’s BOG term up?
July 7, 2008 at 9:06 am
It’s up in 2009, Steph. I’ve been told he will not seek reappointment but since that’s a year off, it may be too early to say that with certainty.
Remember that the events center on the waterfront was built with economic development money funneled this way by Dave Satterfield. They were at risk of losing the funding because it took so long to get started. And the plans include a garage in an area that already has two.
Time to back on mission.
July 7, 2008 at 9:39 am
If you are appointed to a board or commission in the state o W.Va, you must file with the Ethics Commission each year. You must report any outside monies you recieve and the form would clearly indicate any conflict of interests - unless, one got very created.
I guess my question is this: Are those Ethic Commission forms subject to FOIA? If so, guys, we could have a field day.
I wish we could FOIA all emails between:
Garrison and Brian Noland
B. Noland and Kay Goodwin
J. Manchin and B. Noland
J. Manchin and Mike Garrison
BOG members and Mike Garrison
BOG members and Brian Noland
BOG members and J. Manchin
We also need a review of all WVU-related policy recommendations from Brian Noland. All emails to senior at HEPC staff from Mr. Noland.
Why? Because my friends, there is a gold mine there. It will help us get to the root of the issue happening at WVU. HEPC is truly the kidney of all higher education policy and politics in W.Va. At some point in time, the emails, phone calls, policy decisions, money movement, etc., filters its way through that office.
And, further still, for some reason, in the past five years, HEPC has become more political than it ever was in its history.
July 7, 2008 at 10:06 am
Here is an excerpt from the Spring 2007 WV Executive interview of Petroplus. It is pretty fitting for this post.
WVE: What role does being a WV company play in your success?
PP: We’re fortunate in that we are a small state that provides us an ability to have close relationships with representatives of state government and other state leaders. Our state might have deficiencies that the Governor is trying to correct, but one thing we have going for us is the quality of our people. It’s something that should be envied by other states that are often critical of us.
WVE: How has being in Morgantown helped your business to succeed verses being in Charleston or Pittsburgh?
PP: A major factor is that Morgantown is home to two of the largest economic engines in the state; West Virginia University’s main campus and Mylan Pharmaceuticals. There’s not a city in the country that wouldn’t want to have these two entities as leaders in their community. At no other time has the community and university relationship been stronger. It’s a business-friendly environment because of the public and private sector cooperation.
http://www.wvexecutive.com/featured/spring07/parry-petroplus/
July 7, 2008 at 10:07 am
PPG reports yesterday that Heather Manchin Bresch one of the highest paid females in the region. Scrolling through the list she is among some very highly respected women with outstanding credentials.
July 7, 2008 at 10:17 am
Does Ray Lane –new BOG appointee–have a conflict of interest given that WVU uses Oracle? Even though Lane doesn’t work for Oracle anymore, does he still own stock? What about the fact that he sits on the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Mellon? Is that in conflict with BOG operating procedures (below)? I suppose lawyers could make a case that “Board of Trustees” is not the same as “Board of Governors,” and CMU is (I think) private but his appointment appears to violate the intent of the law. Nothing against Ray Lane, but he has to be connected to someone high up if WVU is using his (former) company’s software.
Do we really have to poach from CMU to find qualified BOG members? Surely, there was/is someone else who could have been appointed who would not have ANY conflict of interest (even an apparent conflict). I have read ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about this is in the media.
Article 1.6 of the WVU BOG operating procedures: “No lay person shall
be eligible for appointment to membership on the Board who is an
officer, employee or member of any other board of governors, a member
of an institutional board of advisors of any public institution of
higher education, an employee of any institution of higher education,
an officer or member of any political party executive committee, the
holder of any other public office or public employment under the
government of West Virginia or any of its political subdivisions, or a
member of the Policy Commission, or a member of the West Virginia
Council for Community and Technical College Education.” See
http://bog.wvu.edu/procedures
July 7, 2008 at 10:31 am
The fact that Ray Lane’s former employer, Oracle, sold software to WVU, isn’t really very fishy, unless some additional information comes to light. WVU, like most large organizations, needs a comprehensive, customized accounting-data collecting-scheduling-human resources-project management package, and very few companies used to provide these. Oracle was the largest in the US; SAP the largest in the world. So WVU bought a package that lots and lots of other companies/institutions also bought.
There are more companies in the business now than there were a few years ago. The sale of this software is a great business, because not only do you sell the basic package, but you also get to charge for customization, maintenance, future upgrades, etc., and once someone has invested in the package, it’s hell to change. It’s a little like selling printers at cost and making a fortune on the ink. If WVU or other higher ed entities, or state government, start changing their software packages, take a good long look at it, because these companies hire connected lobbyists to promote their products.
July 7, 2008 at 11:19 am
I don’t see a conflict with CMU Board membership.
July 7, 2008 at 11:57 am
The “Events Center”—on target!! This was originally marketed as a “home” for the West Virginia Public Theatre. Lots of gushing about “the arts” (big voices here were Neil Bucklew and Steve La Cagnin)—and the result was a state economic grant,… plus, this is now also a TIF district. Some time ago, the plans “evolved” - a “multi-events” center, just under the time wire for the state economic grant. Yes, the Public Theatre will use it—but so will many others. Notice all of the public money (both direct and indirect) involved.
I strongly believe that table games is the ultimate goal. Rumor has it that Pushkar/Lorenze were the movers here, but that Pushkar pulled out as a direct partner, and Lorenze had to find someone else.(MP feared his aura as “philanthropist” might be tarnished)
One of our legislators has been positioned for years as their point-person re table games. Can anyone guess who?
July 7, 2008 at 12:24 pm
happy @10:06
your excerpt reminded me of something I reviewed recently regarding WVU (and every man, woman, and child in WV) viewed as an economic engine:
Garrison as new HEPC chair said the following in August 2006.
“The last issue — there’s no particular order, but this is one that is particularly important to the governor, and it’s an issue that’s important to me — is the campus as an economic engine. He (Gov. Joe Manchin) has said time and time again that he doesn’t want to have any more of these education meetings where economic development and education aren’t at the same table.”
http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=12781
And all this time the mob was offended that our leaders totally forgot about academic integrity. What WERE we thinking.
July 7, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Here is a WVU publication featuring PP - the conflicts of interest are blazoned for all to see, including his role on the BOG. He is “leading the charge” and the city and the university simply have to follow suit. What a guy.
He even gives himself an A!
http://www.ia.wvu.edu/~magazine/issues/spring%202005/html/warf.html
July 7, 2008 at 2:25 pm
This stuff just gets better and better with each passing day.
Has anyone thought of contacting Anderson Cooper at CNN (AC360), as he is famous for covering Raw Politics.
Man, is this raw.
This entangled mess makes the fox having the keys to the henhouse look like child’s play.
July 7, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Mountain Daddy,
J. Manchin doesn’t have a personal email account nor can he type… it’s all cell communication, ahem PRIVATE paid cell communication.
July 7, 2008 at 2:58 pm
foamy…..he has one. It just isn’t a state one. That said, though, when he emails these guys…it goes to a state one.
He shares an account with Gayle.
July 7, 2008 at 2:58 pm
According to several bloggers who have posted, many people have tried to get the national media interested in this story but they’re not interested in our issues. First, it’s an election year and resources are devoted to those stories. Second, corruption in WV politics is not news–it’s old news. Now throw in a flashy hooker or a missing blonde chick and then you’ve got all the shows flocking to your town.
Prosecurati made a comment there is more crime than time in this state. Investigation and prosecution cost money even if you can overcome the politics. It’s the same problem for journalists. There are lots of good stories and fewer reporters to write them. Can these small town papers pull a reporter off the daily beat and let him/her work on a story for a few months to nail down all the details? And Morgantown and Charleston are small towns (with Charleston getting smaller every day). The PPG spent 2 months nailing down the Bresch story and they had a source inside the university to help them.
If you throw out tips for the reporters, help them out and give them official sources to go to. I’ve seen a lot of good info on this blog but don’t know how they could get to that information officially. They can’t run with every rumor. If you’re a reporter reading this blog, let yourself be known if you’re working on a story (like conflicts of interest) so people can contact you with information.
July 7, 2008 at 3:04 pm
What color was the Keener woman’s hair? Would national media be interested in her case?
MGW makes excellent points about the press. The reporters need as much help as possible.
PurpleSage: Thanks for the info on Oracle.
July 7, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Let’s start a list. What decisions has Petroplus been involved in as a BOG member that benefit him personally or his business interests? And I think we should limit ourselves for the moment to ACTUAL conflicts, rather than POTENTIAL conflicts or PERCEIVED conflicts. Antigone @4:32 refers to one. Others have alluded to a conflict concerning the Waterfront Hotel, the public theatre, and table games, but I’m not following how these are related to WVU. Where is the conflict of interest?
July 7, 2008 at 3:35 pm
The bidding process, and then then there is how different entities buy things up, or buy back, like WVUF.
Not to mention if BOG is planning things like property purchases, and one is already a realtor - inside information.
July 7, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Contacted CNN-Anderson 360 and never heard back from them. I still think we need to keep trying. While it is indeed an election year, viewers are tiring of the same old issues between candidates every night. They really do need something else to keep the program fresh. Before the primaries, I watched 360 nearly every night, but my interest has dropped because of the boring repetition.
July 7, 2008 at 6:04 pm
PPG mentioned in December that WVU is one of the Waterfront Place Hotel’s biggest customers. Any event held there is bringing money to the hotel’s bottom line i.e Parry’s pockets. Being on the BOG can definitely help him funnel business there.
July 7, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Some time ago, after the Manchin degree scandal broke, a well-connected physician told me the one of Garrison’s jobs was to get WVU to take Waterfront property off the hands of Petropolus. Apparently, Petrop0lus is losing millions of dollars anually. This physician seemed to know what he was talking about. He even told me Garrison was asked about the truth of this, and he retorted, “We are not in that business.”
July 7, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Fox Hunter: why do you ask about the color of Keener’s hair? I am very interested in this case because it should have been solved. They know the car was metallic red, they found the car in Florida, they know who it is registered to. The police repeatedly said they thought they would solve the case, and then nothing. Someone shut them up.
July 7, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I think Fox Hunter was referring to my post about getting national media attention with a Missing Blonde Chick.
July 7, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I know a close relative of Erin Keener. When I see them, I will ask into the case. It’s not something I want to do over the phone.
July 7, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I have been told that several state organizations were “encouraged” by the Manchin admin to hold state-supported meetings at the new Bridgeport Conference Center ( It’s out of the way of any restaurants, etc., so attendees automatically have the price of their lunch added to the conference fee–whether they wanted it or not). I am not sure who owns it, but whoever it is must be a Friend of Joe’s…
July 7, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Aren’t the Comptons developing Southpointe? And the new United Hospital Center opens out that way in next couple of years, right?
July 7, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Interim president to be appointed tomorrow.
http://wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=25342
July 7, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I am Unfamiliar with the Erin Keener tie in. I know she was struck by a car in Fairmont, but what does that have to do with Perry Petroplus? or with Politics? Can someone give all the details they know
July 7, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Looselips: I don’t know who Keener is. I was just mentioning Missing White Chick because the national media swarms over every detail if there’s a pretty missing girl involved.
Molly’s Mom: thanks for the info. So he’s not working weekends in Morgantown? Wonder if I can get the president’s box at the football games?
July 7, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Looselips: I was replying to MGW’s comment. I agree that it is awful that the hit and run crime has not been solved. Would Anderson Cooper or someone like him be interested in looking into the cicumstances surrounding the police inquiry into the hit and run?
July 7, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Erin Keener was a young nursing student killed by a hit and run driver. There is a rumor on this blog that the driver was a member of the Manchin family. News articles referencing this are posted on the previous thread.
July 7, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Wheelin feelin: Ms. Keener’s death has nothing to do with Parry Petroplus as far as I know. The only tie in is indirect. I have heard unsubstantiated rumours that there is a Manchin-related reason that the inquiry halted and will not be resumed. Others may know more. Like I said, it is just a rumour I heard (and I did not hear it on this blog). Apologies for the confusion created by my remark.
July 7, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I agree with fox hunter (10:17 AM) that a huge step backward is being made if a new BOG member (Ray Lane) is appointed who is already a member of the governing board of another university. WVU’s BOG operating procedures read “No lay person shall be eligible for appointment to membership on the Board who is an officer, employee or member of any other board of governors.” This is as clear as day, and if we can accept that this rule can be interpreted to mean something else (absent convincing evidence of the intent of those who wrote the rule), then the entire set of operating procedures is meaningless. This is not the precedent that should be set, especially not now.
How can WVU expect its credibility to be restored when its own published procedures are completely disregarded in the appointing of Board members? This is obviously not a reflection on Lane, who would appear to be an excellent appointee; it’s an issue of following our own rules in a rigorously transparent fashion. If WVU wants to convince the world that it deserves to be taken seriously as an institution, then its leaders must follow its procedures unscrupulously.
I also agree that the BOG operating procedures regarding governors’ conflicts of interest are not being followed either, and that the Ethics Commission or the Committee on Special Investigations (I don’t know which would have jurisdiction) should look into that as well. In fact, this is partly why it’s so important that *all* of the operating procedures be followed, and not just those that seem to bother us more than others.
July 7, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Is anyone going to the BOG meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30? It is open to the public.
http://www.wvsos.com/meeting-notices/meeting-details.aspx?id=4949
July 7, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Matt, the language actually appears in state law and it is state law that determines who may be appointed and who may not.
July 7, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I haven’t checked the code, but I’m guessing that the term “board of governors” in the statute refers to the board of governors of a WV institution of higher education. In other words, you can’t be on the board of more than one of the state’s colleges or universities. But I’m just guessing.
Matt: which BOG operating procedures regarding conflicts of interest are not being followed? Have some on the BOG voted on issues they have a personal stake in?
July 8, 2008 at 12:54 am
Re: the Keener case, the Gazette ran a story about that back in November. Pete Thompson (Manchin’s nephew) was interviewed by the police, but eventually cleared. He was out of state at the time of the accident.
So just to be sure, there’s no rumor being spread by this blog that he was involved in Keener’s death.
July 8, 2008 at 5:51 am
Thanks, HK.
July 8, 2008 at 8:32 am
The evidence was destroyed linking Pete to the case, wasn’t it, HK?
July 8, 2008 at 8:33 am
molly’s mom, charles pointe in bridgeport is being developed by the compton family. it includes the bport conference center and will include the new united hospital center.
July 8, 2008 at 10:02 am
I honestly haven’t heard anything remotely like that.
July 8, 2008 at 11:56 am
Thanks Lys for referring me to the state code; here is the paragraph from 18B-2A-1-k: “(1) For a baccalaureate institution or university, a person is ineligible for appointment who is an officer, employee or member of any other board of governors, a member of an institutional board of advisors of any public institution of higher education, an employee of any institution of higher education, an officer or member of any political party executive committee, the holder of any other public office or public employment under the government of this state or any of its political subdivisions or a member of the council or commission. This subsection does not prevent the representative from the faculty, classified employees, students or chairpersons of the boards of advisors or the superintendent of a county board of education from being members of the governing boards.”
Note that the key qualifier “under the government of this state” is included when referring to holders of public office, but not included when referring to holders of the other positions mentioned. Plus, the proviso at the end could have specified that members of governing boards of non-WV univerisities were exempt, but it does not specify this.
The conflict of interest policies of the BOG are described in section 1.13 of its operating procedures. Information presented at various media venues suggests that some board members have failed to “perform their responsibilities in a manner which avoids conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts or of impropriety.” A host of episodes over the past 18 months (which have been documented here and elsewhere) point to the likelihood of some members using their positions to “obtain … private financial, social, or political benefit which in any manner would be inconsistent with the interest and mission of the University.” Exhibit 1, of course, would be last year’s appointment by the board of Garrison to the presidency.
The procedures specify that board members should write annual conflict of interest statements and disclose any potential conflicts to the Chairman of the board, who then consults with the University General Counsel to determine whether a conflict exists and whether to disclose the information to the rest of the board. When a conflict exists, the member is to abstain from voting on the matter in question. Could such disclosures be made public if they existed?
Fishferfun, you are right to ask whether members with conflicts have voted on matters in which they have personal stakes. I don’t know this for a fact. The procedures read: “The interested member shall abstain from all votes on any such matter and the disclosure of such a conflict and the member’s recusal shall be recorded in the minutes of the affected meeting.” A quick perusal of the minutes of the board meetings since December 2006 do not identify a single instance of a member who abstained from a vote on a matter due to a conflict of interest. It’s difficult to believe that not a single vote would have been taken over the past 18 months in which not a single board member had a conflict of interest.
To me, there are enough appearances of conflicts and enough questions about whether procedures have been followed to merit an investigation. The point is not just to *catch* someone, but to do *whatever it takes* to rehabilitate the university’s reputation. If all of the board members have behaved appropriately, they will be vindicated (and rightly so), and WVU’s credibility will be reinforced. To get out of the hole into which we’ve dug ourselves, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard.
July 8, 2008 at 1:51 pm
§18B-1-2. Definitions.
The following words when used in this chapter and chapter eighteen-c of this code have the meanings ascribed to them unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:…..
(b) “Governing boards” or “boards” means the institutional boards of governors created pursuant to section one, article two-a of this chapter;
So does governing board mean the same as board of governors?
July 8, 2008 at 2:39 pm
the biggest problem w petrop that ive seen is that the construction of the wvu foundation building wasnt bid out but just given to platinum properties. there was a lawsuit about it i believe
July 8, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Thanks very much for referring to the definitions section. I’m not in the habit of reading state code and am grateful to you for pointing this out. It certainly seems reasonable to me to interpret “board of governors” to mean the same think as “governing board” or “boards” as clarified by the definitions (which indeed refer explicitly to institutions of higher learning in WV).
Thanks again for your help; this resolves my anxiety about Lane’s appointment.
July 8, 2008 at 4:16 pm
what happens when Garrison goes in Sept (and hopefully takes cronies like Macia and Walker with him) to places like WVU Research Corp and Neuroscience Inst. where he is boards?
July 8, 2008 at 4:21 pm
This is an interesting article about the WV Public Theatre project. It includes lots of details for anyone who’s interested. (I hope the link works.)
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/817777/wvpt_retools_its_dream_standalone_theater_evolves_into_rented_attachment/index.html
July 9, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Hopefully, with the economic downtown, a businessman like Mr. Petroplus will need to resign from the BOG and pay even more attention to his own work. Give him a little time to make it look unrelated to the BOG fiasco, and he will leave.
July 9, 2008 at 2:56 pm
watch out molly’s mom…i think pigs are flying now
July 9, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Oh hell, I know, wvuhscex, I got carried away by my usually optimistic nature. It’s taken a hard hit lately.
July 10, 2008 at 11:07 am
It is so pleasing to finally see the likes of Perry Petroplus and his Waterfront Place shenanigans under the microscope of this blog. I worked for the state historic preservation office back in 2004 when Petroplus steamrollered the Morgantown Historic Landmarks Commission and my office in his bid to destroy the perfectly sound R.A. Wilbourn building, a historic warehouse that was a contributing part of the now ruined Wharf Historic District. You can read about PP’s role in wrecking the historic district here: http://www.smartwords.biz/samples/business/02.htm. At the time the article was written, the situation was still hanging in the balance. If you go to the Wharf area now, you can see that the historic building was deleted from the landscape and replaced with a phony “historic looking” pile of junk that houses the offices of the oh-so-lovely Jackson Kelly law firm: http://www.marchwestin.com/Data/News/Pdfs/JacksonKellyMorgantownOffice.4.13.03.pdf. I can’t imagine a better union—a fake historic building erected by a bully on the ruins of Morgantown’s heritage and inhabited by a coven of lawyers from the most wretched law firm in the state.
July 10, 2008 at 11:36 am
Please allow me to correct myself–the Jackson Kelly building is adjacent to the atrocity that replaced the R.A. Wilbourn building. The new fake historic building is known as the “Marina Tower.” It is very clear that Petroplus never planned to rehabilitate the old building, as claimed in the Gever article, when the so-called “Waterfront Master Plan” is taken into consideration.
http://www.petroplus.com/news.cfm?view=active&nID=39&step=2
http://www.wvdo.org/realestate/marinatowerofficebuilding.pdf
July 10, 2008 at 11:37 am
Now, now, Former DCH employee, there is a big competition for that title of “most wretched law firm in the state.”
But I agree, these guys have run amok doing whatever they damn well please. Bankers, lawyers, univ presidents.
July 10, 2008 at 12:44 pm
WVDHCH:
So did the Wharf District lose it’s historic listing? I don’t recall.
August 4, 2008 at 4:59 pm
What many view as progress and economic development in Morgantown, all of you naysayers have elected to see as nothing but graft, greed and wasted time and money. In all of business, regardless of geographic region, politically affiliation or socio-economic categorization, it is not ‘what you know’ but ‘who you know’. This is time tested axiom of business relationships and social networking.
Why now do you gather your ‘pitch forks and torches’ and march to the Waterfront? What have these businessmen done that has negatively impacted you? Why can you not see the positive externalities brought forth to your community by the Waterfront project?
What I read in this blog is a colorful and prime example of what some refer to as the “Boiling Crawfish Pot” analogy. In this scenario, crawfish are in the pot together as a community. As the water begins to heat up and increase in intensity, the stronger and smarter of the crawfish will begin to climb onto one another in an effort to climb upward and escape from certain death in the boiling water. However, just as a crawfish appears to have risen above the others, on the brink of escape, one or more of the other crawfish in the community will selfishly grap on and pull that crawfish back into the boiling water as they attempt to save themselves.
However, in the end, all is lost and all the crawfish perish.
When you try to destroy someone such as Parry Petroplus with nothing but rumor and innuendo, you do nothing but destroy yourselves!
August 4, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Hey buddy. Fuck you.
Again: Any time a member of a governing board is selling something to the organization he governs, he has a direct financial conflict of interest. His fiduciary obligation to make the best decisions for the organization is in conflict with his personal interest in self-enrichment. It’s a fundamental no-no.
Them’s the rules. Google it.