Do You Believe in MIRacles? Part I

In the 1980 Winter Olympics, the United States hockey team beat the Soviet hockey team by a score of 4 to 3. That victory was voted the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated and is famous for sportcaster Al Michaels’ call at the end of the game: “Eleven seconds, you’ve got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk … five seconds left in the game … Do you believe in miracles? Yes! Unbelievable!”

When I started my rant about Mike Garrison and the rigged presidential search at West Virginia University more than one year ago, I thought that people like Steve Goodwin and Steve Farmer and Robert Wells could be shamed into doing the right thing by their and my alma mater if attention could be focused on what they were doing. Boy was I wrong. Like a bunch of pit bulls, they and their friends at the Higher Education Policy Commission held on tight and railroaded Garrison into the WVU presidency. Good Guys 0 - Bad Guys 1.

When David Hardesty was summarily ousted to allow Mike Garrison to become president a month earlier than expected and thus deny Hardesty his goal of becoming WVU’s longest-serving president and the faculty went docile, I assumed we were in for a long ride with Garrison at the helm. Good Guys 0 - Bad Guys 2.

But I overestimated Garrison and his cronies and underestimated a lot of other people. While the ride was not long, it certainly was a bumpy one. We didn’t know it at the time, but the first major bump in the road came in October when Mike Garrison and his new administration were faced with the decision about whether to give Heather Bresch a degree that anyone with two brain cells to rub together would know she had not earned. Garrison and Walker and Macia and Case and Lang and Sears and Logar flunked the test of academic integrity. Good Guys 0 - Bad Guys 3.

Their actions would remain unknown to this day were it not for a bevy of whistleblowers and two intrepid reporters from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Len Boselovic and Patti Sabbatini. The PPG’s December story breaking open this scandal could be a WVU journalism department case study in good reporting. Every “i” was dotted and every “t” was crossed. So when bogus stories like “Heather didn’t pay her graduation fee” and “Heather attended graduation” came up, they were summarily shot down and thrown on the trash heap of what became a rather large pile of Garrison administration lies. Good Guys 1 - Bad Guys 3.

But it took more than a bevy of whistleblowers and a “foreign” newspaper to break this story wide open. It also took an investigative panel with the courage to tell the truth in simple terms that everyone could understand. Discarding the writing style of academics, they helped us understand that the pressure to give Bresch a degree was “palpable” and explained that grades were “pulled out of thin air.” Good Guys 2 - Bad Guys 3.

While many of the classified employees and students provided less-than stellar leadership, the same cannot be said for the faculty. Some formed a group called Mountaineers for Integrity and Responsibility (MIR), and almost all (92%) voted that Garrison Must Go. Good Guys 3 - Bad Guys 3.

Meanwhile, Garrison and his cronies lobbed distraction after distraction at us, even if they scored no goals in the process. Garrison removed Lang as provost and Sears as dean- only to have the world discover that both would keep their jobs and most of their salaries and one would even get a sabbatical. Then Garrison “demoted” Macia and Case without bothering to cut their salaries. Garrison even tried to peddle a story that called into question every eMBA degree issued by WVU. But by that point it was too late. People like Betty Chilton who had rubber-stamped Garrison’s initial selection and Hoppy Kercheval who had waxed poetic about Garrison early on stopped accepting the bullshit that Garrison and crew were spewing and told us the truth. As a result, Garrison, like Hardesty before him, is leaving earlier than expected, but also without a golden parachute strapped to his back. Special thanks as well to the state official(s) who put a stop to this! Good Guys 4 - Bad Guys 3.

Do I believe in MIRacles? Yes! Unbelievable!

HK Keeps it Real

If the Mountain Party is so awesome, then why haven’t they been able to get more than one candidate elected to anything, ever?

Corio to BOG: Ur Doin it Wrong!

Everyone needs to read this blog post by West Virginia Public Radio reporter Emily Corio.

For those of you wondering what the WVU Board of Governors would be like under the leadership of Carolyn Long, the answer appears to be “more of the same.” As Corio points out, the BOG still refuses to reveal what was in the first so-called exit agreement for Mike Garrison that they approved last week — even though a document approved by a public body is supposed to be public information.

And that’s just part of it. From judging their continuing actions, it’s clear that the members of the BOG feel that they’re entitled to deliberate virtually everything in secrecy, then release half-truths to the press and the public. Corio:

How am I supposed to tell listeners what happened at this meeting if public officials use vague language, issue statements to some reporters and not others, and then refuse to give straight answers to reporters when asked? More importantly, how can you, a member of the public be informed and engaged if you do not have access to this information?

Corio doesn’t exactly come right out and say “This is fucking bullshit!,” but her sense of frustration is absolutely palpable. Which is good. Feel the burn, Emily.

I’m honestly not sure if the BOG doesn’t want to, or just doesn’t know how to conduct an actual open meeting. (The people in charge seem the most clueless of all.) But they damn well better learn. We are watching.

Schadenfreude, Part I

I want pictures of moving trucks in front of Blaney House.

If you can’t do that for me, monetary donations are always welcome.

But I’d rather have the pictures.

It’s About Competition

West Virginia doesn’t need a third party.

West Virginia needs a second party.

People like Joe Manchin and Steve Goodwin know that they can get away with virtually anything because they never have to worry about The Other Side mounting a serious campaign to oust them from office or power.

NANYA DOESN’T GET IT

I continue to be amazed that West Virginia Republicans haven’t been able to make hay out of Mike Garrison and Heathergate. A more egregious abuse of power would be hard to find, even here.

I’m a liberal Democrat, but I’m the first to admit that West Virginia desperately needs a 2 party system, i.e., a stronger Republican party. But when this is all that the Editor and Publisher of the state’s largest Republican newspaper can be bothered to say about Democratic party insiders handing WVU’s top job to one of their own, I know not to get my hopes up:

“Perhaps it wasn’t an exhaustive search. Maybe Gov. Joe Manchin and members of the WVU Board of Governors, many of them Manchin appointees, did believe Garrison was their man from the start. It’s more likely they considered him a strong candidate and used the search to assure themselves of that by comparing him to others.”

First of all, strong candidate my ass. Second, because Garrison wasn’t a strong candidate, the search had to be fixed from the outset. Not only was the search not exhaustive, there wasn’t really a search at all. Steve Goodwin hired a headhunter whose actual job was to tell the other applicants not to get their hopes up, because the search committee “already had a candidate in mind.” As Judge Robert B. King boldly said, the result was “preordained.” Mike Garrison was the de facto President before the search ever began, and acted the part.

Does Nanya Friend really believe that even a semi-legitimate, competitive search process would have produced — in lobbyist Mike Garrison — a finalist whose application would be summarily thrown in the trash at any college or university outside West Virginia?

Good grief. All that Steve Goodwin and Joe Manchin “assured themselves” of is that people like Nanya Friend would look at the motions they went through and be foolish enough to think it was on the up and up.

And it worked.

LEARN TO SPELL HIS NAME

It’s Magrath.

Not McGrath, Macgrath, or McGraw.

Magrath.

And it’s pronounced Muh-graw. Yes, like that bunch of Muh-graws.

Virtually every print, television or radio story broadcast or published in the past week has explicitly pointed this out. Pay attention.

GARRISON STAYS PUT

Hey, you! Are you a disgraced, corrupt politician who has had trouble finding work in the real world? Then West Virginia University is the place for you! Who cares if State law doesn’t allow straight severance packages — experts like Steve Goodwin will create a custom, bogus project just for you! Because if you can’t ride off into the sunset with dignity, you can at least ride off with a duffel bag full of taxpayer cash.

1. I want to know who the HELL asked Mike Garrison to stay around and “consult”? Who, exactly, wants to keep this lying, corrupt sack of failure on the payroll? We deserve to know. And what subjects has he been retained to consult on? Day-care center design? Issuance of fraudulent degrees? Suicidal PR mistakes? Healthy eating choices?

It’s like asking Nixon to stay on to consult on the integrity of the White House.

2. Steve Goodwin is a compulsive liar. Earlier this week, he announced that Garrison would no longer be an employee of WVU after September 1. Goodwin’s statement was plainly intended to make people think Garrison was leaving WVU. Yet only 2 days later, we learn the truth: Garrison will be staying on indefinitely in a position that looks, walks, and quacks like an employee — it’s just that the school will call him a “consultant” instead. If Steve Goodwin decided to call Garrison “America’s Next Top Model,” would that make it so?

It’s no surprise that Garrison’s sticking around in a big-money job. No, the weird thing is that Goodwin felt compelled to make a clearly deceptive statement about it only 2 days before the truth was announced. He must have known he was going to come off as a ridiculous liar, but he said it anyway. What possible explanation is there for that? I honestly wonder if the man has some sort of unaddressed mental problem.

3. This is proof positive that Garrison can’t get a job in the real world. Believe me, if they could have gotten him out of there, they would have, but no one was willing to pay $250,000 a year for a no-talent politico who reeks of corruption and can’t earn his keep. The only thing Garrison could do to earn his own way is lobby — but he knows he can’t go back to that game if he wants to keep his political future alive.

4. Why the hell is Joe Manchin allowing this to happen? He was well down the road toward putting this thing to bed as a PR issue. Garrison has stepped down. Joe has appointed superstar board members not beholden to WV politicos, and the school had picked a well-respected new interim president. After all that, why in God’s name would he allow a move that will let this scandal fester endlessly, like an ugly, oozing sore?

5. Did WVU’s new interim president really have anything to say about this? Because Magrath must know that the real reason Garrison is staying at WVU is to undermine him. For years to come, Mike Garrison’s job in life is going to be guerrilla warfare against whoever is in charge of WVU. Garrison wants Magrath to fail, and he wants whoever takes over permanently to fail, too, so he and his ass-kissing cronies like Derek Long can tell everyone what a huge mistake it was to get rid of him.

It’s bad enough that so many of Garrison’s backers will be on the Board fighting tooth and nail to humiliate Magrath and his successor. But it’s absolutely insane to have the disgraced former president INSIDE the university actively tearing down everything the new president tries to build. McGrath must be either crazy or a saint to take this job with so many long knives aimed squarely at his back.

6. The public deserves to see Garrison’s new contract. It’s probably being reviewed by the Attorney General’s Office right now. And they would probably hand over the proposed contract if someone sent them a FOIA.

The Audacity of NOPE

Am I the only one who notices that the trio now running the Board of Governors consists of 2 county school superintendents, and a coal heir who spends more time at the Berry Hills Country Club than he ever spent at WVU?

I fear that Joe Manchin has greater control over the Board of Governors than ever before.

As someone in the comments aptly pointed out, I have a hard time imagining the glitterati on the BOG taking direction from the Braxton County Superintendent of Schools. But Carolyn Long’s family has a history of involvement in Democratic state politics. It’s not like Joe Manchin pulled her name out of a fucking hat. And you probably recall that her son, Derek V. Long is a well known Garrison fluffer, who left this glorious comment Garrison’s glorified Myspace page blog:

“People are intimidated by a young, energetic and successful University President who does not meet some cookie cutter standard a few radical academics think is a must for a successful University climate.“

And then there’s Ted Mattern, the guy who Joe Manchin tried to get the State Board of Education to hire instead of Steve Paine. All because Mattern is married to Gayle Manchin’s former college roommate.

And last but not least, there’s Drew Payne. Seriously, is this what WVU considers a distinguished graduate? A coal heir whose idea of fiduciary duty consists solely of meddling in the University athletics program? Really? Also remember that Payne, like his buddy Steve Farmer, is yet another BOG member who was in the tank for Garrison YEARS ago.

THESE are the people in charge. Please forgive me for not seeing the glass as half full.

So didja hear the one about the group of lawyers who couldn’t figure out the Open Governmental Proceedings Act?

The WVU Board of Governors, under the direction of Steve Goodwin, Lawyer, has been notorious for ignoring West Virginia’s open meeting laws.

My guess is that they’ll keep right on doing so until the media, and people like us call them on it. But mostly the media.

The Board is to be commended, however, for finding an interim Provost and interim President who are both older than John McCain. That couldn’t have been easy.