You Can’t Buy Credibility

By now, you’re seen today’s media reports about the possibility of WVU doubling or tripling the salary of the next president “to attract quality candidates.”

Please tell me I’m not the only person finds that laughable.

I’m all for paying people what they’re worth. I really am. But money doesn’t have a damn thing to do with the fact that it’s going to be extremely difficult for West Virginia University to attract quality candidates to its top job.

I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again: no hot prospect on the national college-president market is going to damage his or her reputation by playing punching-bag for the next David Hardesty or Mike Garrison. Period.

The whole world knows Mike Garrison was a hack and a crony who cheated to get the job. And right now, the whole world expects the next president of WVU to do the same. Quality candidates? After Mike Garrison, WVU will do well to attract qualified candidates.

The West Virginia University Board of Governors has hell of a lot of work to do if they want to counter this perception. But they have yet to prove if they’re interested in doing that at all.

The Dogs That Didn’t Bark, Part II

2. The West Virginia Democratic Party

Forget about Republicans (at least until the next post). What about West Virginia’s Democrats?

Between Goodwin’s rigged search, Garrison’s installation as president, and his subsequent manufacturing of a degree for former boss Heather Bresch, we’ve been witness to some of the most brazen acts political corruption since the days of Arch Moore. Things like this only come down the pike every so often.

This is the kind of stuff that an enterprising — or dare we admit it, opportunistic Democratic politician could build a career on. You could really make a name for yourself. Because if there’s anything voters love, it’s corruption busting, crime fighting do-gooders. There’s absolutely no reason why West Virginia Democrats should not or could not be out there every single day giving speeches and cranking out press releases to stoke the fires of voter outrage.

But West Virginia’s Democrats have chosen to sit mute. Why? What do they have to lose?

I already know what you’re thinking. But there are a couple things you people need to understand. First of all, everyone needs to get over their perception of Joe Manchin being some sort of powerful political genius. He’s not that smart — like his daughter, he’s never had to be. And he’s not a particularly great politician — he’s certainly not his Uncle Jimmy, that’s for damn sure — again, because he’s never had to be. Joe is ONLY where he is today because his Daddy and family were political bigshots in Marion county decades ago. We’re talking about a guy who’s probably never had a real job in his entire life. His entire life is built on his family’s political influence — that, and nothing else.

Which leads to the second point – Joe Manchin isn’t the popular guy you probably think he is. Most observers just assume that Joe Manchin is the Democratic party in West Virgina. But they’re wrong. I’d go as far to say that the majority of Democratic politicians in West Virginia don’t even like Joe Manchin — they just tolerate him. If you wonder why, see the previous paragraph. And then think about who Manchin supported for governor waaaaay back in 1997: Cecil H. Underwood. Manchin campaigned vigorously for the guy, and in most circles is still seen as a backstabbing turncoat. It’s not the kind of thing politicians get over. Ever.

Now at this point, Manchin’s role in Garrison’s installation and Heathergate remain shrouded. And that’s mostly because no one has bothered to poke around. But it doesn’t take a political genius to figure out what was really going on, and it certainly wouldn’t take a political genius to exploit Manchin’s impropriety, or the appearance thereof, for his or her own political gain. I’m not even talking about running Manchin out of office — I’m just saying that if an enterprising politician wanted to get on the news every night, and in the paper every morning all over the state, speaking out against Heathergate would be a good way to do it

So to any young, enterprising Democrat out there with dreams of holding statewide office who’d like to take this on, but fears of getting smacked down by the machine — please, give it a second thought. Hell, I’ll even volunteer to write press releases for you.

Now is your chance.

The Shaming of WVU

Heathergate finally gets a mention by one of my favorite bloggers, Atrios. His blog is one of the most widely read left-leaning sites on the internet by far. Which means that as of today, there are now about 100,000 more people who only know one thing about WVU — that it manufactures fake degrees for the wealthy and well connected.

Thanks Mike.

The Mike Garrison 2008 “Sit on it and Spin” Tour

And in these difficult times, who better to defend Mike Garrison than the father of the very woman he manufactured a degree for. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

Apparently not.

Let’s all say it together: Only in West Virginia.

And by crikey, Hoppy even managed to write this commentary, where he agrees (at least at first) with Garrison’s assertion that there’s “no evidence to indicate that WVU’s reputation has been ruined.”

But there is a bright spot — judging by today’s Gazette editorial, it looks like Betty’s paper is no longer buying Garrison’s bullshit.

Why Garrison Won’t Resign

There something most people don’t realize, and it has everything to do with why Garrison refuses to resign: Mike Garrison’s ambitions extend beyond WVU. His plan is to bleed WVU dry to make the down payments on his political future.

This job was always intended to be a stepping stone to whatever he wants to do next — most likely a run for the United States Senate. This might not be apparent to those of you in Morgantown, but during the Wise administration, it was one of Charleston’s worst kept secrets. And all you have to do is look at where Garrison is now to realize that stranger things have happened.

But I know what you’re thinking — this guy thinks he can run for the U.S. Senate — and win? In other words, the exact same reaction I got 5 or 6 years ago when a I told people that Garrison was gunning for David Hardesty’s job. And I for one, cannot think of a better way for Mike Garrison to have ensured that Puskar, Heather Bresch, and dozens of other Mylan fat cats will absolutely line up to raise MILLIONS for him whenever he runs for office.

So you see, Mike Garrison isn’t refusing to resign because he’s stubborn or obtuse — it’s that if he resigns in disgrace after 7 months on the job, his political future is DEAD. He HAS to stay in that job, or his path to the U.S. Senate (or any job other than Mylan lobbyist) is permanently blocked.

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.

BREACH OF DUTY

Not a single one of these people gives a goddamn about West Virginia University.

Steve Goodwin is the point man in a plan to transform WVU from an academic institution into a political machine — and an ATM for the powerful, on the side. The rest of the board is either in on it or doesn’t give a rat’s ass either way — they just like the football tickets and cocktail parties and political connections. In less than a year, they’ve taken the state’s crown jewel and turned it into the laughingstock of the world. And even though the Garrison/Goodwin plan for the university is becoming alarmingly clear (see what’s going on at the Health Sciences Center), not one of them has lifted a finger to stop it.

In the normal world, university trustees take the job because they have the school’s best interests at heart. They love their school and genuinely want to be responsible stewards. More than that, they’re fiduciaries—they’re legally required to act solely in the interest of the institution, not for their own interest or the interest of third parties. Loyal trustees would shout you out of the room if asked to install a totally unqualified boy president to advance his political career and help his crooked friends, or to turn a blind eye to his brazen fraud.

But these people are like bizarro-trustees. They seek the job for their own profit — political, professional, or financial. They actively look for ways to abuse the university’s resources for private gain. I doubt that the question of what’s best for the university or its students or faculty ever even crosses their minds.

And it’s a goddamn shame, because WVU was something special. No, it wasn’t Harvard or Yale, but for my money, it was something even better: a place committed to taking kids from nowhere and giving them a better life. A school determined to do scholarship and teaching the right way in a state where not much is done right. It was a good university doing good work.

And now these sad pieces of shit have turned it into the whore of the academic world.

I am ashamed.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Huggy Bear Edition

WVU Board of Governors member Steve Farmer is Bob Huggins’ former roommate. He also represents Huggins, or at least has in the past. Does Farmer get a cut of Huggins’ new deal?

Sports agents usually take home somewhere between 4 and 10 percent of the deals they negotiate. Does the board have to approve Huggins’ big new contract?

In any event, Farmer’s role goes a long way toward explaining why the Huggins deal could be done so fast, with zero involvement by the athletic department — just in time to give Boss Garrison a boost. Who needs to go through the athletic director when the coach’s agent is on the Board of Governors? It sure as hell simplifies negotiations when the coach is one one side of the table and his lawyer is on the other.

Could this state get any more fucked up?

WHERE THE HELL ELSE DOES THIS STUFF HAPPEN???

When the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first broke this story, multiple WVU officials lined up to insist that Heather Bresch received no special treatment. Over and over — and how dare we little people even think such nonsense. (Sounds familiar to what Steve Goodwin said to those who dared call him out for rigging WVU’s presidential search) Bresch herself asked how we dare question her word:

[Heather] explained that her word and the university’s word were “better than a transcript,” and added that for anyone to accuse her of not earning an MBA degree was “offensive.”

But if the report makes anything clear, it’s that not only did Heather Bresch receive special treatment — in fact, it’s clear that West Virginia University officials at the highest level absolutely bent over backwards to award her a degree that any prudent observer would conclude that she did not earn. Period. The report actually said that they pulled grades “out of thin air.”

What happened here, I’m guessing, is unprecedented in the history of American academia — to have the entire top administration of a (once) legitimate university get together in a room and decide, in less than an hour, to grant a rich, powerful individual a fake degree, and then falsify academic records to back it up.

It’s absolutely stunning.

If Those Guys are Democrats, then I’m an Awesome Space Ninja

You can pretend all you want that Joe Manchin is a Democrat, or say that West Virginia is totally fucked because its been ruled by Democrats for 100 years. Just don’t do it here and expect to get away with it.

Now if someone, anyone can make a serious case as to how Joe Manchin — anti-choice, pro-business, pro-Cecil Underwood Joe Manchin — even remotely resembles a Democrat, then have at. And the same goes for the vast majority of West Virginia’s so-called Democrats, past and present.

You can call yourself whatever you like, I guess. Joe Manchin can call himself a Democrat, and I can call myself a Navy Seal. But that doesn’t make it fucking so. And for whatever reason, this has been the 10,000 pound elephant in the room that no one dares mention when discussing West Virginia politics. We all have to play make-believe. And I’m sick and tired of it.

If I get noticeably winded every time I waddle to the refrigerator, then you have every right, and maybe even an duty to not pretend that I’m a member of an elite Navy fighting force. And if a politician — let’s just use Joe as an example here BECAUSE IT’S FUCKING TRUE — is to the right of Shelly Moore Capito on nearly every single position — then you don’t have to pretend he’s a Democrat. So just fucking stop it.

West Virginia has never been ruled by Republicans or Democrats. West Virginia is ruled by coal, and the small handful of people coal has made wealthy.