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Wednesday, April 30, 2008 "When news breaks, we fix it" Serving West Virginia since 2005
WVU Public Admin director blasts Garrison: 'Failed leadership evident'
NEWS AND NOTES
The Journal nails Starcher for antics
In an editorial this week, The (Martinsburg) Journal nailed Justice Larry Starcher for being "obstinate, childish and embarrassingly foolish."The Journal was referring to Starcher's position that he would not recuse himself from the Massey Energy-Wheeling-Pitt case unless Justice Brent Benjamin also recused himself.Writes The Journal, "Maybe he should step down altogether now rather than wait until his term is up at the end of the year."Daily Mail endorses Dan Greear
The Charleston Daily Mail on Tuesday endorsed Dan Greear for Attorney General in the Republican Primary contest.The Daily Mail said Greear "most clearly articulates how (Attorney General Darrell) McGraw has misused the office, is the strongest candidate, and who would take the office in a direction that better serves West Virginia."Greear faces Hiram Lewis for the GOP nod in the May 13 Primary election. You can read the Daily Mail's endorsement here.Manchin says to just stick to the report? Okay
Gov. Joe Manchin is getting tired of people saying Mike Garrision should resign as president of West Virginia University.Manchin told WSAZ-TV he fully supports Garrison, adding, "I think the report is very clear and I just say stick to the report."Seriously? Manchin thinks the report of the investigative panel somehow vindicates Garrison?The report says that right after Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch, called Garrison, "The staff of the President's office reacted immediately, treating this matter as an issue involving a 'records discrepancy.' The perceived 'discrepancy' came strictly from the fact that Ms Bresch disputed those records in telephone conversations with President Michael Garrison and Chief of Staff Craig Walker. However, the University's records held by A&R were clear: Ms. Bresch had not completed an MBA degree."The report also says, "A meeting was then held Monday, October 15 (2007) ... chaired by Provost Lang. Also present from the President's Office were Chief of Staff Craig Walker, General Counsel Alex Macia, and Vice President for Communications Bill Case ... the panel believes that the actual or perceived pressure to go along with this decision (to award the degree), not to 'rock the boat,' was palpable."This is the report Manchin thinks vindicates Mike Garrison? This report vindicates Garrison about as much as John Dean's testimony vindicated Richard Nixon.Manchin's reaction to this whole sordid affair has not been among his shining moments. After verifying that he has known his daughter since she was born, his comment was, “All I can hope for as a parent is that WVU’s leaders will correct whatever problems that led to this situation so that no other student will have to go through this kind of ordeal in the future.”So it was Heather Bresch who has gone through an ordeal? Joe's new best friend, Bill Clinton, always considered himself the victim in his various scandals, and Joe Manchin is apparently borrowing a few pages from that book.It is difficult to imagine what ordeal Ms. Bresch has gone through, other than having a panel of experts declare she did not earn the degree she has long insisted, without any evidence, that she earned. There was not a word from the governor about the ordeal WVU has been through, not to mention every graduate, every fan, and every West Virginian. Manchin's inner-focus is Clintonesque indeed.The report that says Mike Garrison presided over the most embarrassing calamity in West Virginia University's recent history? Stick to the report? Okay, if you insist.The director of West Virginia University's Masters of Public Administration Program has blasted WVU President Mike Garrison in a letter to his colleagues on the Faculty Senate, saying Garrison's "failed leadership is evident at all stages from the initial cover-up and stories by his staff, to his failure to act if he thought the provost was acting unethically, to his failure to control his chief of staff and keep him away from academic decisions (if that is what the President believed this was)."The letter from Mohamad G. Alkadry, Ph.D., and obtained by the Republican Gazette, says Garrison's "continued denial that he had nothing to do with this is absurd at best. He should not insult our intelligence with hollow apologies, and playing divide-and-conquer with faculty members."Alkadry, a nationally recognized expert on ethics, writes that Garrison "was the individual who received the initial call from (Heather) Bresch. His response was not to direct her to the academic program which is in charge of this degree. It was rather to delegate to his Chief of Staff Craig Walker to look into this matter. It needs to be clear that any action taken by Walker is indeed an action taken by Garrison. Walker made several calls to Bresch and he was the person who rushed what the Panel called the decisional meeting. A proper action would have been to send this back to B&E and await a decision – like we deal with all such requests."Alkadry writes that "Walker, acting on behalf of Garrison did not simply call for a meeting of officials, but rather attended and actively participated in the meeting. He provided the story and overrode the assertions of Paul Speaker. He, again acting on behalf of Garrison, made the case that she should be awarded the degree. The urgency of his call for the meeting and his participation in the meeting communicated to people in the room that the President wants Bresch to have the degree."Alkadry points out a reason why WVU officials would feel pressured to do what they believed Garrison wanted done, noting, "Three weeks after a prominent and respected dean was fired for disagreeing with Garrison, every academic administrator in the room had something to worry about if they disagreed with the President... The point is that Garrison was present and participating in the decision making through Walker."Alkadry concludes by suggesting Garrison needs "ethics therapy," and adds that "as a student of administrative responsibility and administrative ethics, I find myself compelled to say, will this president resign?" State Supreme Court candidate Beth Walker will host the main Republican election watching event on Primary election night, May 13.Walker's event will begin at 7 p.m. at the Hawk's Nest Room at the Marriott Hotel.GOP joining Walker on May 13
