I'm counting Goodwin, Wells, Clark, Farmer, Leech, Payne, Petroplus, and Martinelli as solid locks for Garrison. Write it down. That's eight of the nine votes he needs. Mattern is probably a lock, too, since Steve Goodwin picked him for the search committee, but I just don't know that much about him. Betty Chilton is all but a sure thing -- that's 10. And I'd be shocked if the student rep doesn't slurp Garrison all the way to the vote, which puts it at 11.
In other words, this deal is about as done as it can get.
Steve Goo
dwin, Chairman: Youngest of the three Goodwin brothers. He was appointed to BOG while Garrison was Wise's chief of staff. Close friend of Mike Garrison. At the time of Goodwin's appointment, statehouse scuttlebutt was that Steve Goodwin was the cornerstone of Garrison's plan to get himself installed as WVU president. Of course, no one believed us then, either.Predicted vote: Garrison.
Confidence in prediction: high
Robert A. Wells, Vice-Chairman: Longtime, close, personal friend of Garrison -- practically his BFF. Director of Legal Affairs for the International Physician Network, whatever the hell that is. Wells was appointed by Wise after Garrison left to be a lobbyist. Aw, but just because he's Garrison's BFF doesn't mean he'll vote for him, right? Dream a little dream.
Predicted vote: Garrison.Confidence in prediction: high.
Betty Chilton, Secretary: President and publisher, Charleston Gazette. Widow of legendary publisher and anti-corruption crusader Ned Chilton. In 2000, Betty Chilton received a President's Distinguished Service Award from David Hardesty, and she's said to bea friend of the Hardestys -- who are, in turn, thought to oppose Garrison's candidacy, albeit quietly. Chilton shares her late husband's disdain for sleazy back-room politics, and would ordinarily be expected to come out with guns blazing against such a shady hire. Her newspaper, however, has been surprisingly silent on Garrison's lack of apparent qualifications for the job. Why, how dare anyone question the integrity of an organization she belongs to? Worse, Sunday's front-page Gazette-Mail story simply dreamed up the notion that Garrison is an ace fundraiser with a mind for business, while ignoring the fact that Duane Nellis, the other remaining finalist, has actually raised millions for academic projects at WVU. It's known that Betty just loves the so-called prestige that comes with being on the Board, and is grateful to Steve Goodwin and Governor Manchin for keeping her around. It's what people who work for a living call going along to get along.
Predicted vote: Garrison Confidence in prediction: moderate to high.Hank Barnette: Chairman emeritus, Bethlehem Steel Corporation; Of Counsel, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom, LLP. Born in St. Albans, WV, 1935; graduated St. Albans High School, 1952. B.A., WVU, 1956; University of Manchester, England, Dip. Int. Law, Fulbright Scholar, 1957; J.D., Yale Law School, 1962. President's Trade Advisory Committee, 1989-2001 (that's the President of the United States, for those of you keeping score at home - not the president of the Fairmont Rotary). Chairman and CEO, Bethlehem Steel Corp., 1992-2000. Sample affiliations/associations: Association of General Counsel, Past President and Emeritus Member; Chairman, Yale Law School Fund Board; Life Member, American Law Institute; Life Fellow, American Bar Foundation.
I could go on, but I won't. You can Google Barnette's Skadden page. Those of you who are smart enough to understand why Garrison is a joke candidate will quickly realize that Hank Barnette is a not like the rest of the WVU board. He is the real deal. He knows what a university president is supposed to look like, and he has absolutely no need to kiss the cornhole of any bush-league West Virginia politico. Based on his resume alone, I predict he'll vote for Nellis, or to redo the search. Of, if we're lucky, maybe he'll write in his own name.
Thomas Clark: Retired VP of Medical Affairs at Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Mylan Pharmaceuticals is a significant client of Mike Garrison, lobbyist. Mylan Puskar, who is Mylan Pharmaceuticals' founder and namesake, and probably WVU's biggest donor, is widely believed to solidly favor Garrison as the university's next president.
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: high.
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: high.
Tom Dover: Head of Energy & Environmental Systems and Public Affairs, Bayer CropScience, Institute Site, Charleston, WV. Dover's a bigwig at what's left of the old Union Carbide chemical plant at Institute, now owned by Bayer. He also chairs the Board of Advisors of the Community/Technical College at WVU Tech; that's how he gets a seat on the WVU Board. I can't find out much about him, but he appears to have been with the Institute plant in some capacity at least since it was operated by Rhone-Poulenc in the 1990s. Back in 2005, he got a M.A. in Communication Studies through WVU's distance learning program.
Dover and Garrison have something in common: both are registered lobbyists. As of January 4, 2007, Dover was registered to lobby in West Virginia for Bayer CropScience and the West Virginia Manufacturers Association.
Dover's role as a lobbyist is telling. Most of the time, the person in charge of the WV operations of a national or multinational corporation has one job: get favorable treatment from state and local governments. You accomplish that by writing company checks to local charities, making fat campaign contributions, playing along with politicians' half-baked economic development ideas -- and voting the right way on boards and commissions.
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: moderate.
Steve Farmer: Managing partner, Farmer Cline & Campbell, PLLC. B.S., WVU, 1979; J.D., WVU, 1984. Farmer's firm is the one that bought Sunrise a few years back and turned it into an office building. Incidentally, he's a former roommate of new WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins, and the Gazette reports that he has provided Huggins with legal representation. He's also reputed to be a friend of Garrison's.
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: high.
Linda Dickirson: Chair of Board of Advisors at WVU-Parkersburg. That's how she gets her seat on the board. Wife of David Dickirson, prominent Jackson County businessman and the man most responsible, other than Gaston Caperton, for Tamarack. The Dickirsons are well-known friends of the Goodwins and share their Jackson County roots.
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: Moderate.
Russ Isaacs: Chairman and CEO of the West Virginia Housing Development Fund. Yet another Jackson County crony of the Goodwins. I think it's safe to put him in Garrison's column, too. Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: Moderate.
Doug Leech: President and CEO, CENTRA Bank. Centra is a former lobbying client of Garrison's. Leech is on the board of Mylan, which also pays Garrison to lobby. But he's totally impartial, right?
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: High.
Carolyn Long: Superintendent, Braxton County schools. I don't know a thing about this woman. She's a school superintendent, so she's vulnerable to political pressure. But she looks like a sincere person. I'm calling her a toss-up.
Ted Mattern: If he's from Fairmont and Manchin appointed him, it's a pretty safe bet he's the Governor's man.
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: Moderate.
Drew Payne: Filthy rich Charleston heir. Lots of money in coal, land, timber. Dabbles in politics because he can.
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: High.
Parry Petroplus: Morgantown real estate baron. His company is yet another former Garrison lobbying client, and he's said to be personally tight with Garrison.
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: High.
Paul Martinelli: Classified staff representative. Has been quoted in the paper strongly defending the sham search process. I wouldn't be surprised if Garrison's made a deal with the classified staff. Selling out rules!
Predicted vote: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: High.
Michael Lastinger: Faculty rep. Professor, Department of Foreign Languages. After the overwhelming faculty senate vote in support of Nellis, Lastinger will feel a lot of pressure to vote that way, even if Garrison's people are also putting the arm on him.
Predicted vote: Nellis. Confidence in prediction: Moderate.
Jason Gross: Student rep. Hails from Morgantown. Student body president. These kids who win the boozy popularity contest that is WVU's student-government election all worship Garrison. After all, he's the living symbol of their most cherished hope: that it doesn't matter how much you suck at what you do, as long as you're friends with the right people. Plus, they all want to be in state politics after school, and they probably recognize that all they can offer the gentlemen in the smoke-filled room is their willingness to vote as they're told.
Prediction: Garrison. Confidence in prediction: moderate to high.
And that's how you get to be the President of West Virginia University.
And you people wonder why I'm so cynical...
15 comments:
Two vantage points...
http://www.da.wvu.edu/new/show_article.php?&story_id=27385&archive_date=04-12-2007
and this one...
http://www.dailymail.com/story/News/200704122/Faculty-students-split-on-WVU-presidential-candidates/
Great post... several of these people I had trouble locating any information on.
Nellis appears to be even more totally screwed than originally believed.
Clearly this is a lock for Mike Garrison.
It might be a sad day for WVU (and alums who have higher ambitions for the school), but you did make me laugh with the Goodwin photo.
Nice work breaking it all down.
Props to the DA for endorsing Nellis.
Tom Dover is a lobbyist, but I know him a little and think that he is a fairly straight up guy. I am sure there will be a lot of pressure from Manchin, but considering Joe has done absolutely nothing for business I am not sure if Bayer will bend over backwards for him.
Also, Betty Chilton loves having lunch with Gayle at the Governor's mansion. The Gazette has given Joe a free pass since he was elected, creating some tension in the newsroom and one reporter has even quit over it (partial reason).
Regarding Barnette - http://www.as.wvu.edu/onlinemedia/archives/2007/January/barnette.html - he was the Arts & Sciences Advisory Board when Marvin was dean.
It's been a long time since I had agency law, but isn't there a conflict of interest for the board members whose companies have paid Garrison to lobby for them?
Each owes a fiduciary duty of loyalty to his company, which obligates him to vote for the candidate whose presidency would most benefit the company. Since his company has been paying Garrison to represent its interests, that candidate presumably is Garrison.
But each also owes a fiduciary duty to the university, which obligates him to vote for the candidate who would be best for the university -- even if it would hurt his company. In other words, none of these guys can fulfill his duty of loyalty to the school without impermissibly ignoring his duty of loyalty to his company, and vice versa. It's a textbook conflict of interest.
Imagine how this would work if WVU were just a regular, for-profit corporation, and one (or more) of its directors were voting to install a CEO who'd been the top lobbyist for another company owned by the director. There'd be a slam-dunk shareholder suit.
Maybe a member of the Lawyers for Garrison can explain to me why there's no problem here.
I was tickled that Garrison's attempts to defend his candidacy boiled down to "I'm the best choice because I can get all my powerful friends in Charleston to increase state funding for WVU." Not a bad answer at first blush, since it's clear he can get all his powerful friends in state government to hand him a job he's not even remotely qualified for.
That said, any college administrator will tell you that state funding is necessarily just a small portion of the overall financial picture, and hardly the right long-term solution for how to help WVU grow and compete. Just one more example of how oblivious Garrison is to the needs of a major university.
A+, but i really think you should have used steve's picture for betty.
For Betty's picture, you should've used a balled-up jizz tissue.
The WVU Board of Governors: 16 old rich whiteys and a token black guy.
I think that's just about how every university board is.
Of course, at other state flagship universities, the board is usually a bit more accomplished.
Barnette is the only shining star of this group. Objectively speaking, Chilton is probably second (though some on this board think she is a nit-wit).
You look like a prophet, HK. Other than Barnette, you picked 'em all.
I would like to suggest to all WVU alumni that, if you are upset with the selection of Garrison, please withhold your contributions to WVU and the WVU Foundation - and tell them why you are refusing to contribute. Let's show the politicos that their selection of Garrison will entail a significant cost. I had planned to contribute $100,000 to WVU to start a permanent scholarship in honor of my deceased parents. I will find another institution of higher learning (perhaps Marshall U.) with which to establish this scholarship. Hey Steve Goodwin, are you willing to replace these funds that WVU will not receive? Hell no you are not. You and your cronies want to use WVU for your personal and political gains. Goodwin does not give a damn about WVU. He only cares how he and his cronies can use WVU to their advantage.
WVU should replace the current Motto "Where Greatness is Learned" with a new motto "Where Political Cronyism is Learned" or "Where Politics Prevail" or "Where Politics Trump Professionalism". Let's hear some other suggestions for WVU's new motto.
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