WVU and Heather Bresch: The guillotine has been rolled into the Mountainlair April 28, 2008
The WVU fiasco has but one conclusion.
The guillotine.
The question is when, not if.
And, not who, but how many.
If I were an advisor to Mike Garrison, I would tell him that he needs to quickly and decisively act, or it will be his head in it.
And, let’s be honest, the resignation of Provost Lang and Steven Sears today, will do little to assuage those demanding accountablility at the top of WVU.
If Garrison waits, or thinks that this storm will eventually pass, he is mistaken.
Wait, let me step back.
I like Mike Garrison. I always thought he was top notch in the Wise administration and was a strong leader there. Obviously, we butted heads because I was Minority Leader and Wise was… well, by far the worst Governor I dealt with during my time in the Legislature.
And while some questioned his ascendency to the throne of WVU, I didn’t. He had the majority of votes within the WVU Board of Governors and if they felt he could do it, then I believed he could do it.
But, this is Garrison’s moment of truth.
Someone, someone… has to be held accountable for this massive Heather Bresch blunder. And, it can’t be simply Lang and Sears.
And, sooner or later, someone will.
Look, I’ve been in political crisis after political crisis and some have blow over.
The ones that blow over you can wait out and eventually…. they dissipate on their own.
But, others stick around and never dissipate and actually grow larger and larger until some decisive action is taken.
This one isn’t going away.
This one requires decisive action.
And, Garrison needs to act if he hopes to make that cloud go away anytime soon.
OK, let me step back again. These comments are contingent upon the guillotine ONLY be rolled out at WVU.
If Garrison’s phone records are released (which they MUST be if Garrison himself hopes to survive), and those records are “clean,” i.e. no calls from Governor Joe or Mr. Puskar, then Garrison can survive this if he lops off a head or two in addition to Lang’s departure.
If Garrison’s phone records aren’t released, pheewwww… he’s got big problems and most likely won’t make it. You can’t hide those or they wreck your credibility forever. Even if he wins the legal fight (which he won’t), there always will be a question there of who he spoke with… and if he doesn’t, the Board of Governors should step in and force it to be done.
If Garrison’s phone records are released and it shows multiple calls back and forth to Mr. Puskar, which I can’t imagine any circumstance in which that WOULD be the case, then Garrison himself will take the fall.
If Garrison’s phone records are released and it shows multiple calls back and forth to Governor Joe (which if Joe had anyone with half a brain around him they would have ripped the phone from his hands he minute he dialed even a Morgantown area code during that timeframe), then the guillotine is going to be rolled onto the Capitol steps.
So, in this case, let’s say Garrison’s phone records are clean as a whistle. If that’s the case, then Garrison can survive.
But, someone will have to take the fall for this.
And, the HUGE mistake in this on the part of Garrison was the October 15th meeting.
All the TOP brass at WVU, Chief of Staff Walker, Lawyer Macia, Communications Director Case were all at the meeting where it was decided Bresch was awarded her degree.
Ouch.
The minute this thing broke down, Garrison should have delegated the responsibility to figuring it out to the Business School and it’s leader, Sears. Of course, Case should have been involved because he was communicating the message.
But, Walker and Macia shouldn’t have been in there.
This was a case of the boat leaving the dock and instead of Garrison allowing it to sail on its own and either survive or get torpedoed, he instead opted to send his top generals in to help navigate.
So, Garrison is now in a bind.
How in the world do you lop off the head of Sears, who made the ultimate call, when Walker, Macia and Case were ALL in the room when the decision was made?
Sears had to smile when he walked into the room and had the full backing of the administration. He had to think, if I make the wrong call on this, we’re ALL going down.
And, my guess is THAT’S the reason they decided to plunge ahead with the ‘Heather got her degree’ position.
Look, if you are Sears and you are out there on your own WITHOUT the backing of the administration in the October 15th meeting, would he really risk his entire career and reputation on saying she received the degree when the information was so incomplete?
No way.
I think he would have said what was the truth. We don’t have enough information to say either way. And, THAT would have been the right call.
Instead, there was “groupthink.” You get into the room, you’re all under pressure, and you make a decision together and under pressure and hope for the best.
Garrison’s problem is that while Sears “made” the decision, his entire administration, other than himself were there and took part in - if not outrightly pushed for - the decision.
And, because of that, without lopping their heads off as well, there is no way he can get away with just sticking Sears into the guillotine.
What a mess.
Garrison has few choices here. If the people in that room don’t decide to voluntarily resign on their own, he has some really, really tough decisions.
Who to guillotine.
Macia won’t get guillotined. He was simply serving as the “lawyer” to the group and my guess is will survive.
So, will Case. I mean, who cares about the PR guy in the room, he’s just there to craft message.
That leaves Walker.
Walker seems like a good guy, but my guess here is that it ends up either being him or Garrison.
Someone has to take the fall here.
If Walker is a good soldier, he’ll take responsibility and fall on the sword. He was the highest ranked general in the room when the decision was made.
If anyone saw the movie ‘300′, it wasn’t the Persian God-King Xerses who’s head got lopped off when their assault against the 300 Spartans failed. It was his top general.
Now, had it turned out that the decision was the right one, he’d probably be getting promoted. But, it wasn’t.
And, top leaders anywhere either rise with the great decision or fall with the blunder.
If Walker opts not to resign on his own (and I’m sure would be rewarded for his loyalty with some cushy job somewhere), then Garrison has to make the call.
Stay loyal to Walker or lop his head off.
If he stays loyal, he runs the risk of looking too indecisive and as I said, this storm won’t be simply ridden out. Someone will take the fall.
My guess is that if Garrison tried to go the route of only having Sears and Lang resign, there will be a huge backlash among faculty and staff there who would feel that Sears was the wronged party and that could escalate into a complete five-alarm fire where the entire administration goes down.
So, Garrison has to fire Walker. Or hope that the Lang and Sears resignations are enough.
If he chooses to wait, he risks the French Revolution scenario where his head gets placed in the guillotine at the end of the day.
Not a good position for anyone to be in and it will be interesting to see how he handles it.
Maybe he needs some Sprouse Consulting crisis communication advice? Just kidding, of course, I’ve been in too many guillotines already.
-->
Loading...
20 Responses to “WVU and Heather Bresch: The guillotine has been rolled into the Mountainlair”
This will hurt Gov. Manchin… I hope that Garrison resigns, but I think it would take some force from all sides to dislodge him from his position of power, I think that we won’t have to wait too long for that to take place… Let us all pray!
Take care & God Bless,
Tommy Phillips
This thing STINKS from top to bottom. She is the governor’s daughter and school mate of Garrison. Garrison is a friend of Mojo and worked in the Governors office and never before have I known or heard of the Governor getting involved in the selection of the President of WVU until this time. I think that the only way to clear up the entire matter and return WVU to its place of power and standards in education is for Garrison to fire the ones involved and then RESIGN immediately and as they say on tv “get the hell out of Dodge” How about it Garrison lets get moving.
Well, Politics has invaded the upper halls of WVU. Garrison was a reach as President. Really he was. So, he has to show that he has what it takes to be the President….so far NOT GOOD.
From his Coronation (100,000 dollar party), to his back room chats with Former Head Coach RR, now to this Breschgate issue he has shown he is not fit for the job.
His resume, very impressive, but not for the head of the States premier institution of higher learning. He would NOT qualify to be a county school superintendent! Seriously…no academic background…Clay County Schools couldn’t hire him….but WVU can make him Pres???
You nailed it on the FOIA on phone records…if he hides….he is gone, must be gone, should be gone. Integrity is not for corporate mission statements, nor is it for Posters in the Hall, it is to be lived by.
I say, “Joe, you need to find a replacement, someone who has impeccable Integrity, and is not involved in WV politics to head WVU. WVU deserves nothing less.”
The most scandalous decision in WVU history was made with Garrison’s Attorney, Chief of Staff, and Spokesperson involved.
Why does anyone pretend that he somehow ought to be immune from direct personal involvement in the scandal?
These are education professionals, they knew that there would have been proof of payment of tuition and fees.
The Professors at the school raised objections to Garrison’s hiring in the first place, and now we see why.
Twenty years after the A James Manchin fiasco, we not have another Manchin-gate. How many more must we endure?
The people of West Virginia are entitled to the truth about how the integrity of their university was hijacked by this group of thugs. The only way I know of to get to the truth of the matter is to start issuing grand jury subpoenas.
Whatever happened to “the buck stops here”? Garrison’s hands aren’t clean, because he never said, “No, the university can’t give her an MBA she didn’t earn.” Who else had the authority to stop this silly scheme? The bottom line is that Garrison had neither the cojones nor the integrity to stand up to Mojo.
Does this REALLY surprise anyone ?
Anyone from West Virginia knows how things work here and this is just one case that got exposed.
When one party runs things, the atmosphere is ripe for corruption.
Nothing will change, some people will be sacrificed at WVU to protect Photo Op Joe. Those sacrificial lambs will be taken care of, rest assured and Photo Op Joe will be re-elected and on his way to Byrd’s seat in the Senate.
Sadly, Mikey is exactly right.
Garrison was absolutley the wrong choice for WVU President! He was put in to be another political hack and the WVU faculty called it when he was named w/ a vote.
Jerry Lang had been collecting power far outside a current position for 30 years until he was finally Provost. He has spread fear across the campus in his wake for more than 15 years. Competent people were not hired, not promoted, demoted or fired and incompetent ones who agreed to rubberstamp him were hired and elevated. Mike Garrison would have know exactly who he was –and he liked it. It was good to hear that he went last night–it needed to happen years ago.
Garrison should be next. He IS NOT qualified to be president of WVU. AND he has just made that perfectly clear w/ his actions over this matter. Moreover he has demonstrated just WHY he IS the president–to bring another West Virginia institution firmly under the control of Emperor Joseph.
The Bresch non-degree situation is a microcosm of politics in West Virginia. The beauty here, however, is that it is easily seen and understood for what it is: favoritism, cronyism, deceit, unearned power, misuse of power, threats, lies, political incest, etc.
No, Garrison is not good and was not meant to do good. He just got caught almost immediately doing what he was appointed to do–Emperor Joseph’s bidding.
Mikey….You’re right on the money!
And does it surprise anyone that it took an out-of-state newspaper to uncover this mess! Even though I love WV, sometimes I feel like I’m living in an Al Capp cartoon, complete with Senator Foghorn[Byrd] and all the other Hillbilly characters infesting state government.
This story will have more debris…It started from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette - a paper known for its follow-up and one that has nothing to lose by totally alienating everyone up and down the I-79 corridor from Morgantown to Charleston. They will get Garrison’s phone records and they will keep at this like a bunch of rabid sharks at a bloody tuna convention…Manchin needs to come clean now - open it all up - before he ends up in a fiasco that carries over into the fall elections…As for WVU, if this scandal expands and other “fabricated” degrees arise, then national accredidations are on the line and lots of other nasty things start popping up…This is a lose/lose for West Virginia any way that it plays out…both politically and academically…”No scandal left behind…”
If her degree was earned the records of her time at WVU would have been made public when this first came up. —-just like when Manchin’s friends wedding party had some people ticketed by the state police and sheriffs deptuies—When King Manchin wants something he gets it. He is a Bill Clinton wanta be
This resembles Watergate in that the original incident (Bresch had not earned her degree, the break in) was much, much less serious than the cover up. Suppose she said last fall that she thought she had the degree, but would be happy to take coursework to finish the requirements? No story here. When public officials lie about relatively minor incidents, they create horrific damage to themselves and anyone and anything they are in contact with.
The state university was one of the few institutions related to state government that the people believed was free of corruption. We have all been let down, whoever is ultimately to blame.
Vic is right, this thing will not go away, if not put to bed. and, Tom Miller is correct - if not put to bed, it does indeed have much broader implications!
my hope is that it is NOT put to bed, NOT swept under the rug - let the truth be known, no matter how painful it may be - WV needs the cleansing… WV would be better off, perhaps even, “changed”
Pandora’s box may be open.
PERCEPTION IS REALITY……NOTHING BUT A FULL HOUSE CLEANING WILL TRULY RESOLVE THE DAMAGE IMPOSED BY GARRISON AND STAFF. TIMING IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT, DELAYING ACTION CREATES MORE ILL WILL AND FEEDS THE NEGATIVE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF WVU. “EARNING” A BS AND MBA DEGREES FROM B&E MAKES THIS VERY PERSONAL.
Garrison says he takes full responsibility - except not really. Resignation is the only acceptable act on his part.
Don’t think that Garrison was innocent even in the whole Rich Rodriquez saga either. He made promises he couldn’t or didn’t keep and because of it we lost one of the best college coaches in the country. The good old boy system is at it again. A skunk is a skunk is a skunk.
Vic,
I noticed you penned an article re Bresch almost immediately. Good article and I appreciate reading the responses as well. Garrison needs to resign. But…on another note - I’m still waiting for you to pen an article re Fred Armstong’s firing. Is your delay due to the fact he may be a democrat and was employed at-will? The bottom line is “right is right” and “wrong is wrong.” Mr.
Armstrong’s firing was wrong. He was the most dedicated and hard-working State Archivist the Division of Culture & History ever had. Fred received the Virgil A. Lewis Award for outstanding contribution to the preservation and writing of history. It is only presented when someone is found worthy of the award.
Respectfully,
And somewhat disappointed,
Watching Fox News tonight and the news ticker is carrying all the details about the “flawed judgement” that awarded the eMBA degree (that was not earned) to the daughter of our governor. This smelly mess at WVU has now made it nationwide. Fox News has run it over and over.
“Flawed judgment”, phooey, this was cheating and fraud. Please tell me again where the buck stops in this scandal.
Nearly 50 years ago, Eisenhower warned of the “military / industrial complex” that threatened good government (and balancing the budget!). For 15 years or so, thoughtful academics have been warning of the political / business complex” that threatens the integrity and the mission of public universities.
The sad story of corruption and cronyism at WVU is not limited to the flag ship institution: it could have happened at Marshall or in many other states which used to have realtively free and independent decision-making based on academic values. That’s out the window in many states, not just WV, because business has decided to take over public education and remold it as if it were a profit-making business micromanaged by a partnership between business interests and state political interests. At Marshall, for example, the BOG is dedicated not to improving education but to revitalizing Huntington — that’s its prime goal, and it works hand and glove with the state legislature and the governor to try and make it happen (It won’t.)
The clear result is that the university is under the thumb of business interests and public officials, and that leads to messes like the Bresch affair.
In one way, however, the problem is worse in WV because, unlike many other states, WV has no tradition of free and independent universities. Before business began running the universities, they were run as little fiefdoms of the rich and powerful. In other words, it was much the same as now — just with a different kind of ideology
in the driver’s seat.