 BARBWIRE
by ANDREW BARBANO This is an edition of the University Scandals 96-97 series, selected installments of which were submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration. Click here to access the archive.
 EPISODE
7: Now it's personal. Before we get into the latest outrages of
a university administration drunk with its own power bought with your
money, I need to get a few personal items off my chest. Dozens of people
have asked me about my motivations in making the University Scandals
of '96 a second full time job for the past seven weeks.Originally, I was galvanized
from the gut by Mary-Ellen McMullen's TV spots advocating her candidacy
for university regent. Every commercial carried the name of her campaign
treasurer, Harvey Whittemore, the principal perverter of politics and
democracy in Nevada. Like Harvey, Mrs. McMullen's husband practices
in the juice lawyer/lobbyist subspecies of law.They buy politicians
upfront by shoveling campaign money to the compliant, then cash in their
access and influence when those people win office. Mrs. McMullen, a
political unknown, was all over TV with a $50,000 budget trying to win
a six-year job paying zero salary. Somebody had to say something. I
could not stand by and watch Harvey brazenly add to his stable of politicians.
All Mary-Ellen's commercials were also ads for Harvey's juice law firm.Harvey was the point
grease man for gambling's wall to wall wins during the 1995 legislature.
His most dubious distinction involved engineering passage of the Hilton-backed
Tailhook Bill, which made suing hotel-casinos next to impossible for
someone beaten, robbed, raped (or worse) therein. Harvey even inserted
retroactivity into the bill, which would have wiped out Tailhook whistleblower
Paula Coughlin's court victory against Hilton. When the former naval
aviator showed up to protest, Harvey made a big show of ordering lawmakers
to remove the provision, thereby ensuring passage. His generous show
of compromise turned the nation's most famous sexual molestee into an
unwitting accomplice against future rape victims. Lord Vader serves
the emperor well, but still had the balls to place his name on the spots
of an avowed women's rights activist.Now, what was intended
to be only a one-column potshot against a sure winner's steamroller
has turned into a ragpickers crusade. Luke Skywalker and the rebel alliance
won and the empire is spitting mad. Without authorization from the board
of regents, university chancellor Richard Jarvis has brought legal action
against Prof. Howard Rosenberg, who defeated Mrs. McMullen in the biggest
political upset in Nevada this year. Mr. Rosenberg's crime seems to
lie in the fear that he might empty the piggy bank controlled by a narrow
clique of academic alchemists adept at turning leaden incompetence into
personal gold.And that's why I've spent
so much time and taken so much heat over all this. I remember of whence
I came. I'm the son of immigrant farm workers from Italy. I graduated
high school with honors, but never could have afforded to go to college
had I not benefited from the accident of birth in California. I am a
product of the same university that gave Nevada Joe Crowley and Jerry
Tarkanian. I'm a bulldog from Fresno State and I get so damned mad when
I see guys in thousand dollar suits pissing away money that should go
toward educating future children of the great unwashed.So to all the rich folk
in the gambling-industrial complex, this game is now personal. I detest
your sucking up to PhD's as you seek legitimacy, validation and, most
important, expiation for your sins of running a legalized whorehouse,
peddling drinking, gambling and the bodies of women.You excuse your greed
by saying it's a legal business and we're just providing a service.
Everyone who peddles dissipation and deprivation always cloaks it in
words like "it's good for jobs."A letter to this newspaper
last Friday put matters into perspective much better than I could. Reno
resident Mike Beesley stated that "the people of northern Nevada owe
a debt of gratitude to Ferenç Szony, president of the Reno Hilton, for
his untiring work for the Food Bank of Northern Nevada...This is particularly
noteworthy as Mr. Szony has probably done more than anyone else during
the last few years to create this very need," Beesley accurately stated."Under his guidance,
the two Hilton properties have violated federal labor laws, harassed
and intimidated employees over - not only labor problems, but simple
health problems - and essentially endeavored to keep the local standard
of living at its incredibly low level," Beesley said. My favorite Hilton
shenanigan is their habit of illegally firing women for the crime of
pregnancy.Just in time for Christmas,
Mr. Szony is in the process of pink-slipping his security guards for
refusing to take an hourly pay cut from $11.83 to $7.75. Some of them
are getting old, having been with the Reno Hilton since it opened as
the MGM Grand in 1978. The Food Bank will do a booming business this
month.The only hope for the
children of the workers lies in public education. As Joe Crowley and
I were graduating from Fresno State, Gov. Ronald Reagan was busy turning
the greatest educational system the world had ever seen into just a
pretty good one, sorta. Thirty years down the road, Joe's running a
school that has always reminded me a lot of Fresno State before my alma
mater became large and impersonal.Alas, President Joe,
who won his job Nevada style - through backslapping and lobbying as
opposed to qualifications - has lost his way. He's running an outfit
increasingly similar to a casino, gambling with public money and hoping
he can cover his markers before the check hits the bank.For the past six weeks,
I have reported case after case of cash-hemorrhaging corruption, lawsuit-spawning
cronyism and financial finagling. I have detailed the existence of ghost
professors getting six-figure salaries who never show up for work. Our
able colleagues at the Reno News & Review have fleshed out that story,
and added confirmation to the university's epidemic of deficit spending.
In the current edition, Crowley even shows a flair for Szony-style age
discrimination. Defending paying lawsuits out of salary budgets, Crowley
told reporter Deidre Pike "eventually we make money on it. Hire a younger
professor and within three years or so, you've recouped what you've
paid for one year." What a guy.In an interview with
Tribune columnist Dennis Myers, printed in the News & Review November
13, Mary Sanada, former chief accountant for the state controller, confirmed
ex-university system treasurer Janet MacDonald's scathing financial
criticism of the empire. A major legislative audit due out December
18 should shed some new light on these issues. Rumor has it that the
university administration is trying to get the report watered down.The audit, pushed through
the 1995 legislature by dissident Las Vegas Regent Nancy Price, has
turned the administration paranoid. Perhaps that explains the campaign
to destroy regent-elect Rosenberg before he ever takes office.I made it my business
this week to talk to some prestigious former regents. Every one supported
Rosenberg's right to serve notwithstanding the Jarvis-Crowley attempt
to use a hodgepodge of confusing laws to either disqualify or impoverish
the 29-year UNR art and cinema teacher. Molly Knudtsen, who represented
Elko for two decades, said "I can't see any reason why he can't serve."
Harold Jacobsen, who represented the Carson-Douglas area for a dozen
years, said "it might not be a bad idea to have one professor on the
board."Indeed. Both the University
of California and the California State University systems have long
provided slots for both faculty and students on their governing bodies.
One statewide office holder, who asked not to be named, was much more
blunt: "It's a bunch of shit. Howard should be allowed to serve. The
university needs a shakeup. He'll stir them up. He's really something
they need. Howard's a good man, the administration's worst nightmare
come true," the politico told me."Just his election sent
a message that people are tired of the bullshit, $30,000 and $40,000
pay raises...You'd have to be a babbling idiot not to understand. Rosenberg
deserves to sit on the board. He's going to do more good for the system
and (not) its phony bastards. He's going to ask questions and get the
maximum benefit for the university system. (These legal actions) are
an arrogant use of public money, trying to stymie the election. There
will be calls for Jarvis and Crowley's resignations if they oust him...In
all my years here, I've never seen one person intimidate so many," the
source said.Another longtime former
regent has no use for Chancellor Jarvis. "He started charging increased
fees to out-of-state students. These people, for example, from Susanville,
consider themselves Nevadans. As a result, enrollment has dropped. That
is very difficult for a university to overcome and causes cutbacks and
raising fees to other students," the former regent said.And so we see Mr. Jarvis
going to the rubber stamp regents asking them to authorize more deficit
spending when he knew Regent Price could not attend. Only this writer
and no one else reported last month's supplemental financial agenda.
(The Reno Gazette-Journal chose to ignore the millions of dollars involved.)
The U was $1.3 million past due in fees to the state injured workers
insurance fund (SIIS), for which it was hit with a $52,000 fine, another
item reported nowhere else. Jarvis' PR person wrote me a letter saying
the money would be "temporarily" borrowed from the university institutions.
"That's deficit spending and calling it a loan," said a knowledgeable
insider. Jarvis also got the regents to authorize skimming $1.5 million
from student housing maintenance fees for the long delayed mines library,
the money for which has turned up missing at the UNR Foundation, which
illegally refused me access to their legislatively mandated public records.They also got the rubbernecker
regents to rubberstamp an attempt to skim $3.5 million from endowment
funds for future SIIS payments. That's eating the seed corn, something
acceptable only to crows and the Donner Party. Jarvis is still pushing
a proposal that the regents hand him fully one percent of all university
endowments so he can go play fundraising games. Which brings me to the
biggest game of all.Perhaps alone among U.S.
institutions, our little U uses lines of credit to generate "matching
funds" to win grant money. Then they repay the loans from the grant
money. All this allows time drag for lots of financial shell game shenanigans,
but the bank issuing the line of credit still charges for use of its
interim funds, so it looks like a net loss situation. That seems to
be the Jarvis-Crowley equivalent of handing a post-dated marker to one
of these check cashing services which pays you less than face value
and puts it through on payday. Nonetheless, the rubberstamp regents
authorized extension of a $1 million line of credit for "research."
If all this sounds suspiciously familiar, go check into that financial
shambles called the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority.Perhaps the legislative
audit will point out these serious flaws. Perhaps not. Perhaps regent
Rosenberg will start asking official questions come January. Perhaps
not.THE EMPIRE STRIKES
BACK. Late Friday, I received a copy of a memorandum from Chancellor
Jarvis to all regents and regents-elect. "Enclosed are a set of articles
published recently by a Mr. Andrew Barbano in the Sparks Tribune. They
represent the worst collection of fabrications, cheap shots and smears
that I have come across in my career in higher education." (This comes
from the guy who ordered his minions to break the state public records
law by refusing this newspaper access to legislatively mandated public
documents.)"There were originally
supposed to be five articles," Mr. Jarvis wrote. (Who told him that?
This is installment seven. I never announced a set number. Never had
one. Still don't.) "As the main targets appeared to be Joe Crowley and
me, I wanted to wait until we could compile the full series." (He leaves
the implication that he had information on how many I would write, then
uses it as an excuse for keeping the regents, most of whom live in Las
Vegas, in the dark.)"Now, Mr. Barbano has
published a sixth article that specifically refers to several members
of the Board, among quite a wide cast of others. I would urge you to
read that top article, dated December 1st. In addition, Mr. Barbano
appeared on Channel 8 here in Reno and repeated several allegations
against the Board, against the particular regents mentioned in his December
1st article, and against me. I am trying to get videotape copies of
that interview and will mail them to you as soon as possible."I believe to continue
to let Mr. Barbano's allegations stand without response is damaging
to this System, although I recognize the futility of engaging in any
extended debate with a journalist of this caliber. I have written to
the editor of the Tribune formally refuting his allegations about UNR...I
will continue to be as responsive as I can to other members of the media,"
Mr. Jarvis concludes. (This reinforces his policy of refusing to talk
to me which began when he canceled my appointment to inspect public
records, thus breaking the law.)His letter to the editor
was quite vague. Basically, it says everything I've printed is a lie,
but makes an intriguing challenge: "Let me invite him and you (the editor)
to attend any meeting of the Board of Regents and raise his concerns
there, in an open meeting where the public can hear the questions and
the real answers."Jarvis-controlled regents
meetings are puppet shows with issues decided in advance. That's why
he's moving heaven and earth to keep Rosenberg off the board. With Mrs.
Price present, an embarrassing question or motion stands a chance of
getting a second. I've got a more amusing idea. How about letting me
attend some of the regents closed meetings where the real action is?Better yet, how about
a special televised regents meeting with a public audience able to ask
questions about all of these things I've been lying about. I bet we
can get it simulcast live statewide for a couple of hours. This is your
big chance, Sir Richard the Lyinhearted. You can get medieval on my
ass in front of 100,000 rapt viewers. You might even sell sponsorship
to the Mirage or one of Harvey's other clients.Can you handle some serious
rock 'n' roll? Since you won't talk, send me a fax sometime.JOIN THE CLEANUP COMMITTEE:
A growing number of angry citizens statewide have expressed interest
in forming a citizens committee to keep the public's vote for Rosenberg
from being stolen and to investigate the wholesale corruption in their
university system. If you're interested, write P.O. Box 10034, Reno,
NV 89510. You may also send
an e-mail.XEROX STOCKHOLDERS
DEPT. The University Scandals of '96 proved a bestseller in their
premiere week at public copy machines. One person ordered 60 sets of
this series the first day it became available. For just the cost of
copying, you can send the information to your friends for the holidays.
Ask for the Barbano file at the business services desk of either Reno
Office Depot location. One's next to Costco on Plumb Lane. Another just
opened in the new Fire Creek Crossing on Kietzke Lane extension west
of S. Virginia Street. You might want to call ahead so they'll have
copies ready. The Plumb Lane number is 829-2582. Kietzke Lane's is 823-9099.In Sparks, copies are
available at Nevada Instant Type, 508 Victorian Avenue, east of Pyramid
Way going toward McCarran; call 359-4835. I'll e-mail the entire seven-part
series to anyone with download capability. The hard copies are more
fun because you get Jody Lindke's killer political cartoons as a bonus.
For any member of the board of regents, I'll provide copies free so
they won't need to wait for Mr. Jarvis.One consumer note: Please
don't assume that this seventh installment you hold in your hand will
be immediately available. I need a day or two to make the rounds.Be well. Raise hell.
Andrew
Barbano is a Reno-based syndicated columnist and 28-year Nevadan.Barbwire by Barbano has appeared in the Daily Sparks Tribune since 1988. This column originally published 11/3/96. Copyright © 1996, 2010 Andrew Barbano |
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