Tribune attempts to ignore Dan Flynn letter

"He who speaks truth declares righteousness,
But a false witness, deceit."
Proverbs 12:17

First things first, zowie:

The co-chair of a legislative committee that investigated University of Texas regent Wallace Hall failed to disclose conflict of interest in his conduct of the investigation: he had written one of the clout letters at issue in the controversy.

When Hall began asking questions about legislators pulling strings to get their unqualified friends and family members into UT, Speaker Joe Straus responded by assigning Reps. Dan Flynn and Carol Alvarado to lead a committee in finding grounds to impeach Hall.

Flynn, however, is one of the lawmakers who tried to pull strings for a family friend, and never disclosed that fact throughout his yearlong investigation, even as the question of legislative influence became the subject of two official investigations and independent media investigations, and ultimately led to the forced resignation of the university’s president, Bill Powers.

It gets better:

The Tribune didn’t bother to mention Flynn’s letter in its own report.

Read the whole thing here.

Wallace Hall Speaks: "Fundamentally, nothing has changed."

"Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,"
Ephesians 6:14

The Austin Club -- This morning, a dedicated University of Texas regent Wallace Hall spoke to a crowd of approximately 150 people.  Out of realistic jeopardy from Dan Flynn's committee, Hall discussed his investigation into impropriety at the University of Texas - Austin in the greatest detail to date.  His discussion with Texas Tribune editor Evan Smith covered the University's open records process, financial improprieties at the University, and favoritism in admissions.

"I'm very comfortable with my actions" Hall said at the beginning of the discussion.  His allegedly voluminous open records requests were done as part of an effort to improve transparency at the University.  Regent Hall desired to move the open records process to the internet.  As part of that endeavor, Hall made five requests in June 2013 to see what requests the University had received.  The total was 40 boxes of documents.

Hall spoke about financial impropriety at the University, including the $215 million software donation scandal and questionable service contracts: "As a board and an institution we failed to police ourselves."

The longest section was the discussion on admissions favoritism.  Hall explained his belief in an admissions process that treats everyone equally.  He was indignant legislators could secretively gain favored status.  Hall isn't even a fan of legacy admissions "certainly at public universities."  On the other hand, "if we want Senators and Representatives to be able to get people [into higher ed. institutions], lets just be upfront about it."

Hall's strongest words came for Joe Straus and David Dewhurst.  Hall revealed an attempt by Straus to browbeat Governor Perry's staff following the Hardin report while the Governor was out of the country.    Hall "absoluely" lays the blame for the impeachment at Straus' feet.  He also disclosed a threatening text message Dewhurst sent regent Alex Cranberg in early 2013.  SB 15 appeared a few days later.

By contrast, Hall evaluates outgoing UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa's tenure "very positively."  He also has "great confidence" in incoming Chancellor William McRaven.  His three criteria for a new UT-Austin President are someone with a leadership history, who has run a multi-billion dollar organization, who isn't from UT Austin.

Wallace Hall's investigation has roiled the status quo, both at UT-Austin and in the Texas Legislature.  Clearly, he has uncovered evidence of financial improprieties and favoritism on behalf of powerful legislators.  Today's conversations with the Texas Tribune was Hall's most detailed discussion to date.

Bill Powers' allies attempted to destroy records....

"For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,"
2 Timothy 3:2

Isn't this interesting:

HOUSTON — Two regents of the University of Texas System pressed for the destruction of hundreds of thousands of records maintained by President Bill Powers’ office earlier this year.

The two regents — Steve Hicks and Bobby Stillwell — have been Powers’ strongest allies on the board. On May 21, they both asked Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa to allow Powers to destroy “hundreds of thousands of emails,” as well as “written notes or sticky notes” his office had been saving for more than a year.

....

But on May 21, when Hicks and Stillwell made their request, it looked like their side had won. So Hicks wrote Cigarroa, requesting “that the data hold that was placed on UT Austin in March of 2013 be removed…. as soon as possible.”

At Hall’s request, Cigarroa had ordered Powers to maintain his office’s records, particularly emails that would typically be deleted after a few months. Since that hold hadn’t required formal board action, Hicks and Stillwell asked that Cigarroa simply change the policy under his own authority.

It’s not known publicly whether Cigarroa took any action on the request. The board’s general counsel, Francie Frederick, asked Cigarroa on June 19 whether he did anything in response to the request, but Cigarroa hasn’t responded.

Read the whole thing here.

Cigarroa sets the record straight

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
John 8:32

Before he leaves office, Francisco Cigarroa has a few things to say:

Before he returns to a full-time career as a transplant surgeon in 2015, Francisco Cigarroa intends to spend his final months as chancellor of the University of Texas System combating what he says are misunderstandings, including at the upper echelons of academia, about his nearly six-year tenure.

“One has to be proactive,” Cigarroa said, “because I have not really been pleased with the direction of where the story has gone, because it’s wrong. We have to make our record better-known.” He indicated an intention to travel the country, talking to editorial boards and others to lay out a record of which he is “extremely proud.”

Cigarroa has spent much of the last three years caught in the middle of public conflicts among members of the UT System board of regents, the University of Texas at Austin administration, and legislators over how the flagship university should be managed.

While acknowledging that his tenure has corresponded with a period of political turmoil, he said it also was a time of major investment by the system in UT-Austin. He objected to insinuations that he has done Gov. Rick Perry’s bidding on policy or personnel decisions.

....

“While you cited the politicization of higher education in your message and implied that the situation between President Powers and Chancellor Cigarroa was politically driven, be assured that it was not,” Cigarroa and Paul Foster, the chairman of the UT System board, wrote to Rawlings this month in a three-page rebuttal.

....

Rather than adopting the governor-backed proposals in 2011, Cigarroa proposed his own vision for the system, calling for establishing medical schools in Austin and South Texas and committing financial resources to faculty recruitment and retention.

Today, both medical schools are under development, and the chancellor said that based on data reviewed by the system, “the idea that we are losing faculty is entirely false.”

Read the whole thing here.

Cigarroa's Real Play

"Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace."
Luke 14:31-32

The good news is that Bill Powers' reign of terror will soon end:

AUSTIN, Texas--After three years of deteriorating relations with his employers on the University of Texas Board of Regents and a growing scandal involving legislators allegedly using their clout to get friends and family admitted without proper qualifications, UT president Bill Powers on Wednesday offered his resignation effective June 2015.

 The bad news is that Powers gets another year to entrench the culture of mediocrity at UT.

When this website first saw Kay Bailout's spin we almost bought it:

Post by Texas Exes.

But here's the thing: prior to Michael's article last week, the conventional wisdom was that Powers would remain indefinitely.  Five days later, with a deadline for public humiliation in place, Powers 'voluntarily' resigned.  This website has a funny feeling the original leak to Michael was Cigarroa's gambit to 'lead' Powers to the result UT-Reformers wanted.

'Rejection then retreat' appears frequently in sales:

This technique is often applied. You request something greater to get a smaller thing done. Let’s imagine that you sell dining tables. You could take your customer to the cheapest table in the hope that he will buy that, at least. Or you could take him to the most expensive, which he will probably reject and then move to cheaper ones. Not really surprisingly the second approach works far better. However, it is surprising that your customer will also be more satisfied because you retreated. [Emphasis Added]

Of course, BOR took the bait:

In the end, Bill Powers' resignation effective June 2, 2015 -- submitted and accepted by lame-duck UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa in advance of today's meeting -- was the least-bad option possible in the situation. [Emphasis Added]

Texas Monthly also drank the kool-aid:

Powers was the winner, and Rick Perry was the loser.

Whatever the ex post facto spin, the business as usual crowd cannot deny that ten days ago it was widely assumed Powers was safe.

Bottom Line: Powers is leaving.  Instead of Rick Perry, Dan Patrick gets to influence the hiring of the next U.T. President.  That's not a bad place for U.T. reformers to sit.

#HookEm!!!

Wallace Hall's Bombshell Leaked E-Mail

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
John 8:32

A leaked e-mail has emerged from Wallace Hall to the President of UT Board of Regents that speaks for itself:

Wallace Hall e-mail

We'd summarize the contents, but Tony McDonald has beaten us to the punch:

• Hall believes there has been a coordinated attempt by legislators and others to cover up the truth about scandals raging at the University of Texas.
  
• University of Texas Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa first expressed an inability to work with University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers as early as 2010.
  
• When asked to make plans for his voluntary retirement as President, Powers made demands of the UT Board of Regents that the Board was unable to deliver. When Powers was told that forced dismissal was not in the interest of the University, he stated that he did not care.
  
• A majority of the members of the UT Board of Regents as well as Chancellor Cigarroa and Vice Chancellor Reyes agreed as late as December 2013 that there was a need to end President Powers’ tenure.
  
• University of Texas President Bill Powers levied a threat at UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa in the presence of UT Vice Chancellor Pedro Reyes that compromised Cigarroa’s ability to perform his duties. This threat shortly preceded Cigarroa’s announcement of his own retirement.
  
• Following the threat, Cigarroa prevented the Board of Regents from hearing a recommendation from Vice Chancellor Reyes that Powers be removed as President. Reyes apparently remains firm in his recommendation.
  
• UT Board of Regents Chairman Paul Foster has refused to allow the Board to take an up-or-down vote on Powers’ employment due to pledges Foster made to a Senate committee.

Rusty Hardin: Joe Straus' (and Bill Powers') "Bloody, Poisoned, Dwarf"

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"
Isaiah 5:20

Marxists follow patterns.  Their power built on lies, they must demonize the truth.  Enemies of the state must be eliminated.  What was true for Soviet Russia in 1937 applies equally to the University of Texas in 2014.  In the 'purifying' thunderstorm of Soviet 'justice' that is the Wallace Hall impeachment, Rusty Hardin is Nikolai Yezhov.

Rusty Hardin's 'report' is an astonishing, though strangely entertaining, act of chutzpah.  Using innuendo and petulance, the $157,000 (and counting) 'report' concludes that Wallace Hall is a big meanie: "Hall acted like a roving inspector general in search of a problem rather than a solution." (2)  Specifically, the 'report' charges Hall with making people work late, 'violating' irrelevant federal privacy laws, being mean to Bill Powers, and demanding basic financial accountability as grounds for impeachment.  We haven't heard a powerful, politically-connected, Texan whine this much since we were last in a room with Jim Keffer.  But at least Rusty Hardin got his 30 pieces of silver.

Hardin echoes Jim Pitts' original resolution that Hall made "numerous unreasonably burdensome, wasteful, and intrusive requests for information" (44)  Waaah!!!  The 'report' shrieks for 30 pages about Hall's supposed misdeeds.  Examples include: making people work late (49), personally visiting campus (55), meeting with the Office of the Attorney General (59), sayin' mean stuff (61), that "have negatively impacted employee morale" (79).  Sounds to us like due diligence.

Hardin's greatest slight of hand, however, concerns Hall's alleged abuse of 'confidential' information while investigating improper relationships between the UT administration and state legislators Jim Pitts and Judith Zaffirini.  At issue is an interpretation of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974.  In the gray area of FERPA interpretation, Hardin uses a convenient standard set by the U.S. Department that contradicts directly with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the 2002 Case Owasso Independent School District vs. Falvo.  The Court ruled unanimously that only an institution, not an individual, can violate FERPA, reducing Hardin's argument to legalistic sophistry.  A conservative lawyer with whom we spoke described this section as "sloppy" to the point "I would be embarrassed to put my name on it."

Of course, Wallace Hall's greatest 'transgression' is that he was mean to poor Bill Powers.  Following revelations about corruption at the UT Law School, "Hall's focus tightened on former law school dean Powers and what Hall perceived as Powers' failings." (117)   This January, following Powers' questionable testimony to the impeachment committee, "Hall sent [former U.T. Chancellor Francisco] Cigarroa a lengthy and detailed critique of President Powers's [sic] sworn testimony." (87)  He even had the nerve to follow up two weeks later!!! (88)  Clearly, Wallace Hall is worse than parents who eat their children's Halloween candy:



UT's most serious malfeasance, however, concerns the $215 million software donation scandal.  In 2007 and 2010, UT's geology department received valuable in-kind donations from a third party, which they counted towards their capital campaign using a favorable interpretation of a legal grey area.  In 2011, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) explicitly closed the loophole.  Caught with their pants down, UT panicked (93).  Hall refused to acquiesce to the cover-up (98).  Hall was eventually proven correct (95).  Clearly, the solution is to get rid of Wallace Hall.

An old legal cliche states: "[W]hen the law is on your side, argue the law.  When the facts are on your side, argue the facts.  When neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the table."  Rusty Hardin's 'report' pounds...something.  It combines the precise legal analysis of Joseph Stalin with the rhetorical subtlety of Khrushchev at the United Nations.  But the University of Texas is the biggest special interest in this state, and enemies of Bill Powers and Joe Straus must be punished.  FORWARD fellow comrades!!!

UT Chancellor Admits Wallace Hall inquiry Legitimate

[Full Disclosure: Cahnman's Musings assisted Agendawise with their livestream of the Wallace Hall impeachment hearing today; views expressed in this forum are ours and ours alone.]

At 1:38 pm, University of Texas chancellor Francisco Cigarroa admitted that regent Wallace Hall "raised valid concerns" in his inquiry; the Texas House committee on Transparency in state agency operations spent the remaining seven hours and fifty nine minutes of today's eight hour hearing creating a rhetorical haystack under which to bury that needle.

[Author's Note: Trust me, we understand the irony of a 'transparency' committee spending eight hours attempting to obfuscate the truth.]

This exchange happened during questioning from Texas Rep. Charles Perry (R - Lubbock).  Cigarroa admitted that "some good things have come out of" Hall's inquiry.  Cigarroa specifically listed technology transfer, transparency, and questions surrounding admissions/fundraising at the University law school.  Cigarroa further admitted that the University has implemented several of Hall's recommendations.  Representative Perry thanked Cigarroa for his forthrightness.

The hearing began with Chairman Dan Flynn (R - Canton) and co-chair Carol Alvarado (D - Houston) throwing a temper-tantrum.  Hall declined to testify unless the committee subpoenaed him.  Hall's reason for doing so was that, absent a subpoena, he could have opened himself up to a civil lawsuit.  Flynn called Hall's valid concern "a slap in the face of this committee."  Alvarado explained "invited guests don't get to set the terms on which they appear."

Next up, two former regents testified about standard practices for University regents.  Their complaint about Hall stemmed from the fact that he went outside the chain of command.  Going behind the board and the UT President is 'inappropriate.'

After lunch, following the interaction between Chancellor Cigarroa and Rep. Perry detailed above, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D - San Antonio) exposed his inner buffoon.  Fischer browbeat Cigarroa for an hour over a variety of petty topics, including details of preferential treatment for retiring Rep. Jim Pitts' son at UT Law School.  Fischer's attempt to set Governor Perry up as the bad guy fell flat.

The other noteworthy clown from today's hearing was (Joe Straus lieutenant) Rep. Lyle Larson (R - San Antonio).  Larson was upset because Hall's inquiry "created a lot of disruption" at UT.  Larson also took multiple cheap shots at Governor Perry.

Bill Powers' testimony was surprisingly anticlimatic.  He wasn't sworn in until after Cigarroa, six hours into the hearing.  Powers detailed his concern that Hall's inquiry has hurt recruiting and retention.  Powers also feels that Hall's inquiry poses "significant harm to our academic reputation."  Powers explained that, in his opinion, the $200 million software donation scandal was a case where reasonable people could disagree.

Wallace Hall is the Ted Cruz of Higher Education in Texas.  Because he's a threat to business as usual, he rubs a lot of people the wrong way.  But the University of Texas Chancellor has admitted his inquiry is legit, and that's the only major takeaway from today's hearing.