Friday, September 20, 2013

Dobelle in Denial

"Dobelle has told people around him that the controversy will soon pass and he will continue to lead Westfield State for years to come."

He's got Obomber syndrome!

"Westfield State urged to rein in president’s spending" by Andrea Estes |  Globe Staff, September 20, 2013

Inspector General Glenn A. Cunha has found that Westfield State University president Evan Dobelle violated school policy by using credit cards for personal expenses, and spent money earmarked for programs and scholarships “indiscriminately with little or no consideration” for its intended purpose.

In a two-page letter sent Thursday, the day before Dobelle and the trustees are scheduled to meet with state education officials, Cunha also urged the school’s trustees to “move quickly” to scrutinize Dobelle’s spending and his claims that his expenditures have brought the school a “return on investment” worth millions of dollars.

The inspector general warned that he “has concerns about broader allegations of misconduct in connection with spending at both” Westfield State University and the foundation that does the university’s fund-raising.

Cunha urged the trustees to act soon on such concerns, and not wait to receive his full report, which is expected in time for their October meeting.

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The inspector general said his concerns go beyond those raised by the accountant, to the financial stability of the Westfield State College Foundation, the school’s private fund-raising arm. In 2010, for example, he said the university had to transfer $400,000 to the foundation, which was running a deficit, in part because of Dobelle’s expenses and costly programs pushed by Dobelle.

What, you object to funding his $lu$h fund honey pot? What were the tuition and fee increases this year?

Cunha also challenged Dobelle’s justification for some of the expenses such as a trip to Asia in 2008.

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Dobelle, in a defense delivered at the August trustees’ meeting, called the accountant’s report “illegal” because the entire board of trustees had not approved the hiring of the O’Connor and Drew accounting firm.

He would not address the questionable expenditures cited in the report, and said he felt duty-bound not to provide written responses to the review because it was invalid. “I felt a responsibility to adhere to . . . the laws of the Commonwealth,” he said. “I’m not going to participate in something that shuts out the majority of the board members and is illegal.”

These slimy f***s that twist the law and accusation on its head. 

Questions about Dobelle’s expenses have prompted one large potential donor to cancel plans to give $100,000 and brought calls from Governor Deval Patrick, state education officials, and others for a full accounting of his spending.

But Dobelle has told people around him that the controversy will soon pass and he will continue to lead Westfield State for years to come.

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Related: Sunday Globe Special: Wa$te at Westfield State

Time for someone to lay waste to him, and here is why:

"Staff member, groups rebut account of fund-raising trip" by Andrea Estes and Scott Allen |  Globe Staff, September 20, 2013

Westfield State University president Evan Dobelle portrayed his fund-raising trip to San Francisco in May as a rousing success, leaving the impression with trustees that he hobnobbed with movers and shakers as he sought $500,000 in grants for the university. For a school fund-raising program nearly broke after years of Dobelle’s costly initiatives, it was welcome news.

But the original draft of Dobelle’s report, written by the staffer who accompanied him, painted a less glamorous picture: The staff member — not Dobelle — went from one charitable foundation to the next, dropping off information packets at the front desk without ever meeting top officials, let alone asking them for money.

So Dobelle asked her to make changes in the document, according to a former colleague.

Officials at seven foundations that Dobelle said he visited told the Globe they never talked to him and have no record of a grant proposal from Westfield State. Some expressed surprise that Dobelle would even approach them, since they focus on California.

“I want to be as clear as I can be: No one at Irvine met with president Dobelle,” said Daniel Silverman, spokesman for the California-focused Irvine Foundation, where Dobelle told trustees he was seeking a $10,000 donation. “We have no record of a Westfield State proposal in our database.”

Then why did he need this excuse to go out there?

Dobelle, through a spokeswoman, conceded he had not personally met with people at the seven foundations, but insisted there was no attempt to mislead trustees, who had clamped down on his business expenses after he ran up more than $200,000 in bills on a single credit card.

He just admitted deception if not lying. Oh, what a tangled web we weave at Westfield State.

Westfield State spokeswoman Molly Watson said Dobelle’s trip to San Francisco — where he has traveled on business at least 15 times since coming to Westfield in 2008 — forged connections for future grant proposals.

“Fund-raising takes time, and you have to take baby steps to be introduced to your prospective target,” Watson explained.

How's his c*** taste, honey?

The questions about the San Francisco trip, which produced no new donations to the school and left the staffer who accompanied Dobelle telling colleagues she felt “mortified,” is part of a growing credibility crisis for the Westfield University president as he fends off charges that he has lavishly spent public funds and private donations for questionable and personal expenses.

America, the greedy money addicts are in control of all your institutions, and WHY WOULD SHE FEEL THAT WAY?

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San Francisco has been one of Dobelle’s favorite destinations while he has been at Westfield State. He even set up a short-term study program for students in the city.

You know, since Sandusky and the exposes on sex rings of the powerful (money and control don't satisfy the endless lust so they literally act it out on those less powerful, the same way they mass-murdering wars that kill millions), I'm not liking these people promoted by rich and powerful or their organizations that "take care of kids" because, dog gone it, they just like 'em so much! 

Never mind the mountain-and-chain of loan debt or the lies that sent you kids off to die. 

I know, I know, they are only looking to protect and secure you because they love you so much. That is what the spying is all about. 

Dobelle also has personal connections to San Francisco, where he was president and chancellor of City College of San Francisco from 1990 to 1995. He’s a member of the Bohemian Club, a powerful and exclusive men’s organization near San Francisco and, in the past, Dobelle has combined business travel to the city with attending the club’s annual July retreat at Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio....

Oh, God, he's a member of that sick elitist organization! 

Get rid of him now, Westfield.

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NEXT DAY UPDATE:

"State education chief blasts board over Westfield State spending" by Andrea Estes and Scott Allen |  Globe Staff, September 20, 2013

Westfield State University President Evan Dobelle, a self-described “change agent,” insisted during a closed session on Friday afternoon that he had done nothing wrong, according to someone briefed on the talks....

State officials were particularly alarmed that the university appeared to be financially propping up the fund-raisers at the Westfield State College Foundation, transferring $400,000 to the foundation in 2010 to help cover costs, including Dobelle’s expenses.

“The foundation’s mission is to support the university, not the other way around,” said State Education Secretary Matthew Malone. “Taxpayers deserve to know why money intended to support a public university was used to support a nonprofit foundation.”

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“You have to have honest leaders at those institutions,”  Charles F. Desmond, chairman of the state Board of Higher Education, said. “You have to have people who are committed to the public good leading those institutions and when you have that, you are going to have excellent institutions, and when you don’t, you’re going to see the types of problems such as the ones you’re looking at now.”

Didn't I already make that point?

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