March 14, 2007

Higher (Priced) Education

It’s been said that Pennsylvania might have the most corrupt state legislators in the entire union. Sadly, we keep reading more and more stories that only provide evidence for such an accusation.

...It was recently discovered—after numerous attempts to hide the truth—that the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) ripped off taxpayers for at least the last seven years and then attempted to cover it up when news outlets began to question their spending activities.

...For those who don’t know, PHEAA dispenses roughly $500 million a year—all taxpayers’ money—in the forms of grants and subsidies for college students. The PHEAA staff consists of 20 members, 16 of whom just happen to be elected legislators, and they were asked by three news organizations to turn over their expense records under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law. The politicians, most likely aware that they’d have to explain why they were blowing tax dollars on dinners, golf, and spa treatments, refused to turn over the documents. In fact, they tried to sue the news agencies for requesting the information. That’s probably because PHEAA was hiding the following expenses:

• A November 2001 trip to the Meadowood Napa Valley in California: $156,000.
• Two trips to The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia: $185,000.
• Three days at a retreat south of Pittsburgh: $135,000. (For this one, the dinner tab alone was $47,000; the bar tab was over $10,000.)
• Spa visits amounting to $9,542.
• Additional golf outings costing just under $9,000.

...Associated Press writer Martha Raffaele put together an easy-to-use timeline of events. I’ll reprint it here, adding a few comments of my own to it. This should give you a better idea of what kind of politicians we have in Pennsylvania.

July 22, 2005: WTAE-TV requests PHEAA documents showing their travel expenses.
July 31, 2005: The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reports that PHEAAA spent roughly $885,000 since 2000 on trips.
August 1, 2005: The Patriot-News requests expense records related to PHEAA trips from 2000 to 2005.
August 15, 2005: The Associated Press requests expense records for a PHEAA trip in June 2005.
September 6, 2005: PHEAA, realizing that they have a lot to hide, refuses to honor the news agencies’ requests.
September 9, 2005: PHEAA decides to sue WTAE for their attempts at exposing PHEAA’s corruption.
October 4, 2005: The news agencies sue PHEAA to release their spending records.
November 2005: Both sides agree to suspend their lawsuits against each other and take the case before a judge.
April 4, 2006: Both sides testify before retired judge Warren Morgan.
June 7, 2006: PHEAA releases Morgan’s nonbinding recommendation calling for it to release the spending records. PHEAA, however, refuses to honor the actual recommendation and still refuses to make their records public.
June 30, 2006: The news organizations appeal to Commonwealth Court.
November 15, 2006: The Court rules that PHEAA has violated the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law.
December 18, 2006: PHEAA asks the Court to stay the order and files papers for permission to appeal to the state’s Supreme Court.
December 22, 2006: The news agencies file a request with Commonwealth Court to enforce the November 15 ruling.
January 16, 2007: A Commonwealth Court judge denies PHEAA’s request for a stay and orders the immediate release of the documents.
January 26, 2007: PHEAA says that it will release the documents, but doesn’t actually do so after the state Supreme Court grants a request to temporarily stay the Commonwealth Court ruling.
February 21, 2007: The state Supreme Court dismisses PHEAA’s appeals and lifts the stay.
February 28, 2007: PHEAA releases only half of the documents that they were ordered to make public.
March 12, 2007: PHEAA finally abides by the law and releases the remaining documents.

...Who are these crooks that freely spend our hard-earned money? Here’s a list as taken directly from their Website:

• Rep. William F. Adolph, Jr. – Chairman
• Senator Sean Logan – Vice Chairman
• Rep. Ronald I. Buxton
• Senator Jake Corman
• Hon. J. Doyle Corman
• Rep. Craig A. Dally
• Senator Jane M. Earll
• Senator Vincent J. Fumo
• Senator Vincent J. Hughes
• Rep. Sandra J. Major
• Rep. Jennifer L. Mann
• Rep. Joseph F. Markosek
• Senator Michael A. O’Pake
• Hon. Ray Reinard
• Senator James J. Rhoades
• Rep. James R. Roebuck, Jr.
• Rep. Jess M. Stairs
• Senator Robert M. Tomlinson
• Gerald L. Zahorchak (Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Education)

References
Post-Gazette
PHEAA