Higher Ed faculty getting the brush off from the Legislature?

An issue that has received scant attention, because it’s not "sexy" enough for the rags that pass for newspapers in West Virginia to cover, is Higher Education salaries. West Virginia Higher education faculty are treated as practically non-entities by the Legislature. They get basically no attention from the Legislature as a whole. This is because of several reasons, but mainly because they don't have a strong union. The public educators (K-12) get just about everything they want. Tom Lange of the WVEA, and to a lesser extent, the AFT are constantly badgering the Legislature about public education issues, such as educator's salaries, and are fairly effective. Higher education, however, doesn't get the same treatment, though the AFT is trying to bring more higher education faculty into their fold. Also, Higher education faculty (because they are considered "true" state workers) can't serve in the Legislature. K-12 educators can, because they are considered county BOE employees. Consequently, you have K-12 educators in the legislature (hmmm, I wonder if they look out for their fellow K-12 educators), but no Higher Education faculty. .

But, even though higher education faculty ARE considered "state" workers, they don't get the same treatment as other state employees. They don't get annual increment pay. Annual increment pay is sort of a "bonus" (for lack of a better term) that is based on an employee's years of service. All state employees EXCEPT higher education faculty get this increment pay in the form of an extra check around the first of August each year. In fact, until just a couple of years ago, STAFF at higher education facilities (i.e., secretaries, custodial workers, i.e., anyone who's NOT a "faculty") didn't get this increment pay either. They managed through lobbying to get this increment pay for the STAFF only. Faculty got conspicuously ignored. Bills have been introduced this year to rectify this clear inequity (SB 212, and HB 2605), but the issue seems to be getting ignored in the House. Evidently the Senate has no problems with the issue, but the House appears to be balking.

This is not rocket science, folks. Higher education faculty deserve the same economic treatment that other state workers get. They deserve it especially when the Legislature manages to find a way to pay David Hardesty, the President of WVU (who had basically NO experience in higher ed before he was hired - he was an attorney, and former Tax Commissioner, not a higher educational professional - such as a faculty member or dean) $250,000+ per year. When asked about this exorbitant amount of pay for higher ed administrators like Hardesty (and, to assistant band director turned Chief Lackey, Dave Satterfield to the tune of well over $100,000), Legislators have absolutely no compunction immediately raising the defense of "well, if we DON'T pay them that much, we can't compete with surrounding states, and get quality people." Funny, that sort of logic doesn't seem to apply when talking about the actual EDUCATORS at those institutions.

Just another example of how your tax dollars are wasted on high paid, inexperienced administrators and their equally inexperienced lackeys, while the actual people doing the TEACHING (I know, you've probably forgot, but education IS the actual purpose of a higher education institution) can't even get the same treatment as other state employees.

These arrogant bastards! (Part 1)

Ok, this post will have basically nothing to do with West Virginia politics per se. However, it will deal with how politics are covered in today's media by the blogosphere. This is Part 1. Part 2 will take a look at some dumbass bills the WV Legislature has introduced this session.

On ABC's Nightline on Tuesday, they devoted the entire program to blogging. More specifically it dealt with an interesting issue in Virginia. Several bloggers (I think they were fairly liberal, something was mentioned about one being a Dean Democrat) decided they were going to report on the goings on at the Virginia Statehouse this session. I missed the first couple minutes of the show, and so I missed some of the particulars, but I saw more than enough to understand what was being done. These bloggers decided to read every bill that was introduced during the Va. Legislative session. And this one blogger (Maura Kearney) read this bill that would have required women to report to police all fetal deaths within 12 hours if they didn't have medical assistance.

This bill was introduced by Delegate John Cosgrove (R). According to Cosgrove, it was in response to people abandoning live fetuses and having those fetuses die. We've all heard the stories, where some mother has a baby and then leaves it in a trashcan or on the side of the road. This bill required women to report ALL fetal deaths within 12 hours to the police, or face misdemeanor charges.

Of course, this idiot Cosgrove, didn't pay attention to his own bill, and it was waaaaaaaaay overbroad. In fact, it would have required a woman who had a miscarriage at ANY time during her pregnancy to notify the police, or face possible charges. Kearney even linked to the Va. State Code and the definition of fetal death and proved that the bill would in fact, require EVERY miscarriage that occurred without medical assistance, to be reported to the police in 12 hours, or the mother would face potential charges. There was nothing "incorrect" about her analysis of the bill, and it's impact (in its current form). Cosgrove even eventually admits this.

Kearney emailed Cosgrove with her concerns about this bill, and of course, Cosgrove was off galavanting around, and didn't respond to the email for several days, becuase he was away on "state business" (I don't buy that for a minute, but that's his story). After a couple days go by, the blogger puts her concerns up on her blog, along with the fact Cosgrove didn't respond to her email, and it gets noticed, and linked to around the world by other bloggers, as well as some MSM outlets. Eventually, there's tens of thousands of people looking at her blog, and the emails from these people (you got the impression from the Nightline show, it was mainly women concerned about privacy rights) start flooding Cosgrove's inbox, lambasting him for sponsoring such a draconian (or more accurately, extremely poorly drafted) bill.

Cosgrove, in TYPICAL politician jackassery style, attacks the "blogosphere" for being irresponsible. Eventually the shitstorm hits critical mass, and Cosgrove knows he's beat. He eventually withdraws the bill due to the negative publicity about it, caused mainly by the Kearney's blog. However, he contends the blogs "misinterpreted" his bill. No, they didn't. They interpreted what the bill said, dead on correctly. His defense is, "well, the bill was too broad, but we would have fixed that in committee." He starts complaining "this lady had an audience and she didn't tell me," as if you have an audience, you'll get a faster response to your email. Not a hint of "my bad" anywhere in Cosgrove's line of bullshit. Well, here's a tip, Cosgrove. She doesn't have to TELL you she has an audience. She's a concerned citizen, not a damn newspaper hack. She's not doing this for any monetary reward. She's not selling newspapers or magazines. She's exercising her right to be an active citizen with regard to politics. Maybe, if you would just admit, that you sponsored a dumbass bill that was poorly written, and you didn't scrutinize it closely enough, you'd get some credit. But you didn't, so you don't. If you don't like it, I'd suggest you quit your elected position now and go back to selling used cars, Amway products, or some other similar trade for which you could put your experience in the legislature to good use.

Hey Cosgrove, and all other politicians out there. Pay attention to the bills you introduce. In fact, why don't you actually READ them once in a while, you lazy, ignorant assholes? Don't blame the blogosphere for calling you on your own bullshit. Just because the MSM is too busy covering the Micheal Jackson trial and Martha Stewart's release from prison, doesn't mean concerned citizens aren't watching you fumble around like a monkey fucking a football. And now, thanks to the internet, your ignorance (and there's clearly no shortage of that) is going to be exposed. Stuff that you could let slide, because the MSM only hits the "sexy" issues, isn't going to fade away like before. You better straighten your asses up. Because we are watching.

Here's a link to a newspaper article about all this. Tomorrow I'll post some bills that have been introduced in the West Virginia Legislature and comment on their idiocy. Remember, these are your tax dollars at work with some of these bills.

Hoppy to Vic: Lay off the sauce, dude!!

The Vic Sprouse thing has exploded. It was all over the media Monday. Both Charleston newspapers, Metronews Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval, and Hippie Killer over at Fifth Column all had coverage of it. Hippie Killer got in some particulary good shots.

However, the most hilarious episode was the "come to Jesus meeting" Hoppy had with Sprouse on Talkline. Sprouse, to his credit, went on there in a live interview and took the heat from Hoppy. I'll at least give him that. Many guys in his position would have run and hid from the media glare for a couple of days at least. He didn't. And because of that, we got some of the best entertainment that you can get for free. He did give a "no comment" to Hoppy's question of whether he's got a new girlfriend, so he did duck a little bit. Then Hoppy basically told him to straighten up and fly right, get some help, and most hilariously, suggested Sprouse maybe should lay off the booze. Hoppy alluded to his own personal situation (he's been married and divorced a couple of times). He said something to the effect, "I know in my personal situation, that part of my troubles occurred when I consumed large amounts of alcohol. After cutting back on my alcohol consumption about 95% (he says he still has a drink with dinner every now and then), many of those personal difficulties went away." And he suggested Sprouse give that a try. This was classic.

Of course, the Republican faithful came immediately to Sprouse's defense, including Monty Warner. Monty Warner has been MIA for months after getting his ass handed to him in the election. Allegations of him stiffing his campaign staff on payments are rampant, not to mention his shenanigans with using Bush's name on campaign signs (a big no-no, according to the White House), his brother Kris' shady PAC for this purpose, and the general fumbling of the ball by the party (headed by Kris) in getting more Republicans elected. In short, Monty has quite a lot to answer for right now, and he can't be troubled to address any of it, but he sure can show up on Talkline and tell Hoppy he was out of line, and that Sprouse's personal life was off limits. If I were Hoppy, I'd have asked him if he really stiffed his campaign staff. A subsequent caller also mentioned that Monty had tried to drag Manchin's personal life into the campaign questioning his medical records and his draft status, making Warner's shots at Hoppy quite hypocritical. Amen to that brother. Warner should get his own house in order before busting Hoppy's chops. If I were Hoppy, I'd not take any more of Monty's calls under the guise that Talkline doesn't take calls from people who get embarrassed as bad as Monty did in the election. I mean, the PRO LIFERS even backed Papa Joe over Monty.

There have been rumors of Sprouse having trouble keeping his pants on for years. Remember, he's now divorcing wife number 3. Sprouse also has a daughter who's 18. Sprouse is 36, so he was a dad at age 18, so, his libido has been chugging along nicely for at least that long. I've also been told by some sources beyond reproach, that there's never been a shortage of eye candy working in Sprouse's office at the Capitol. There were also rumors started by Peggy Workman, Sprouse's opponent in the last election, that Sprouse had been seeing a local TV news reporter or something. This rumor was from some affidavit from one of his previous divorces or something. If anyone out there knows more about this rumor (like who was the reporter?) feel free to shoot me an email with the details. We can never have enough salacious details here at the Sweatbox....

How about that Senator Vic Sprouse guy?? Sounds like a good time for an ethics discussion!!

Hey faithful readers (all of about 5 of you), no real "update" here. I'm working on sort of a longer post, that is taking some time to get it just the way I want it. There's actually so much that needs to be said in it, that it's kind of scatterbrained, and I'm trying to get some sense of organization to it so it doesn't sound like a stream of consciousness rant.

In the meantime, the wonderfully ethical West Virginia Legislature is at it again. How about that Senator Vic Sprouse? Gets married, wife gets pregnant, and then he moves out on her and files for divorce. Sounds like a die hard family values Republican to me. Maybe, if he didn't spend all his time complaining about a video lottery place in Kanawha City, like he did all last fall, he wouldn't look like such a hypocrite. In today's Charleston Gazette, Phil Kabler details all the specifics, after talking to Sprouse's soon to be ex-father in law. There's some good reading there. If these jackasses weren't so sanctimonious and self-righteous when talking about an anti-abortion law, or their shrill rantings about the societal costs along with their religious objections to putting in casino games at the State's race tracks, maybe somebody would cut them some slack when they get caught being a slimeball.

One last small nugget while we are talking about ethics. Remember the new "ethics bill?" (Does anyone else find these idiots being charged with strengthing the ethics bill, comparable to the fox guarding the henhouse, taken to the Nth degree?). After the Mezzatesta mess (who now refuses to pay his fine from the Ethics Commission, see here for the full story), and the Mike Ross golf course scam, Papa Joe was all full of enthusiasm for pushing through ethics reform (which, no sane Mountaineer would say is not sorely needed). He even called a special session for it (along with Worker's Comp reform).

There are three major problems with the ethics bill that was passed, and then signed by Papa Joe (with the supposed understanding the Legislature would fix these problems in the regular session).

First, there was no provision for extending the disclosure provisions to spouses of Legislators. Mezzatesta's wife was involved in some shady dealings with both fabricating letters, AND her involvement in a video lottery business. This is not hard. Just add "and their spouses" to anywhere the word "public official" or "legislator" or whatever is found in the bill.

Second, they made the standard of proof to be "beyond a reasonable doubt" for the Commission to find someone violated an ethics provision. That's the same burden of proof that allowed OJ to walk away from a double murder charge in the face of a mountain of physical evidence. The burden of proof needs to be clear and convincing, or even better, preponderance of the evidence. Otherwise, NOBODY would ever be busted by the Ethics Commission, unless they basically confessed to the misdeed themselves. This is just not a realistic burden of proof for this bill to be effective at curbing the ethics violations like Mezzatesta's or Ross'.

The third big issue was the provision allowing for a gag order to be put on anyone who files an ethics complaint. Never mind, the State the ethics bill is copied from (Rhode Island? I'm not sure, but it's a New England state, if I remember correctly) had the SAME provision struck down as unconstitutional as violating the 1st Amendment. Don't these bozo's do ANY research on the legislation they are copying from other states?

Those three items need fixed for this ethics bill to be viable, and not just another piece of sham legislation. Here we are, 3 weeks into the regular session, and the ethics bill still isn't fixed. These changes wouldn't require massive rewrites of the legislation. This is not brain surgery, folks.

Then again, nobody has ever accused the Legislature of being brain surgeons.

Check back in the next day or so for the next update. It's almost finished.