MERKT SENDS LETTER TO KEAN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT BLASTING McGREEVEY HIRE, REQUESTING DOCUMENTS

REQUESTS DOCUMENTS ON ALL UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES TO DETERMINE IF UNIVERSITY HAS ANY HIRING STANDARDS

 

Assemblyman Richard Merkt today sent a letter to Kean University President Dawood Farahi blasting the school for its decision to hire former Governor James McGreevey to teach “ethics� while boosting his state pension, and requesting documentation from the school related to its employees, their salaries, benefits, travel expenses, and hiring criteria.

“As a member of the Legislature and the Assembly Higher Education Committee, I must express my absolute shock and disbelief that you would use public dollars to hire a disgraced former governor of this state to teach a course on ethics and to represent your college,� Merkt, R-Morris, writes in his letter. “How could you possibly make such a terrible decision in light of his well-known and well-documented trail of personal ethical lapses?�

Media reports indicate that the university hired McGreevey for a teaching and consulting post effective November 1, 2006, without any announcement or fanfare. He is being paid $17,500 for teaching “Ethical and Legal Issues in Operating Globally,� and “Management and Leadership in a Global Environment� as part of the college’s Executive Masters of Business Administration program.

McGreevey’s tenure as Governor – January 2002 to November 2004 - was marred by several scandals and a host of questionable appointments to state positions of people unqualified for those posts. Merkt provided a partial list of these scandals and ethical transgressions in his letter to Farahi.

“Jim McGreevey is the poster-child for government corruption,� Merkt said.

Merkt also noted that since Kean is a public university, McGreevey will earn additional credits for years of service in the state pension program, which will increase his pension.

In order to restore public confidence in the state funded university’s hiring practices, Merkt requested that the school turn over:

1)  A list of all employees of the university together with titles, divisions of employment, dates of hire, and salaries;

2)  A list of all travel, lodging, and meal expenses for you and administrative staff since   January 1, 2005;

3)  A copy of the contract with Governor James E. McGreevey; and

4)  A copy of your employment contract.

“To say that I am shocked and disgusted by your decision to use public dollars to give former Governor McGreevey an important position of influence over the minds of young men and women is an understatement,� Merkt said. “Your lack of judgment causes me to question seriously how you are spending the more than $ 40 million that your university receives from the State of New Jersey.�

A copy of the letter is attached.

 

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April 20, 2007  

President Dawood Farahi

Kean University

1000 Morris Avenue

Union, New Jersey 07083  Dear President Farahi:

As a member of the Legislature and the Assembly Higher Education Committee, I must express my absolute shock and disbelief that you would use public dollars to hire a disgraced former governor of this state to teach a course on ethics and to represent your college.  Governor James E. McGreevey resigned primarily due to ethical transgressions that made his administration the most corrupt in New Jersey history.  Consider Governor McGreevey's ethical record as it pertains just to his own public office:

Governor McGreevey hired a completely unqualified paramour as his top homeland security aide shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, jeopardizing the people's safety out of a desire for his personal sexual gratification.  

• Governor McGreevey directed creation of an unlawful $128 million slush fund (the "Property Tax Assistance and Community Development Fund") that he then allowed legislators to draw on for personal benefit and that is now the subject of both indictments and an ongoing federal criminal investigation.

 

• Governor McGreevey himself became the subject of a federal criminal investigation after he was taped using a code word agreed to by criminals to signal assent to an extortion scheme.

 

• Governor McGreevey corrupted state institutions through an appalling array of pay-to-play schemes used by his subordinates to extort campaign contributions from state vendors.

 

• Governor McGreevey unlawfully skewed the award of homeland security funds based on partisan political considerations.

 

• Governor McGreevey filled his administration with political cronies and powerbrokers, many of whom who have since resigned in disgrace or gone to jail for criminal acts.

 

• Governor McGreevey himself was caught early in his administration misappropriating public funds for his personal international travel.

 

• Governor McGreevey wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on a state-funded public relations campaign aimed solely at polishing his own public image and assuring re-election.

 This is the individual whom you have selected to instruct your students concerning ethical behavior in government?  What is he going to teach them?  How to improve on his own "record"?  How could you possibly make such a terrible decision in light of his well-known and well-documented trail of personal ethical lapses?

To say that I am shocked and disgusted by your decision to use public dollars to give former Governor McGreevey an important position of influence over the minds of young men and women is an understatement.  Your lack of judgment causes me to question seriously how you are spending the more than $ 40 million that your university receives from the State of New Jersey.

So  to  restore some level of confidence that your extremely disappointing decision is an aberration and not a symptom of a more pervasive problem, please make available for inspection the following public documents:  

1)  A list of all employees of the university together with titles, divisions of employment, dates of hire, and salaries;

 

2)  A list of all travel, lodging, and meal expenses for you and administrative staff since January 1, 2005;

 

3)  A copy of the contract with Governor James E. McGreevey; and

 

4)  A copy of your employment contract.

             I look forward to your prompt reply.  

Sincerley,

Richard A. Merkt

Assemblyman                                    cc.        Board of Trustees, Kean University            Members, Senate and Assembly Budget Committees           Members, Senate and Assembly Education and Higher Education Committees