This is the thirty-ninth post in an ongoing series as we file Missouri Sunshine Law (RSMo 610) requests and investigate the non-renewal of the contract of University of Central Missouri President Aaron Podolefsky. Links to previous coverage are below the fold. BG and MB

Previously: “A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: a lesson on how not to attempt damage control

A source provided us with a copy of an e-mail sent by Ben Wesly on December 23, 2009 to University of Central Missouri President Aaron Podolefsky:

From: [….]

To: “UCM President Aaron Podolefsky [….]

Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:55:33 +0100

Subject:

Dear Aaron,

As you may know, over the last couple of weeks I have been in close communication with Mr. Richard Philips, President of the Board of Governors of the University of Central Missouri. I strongly protested against the fact, that the Board tolerates anti-Semitism, which is for me and my family and all the Jews in the world unacceptable.

The Board should have taken a strong position against the radioman and the Athletic Director responsible for the contract with the radio station and should have made a public statement to announce corrective steps. The Board has chosen not to do so.

Please note that I cannot accept the honorable invitation to teach on campus Spring 2010 and that I have canceled immediately my commitment to sponsor the USD 100,000 Maastricht Friendship Award as well as our positive discussions in establishing a memorial for my brother Leon, who was murdered by the Germans.

I have decided, with tears in my eyes, to finish the over the last 20 years built relationship with the university. Each morning I need to face myself in the mirror. Yesterday, today, but also tomorrow.

Wherever you and Ronnie may go, please stay in touch.

Best regards,

Bella and Benoit Wesly

Enclosure: e-mail Mr. Richard Philips dated December 15, 2009

[….]

That didn’t go well.

In today’s edition of the Muleskinner, the University of Central Missouri student newspaper, was a front page article under the byline of Lora Powell on donor Benoit Wesly’s disassociation from the institution. The article relates the initial October radio broadcast and the various communications in that aftermath between Benoit Wesly and individuals at the university. The published edition also carries the full text of the December letter from Wesly to University of Central Missouri Board of Governors President Richard Phillips.

The institution and those associated with the original radio broadcast don’t appear to have the capacity or the desire to admit a mistake or indicate an ability to learn from that mistake. Sadly, that would have probably solved their problem if they had demonstrated such awareness in October. That is the short lesson on how not to attempt damage control.

They’re probably not too concerned about mirrors, either.  

Our previous coverage of the issue:

Three steps behind, and to the right (January 25, 2008)

Three steps behind, and to the right, part 2 – a microcosm of our universe (September 21, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”? (October 15, 2009) (transcript of a portion of the live radio broadcast)

It wasn’t just about a tree (October 21, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement?”: I heard it on the radio (October 21, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement?”: let’s not get cut out of the will (October 22, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement?”: $87.75 will get you one sheet of paper (October 23, 2009)



“A Gentleman’s Agreement?”: They’re not playing hardball, they’re playing cat and mouse  (October 23, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement?”: a cola and some scoreboards (October 24, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement?”: a few more pieces of the puzzle? (October 28, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: your silence means consent (October 29, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: let’s not get cut out of the will, part 2 (October 30, 2009)

Old media irony impairment (October 30, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement?”: I heard it on the radio, part 2 (October 31, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: where everybody knows your name (October 31, 2009)

Methinks that someone is paying attention! (November 2, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: Bond, Stadium Bond (November 4, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: where everybody knows your name, part 2 (November 4, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: I heard it on the radio, part 3 (November 5, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: nothing succeeds like success (November 6, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: your Friday news dump (November 6, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: nothing exceeds like excess (November 7, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: a grade for Accounting 101 (November 7, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: there ought to be a law (November 8, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: there’s gotta be a contract around here somewhere (November 9, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: there ought to be a law, part 2 (November 10, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: Garbo speaks! (November 12, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle (November 13, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”? Follow the money and it reveals the timeline (November 14, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: the new president search consulting contract (November 18, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: a march on a cold and rainy day (November 18, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: raise their voices (November 19, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: great moments in radio reporting (November 21, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: Oh, my! (December 3, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: It’s simple, really… (December 5, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: I do truly care about the success of our students (December 6, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: “…a wonderful relationship there we’re really proud of…” (December 7, 2009)

Oh brother, it’s time to convene another panel on blogger ethics… (December 8, 2009)

“A Gentleman’s Agreement”?: a lesson on how not to attempt damage control (January 26, 2010)

CIA Man Retracts Claim on Waterboarding

A study in “enhanced reporting techniques.”

BY JEFF STEIN | JANUARY 26, 2010

Well, it’s official now: John Kiriakou, the former CIA operative who affirmed claims that waterboarding quickly unloosed the tongues of hard-core terrorists, says he didn’t know what he was talking about….

Of course, the media that hyped the original story will run a retraction in five, four, three…

Meanwhile:

Remarks by the President in State of the Union Address January 27, 2010

…We’ve prohibited torture…

What about prosecuting it?

Previously:

“We’re all in Room 101 now.”

A Larger Clique Of Legal Extremists…

A Small Clique Of Legal Extremists…

No, really. And to think, Sally Quinn gets paid for this shit:

Administrations should befriend the locals — they’ll need them in hard times

By Sally Quinn

Wednesday, January 27, 2010; 9:34 AM

I’ll save you the trouble of reading it. Shorter Sally Quinn: “Come to our villager parties or we’ll pull out the long knives. Oh, and I watched Avatar and I don’t quite get it, though it has something to do with villagers.”

I kid you not.

The inimitable Digby (“we are not worthy”) has the best punch line evah:

Wrong movie.

Hide the bunny, Mr President.

And the comments at the Washington Post are priceless:

You cannot be serious. What is this, “Heathers”?

It’s just one darned thing after another. Gigantic earthquakes, floods, war, economic distress, and now this.

Brilliant parody of Sally Quinn!

After reading this remarkable exercise in grandiosity and narcissism I had to check to make sure I hadn’t inadvertently logged on to “The Onion.”

Bless the Internets. Maybe there is room for hope. Nah.

Wash my mouth out with soap for having criticized corporate spokesholes. According to a recent study by Lee Wilkins, a professor of radio-television journalism at the University of Missouri School of Journalism:

“Public relations people are pretty ethical, particularly the professional folks. They make reasoned decisions that involve a fair amount of universal principles. Despite the bum rap journalists give PR people, we weren’t the least bit surprised. Most of the PR people I worked with when I was a journalist behaved ethically.”

According to an article in the Nov./Dec. ’09 issue of St. Louis Journalism Review (SJR), Wilkins and her co-author Renita Coleman (of the University of Texas–Austin School of Journalism):

administered the “Defining Issues Test” (DIT) to 118 respondents from a random sample of professionals at the country’s 400 largest public relations firms. The test has been given to 40,000 to 50,000 people over 35 years, resulting in more than 400 published studies.

The public relations professionals ranked seventh-highest among all professionals who have taken the test. The PR people scored a 46 on the scale used to analyze the test. The highest moral development score ever achieved, 65, was for “seminarians/philosophers.” The other highly ethical professions have been medical students, 50; practicing physicians, 49; journalists, 48; dental students, 47; and nurses, 46. By comparison, the least-ethical groups ever studied were prison inmates, 23, and junior high school students, 20.

And I thought Monsanto’s spokesman, Mike Walls, ranked below a junior high school student. Maybe he does; he hasn’t taken the test, as far as I know. But if so, he’s an exception. According to SJR:

Several factors could account for the high moral development of public relations professionals, Wilkins said. These include education, experience and the fact that maintaining trust and credibility is a central goal of the job.

Wilkins does grant, though, that when public relations becomes ensnarled in the political realm, truth is often a casualty.

If the central conclusion of the study surprised me, two lesser conclusions did not:

 

–The fact that higher levels of ethical reasoning correlated with self-reported liberal bias is again consistent with other DIT studies, both empirically and philosophically. The DIT is a test of social ethics, hence the American version of political liberalism which finds a role for government intervntion on various social issues such as “whaat is good for society,” is one element of principled ethical thinking.

–These public relations professionals also scored as predicted when religion was the issue. Those who characterized themselves as more fundamentalist regardless of religious sect scored significantly lower in moral reasoning. This finding is consistent with many other DIT studies. Again, because high levels of ethical thinking demand critical analysis that allows individuals to question both rules and authority, such a finding is empirically consistent with the literature on the subject.

Fundamentalists, I suppose, would respond that God didn’t appoint those liberal DIT test makers as arbiters of morality. Evangelicals assume they know what true morality is because they heed God, the only moral arbiter. And He doesn’t much care for liberals.

Me, though, I’ll go with the standards of the DIT test writers–even if it means I have to soften my rhetoric against corporate spokesholes. Here’s a promise: I won’t use that term in future until I’ve cited a demonstrable lie. Is that ethical enough?

The health care reform rallies organized by MoveOn on Tuesday were “emergency” events in more ways than one. The media has already written the eulogy for health care/insurance reform.  Whether President Obama can bring it back to life in his SOTU speech tonite is anybody’s guess.

About 75 activists braved the freezing cold in St. Louis to rally in front of Sen. McCaskill’s office as part of the national event called by MoveOn.  Kirkwood United folks who rallied all summer and fall in front of Kirkwood City Hall brought their huge signs. Franklin McCallie, who happens to be about 6’6″ managed to block the one anti-reform guy’s sign from TV cameras.  Franklin is a retired high school principal and knows how to handle trouble makers !!  

BBC World Service correspondents are in the St. Louis area this week taking the pulse of Americans in a variety of situations.  They covered the rally and will air their report on NPR stations.

West County Dems co-chair Beverly White brought a dozen or so of her members, and several of the people who signed up online helped MoveOn staffer Bunnie Gronborg with logistics.

Bob Burns, one of Sen. McCaskill’s staffers watched the rally and, from the look on his face, definitely got the message.  DEMOCRATS: GET SOME BACKBONE.  

One young woman told the crowd that she needs an operation but has no health insurance.  She read two poems she wrote and the anguish in her voice moved folks to tears.

Another woman described how she and other retirees lost their health insurance when their company was bought out by a conglomerate that canceled all benefits.  

This is what is going on all over the country, and it’s time for Democrats to start acting like adults in charge.  Maybe we need to send some high school principals to Washington.  

Representative Albert Liese (D) is term limited out, having represented this St. Louis County district for four terms. There are four candidates in the 2010 race (so far) who are filing campaign finance reports with the Missouri Ethics Commission. First. let’s look at the electoral history of the district:

Official Election Returns

State of Missouri General Election  – 2008 General Election

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

State Representative – District 79 – Summary

Precincts Reporting 27 of 27

Liese, Albert (Al) DEM 14,046 100.0%

Total Votes   14,046

Official Election Returns

State of Missouri General Election  – November 2006 – General Election

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

State Representative – District 79 – Summary

Precincts Reporting 33 of 33

Chapin, Robert (Jeff) REP 4,174 31.3%

Liese, Albert J. (Al) DEM 9,148 68.7%

Total Votes   13,322

Official Election Returns

State of Missouri General Election

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

State Representative – District 79 – Summary

Precincts Reporting 22 of 22

Liese, Albert J. (Al) DEM 10,325 59.1%

Fitzgerald, Kathryn S. REP 7,159 40.9%

Total Votes   17,484

Okay, 2004 was a rough year for Democrats in Missouri.

Official Election Returns

State of Missouri General Election  – 11/5/2002

Tuesday, November 05, 2002

State Representative – District 79 – Summary

Liese, Albert J. (Al) DEM 7,160 56.5%

Fitzgerald, Kathryn S. REP 5,521

Total Votes   12,681

Okay, in an open seat race in an off year election things were closer.

Let’s put it this way – in the 79th Legislative District the Democratic candidate is going to get at least 7,000 votes and in a presidential election year the most a republican can hope for is 7,000 votes. The trick for the Democratic candidate is to increase the safety margin.

Let’s take look at those candidate campaign finance reports (in alphabetical order).

Democrat Byron DeLear (no stranger around here) filed his amended fourth quarter campaign report with the Missouri Ethics Commission on January 14th:

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe: MISSOURIANS FOR DELEAR

1. TOTAL RECEIPTS FOR THIS ELECTION PREVIOUSLY REPORTED $0.00

2. ALL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $11,025.00

9. TOTAL ALL RECEIPTS THIS ELECTION(SUM 1B + 7A – 8A) $11,025.00

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $9,849.92

35. TOTAL INDEBTEDNESS AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 29 + 30 + 31 – 32 – 33 – 34) $393.58

[emphasis added]

And where did the money come from?:

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: MISSOURIANS FOR DELEAR

Report Date: 1/14/2010

Ruth Williams St. Louis, MO 10/20/2009 $500.00

Rusty Bias Chesterfield, MO 10/05/2009 $2,000.00

Jeffrey T. Fort Las Vegas, NV 12/13/2009 $2,500.00

Paul Petersen Chicago, IL 12/15/2009 $1,000.00

Natalia Marek Chesterfield, MO 12/18/2009 $1,000.00

Kipp Keller St. Louis, MO 12/28/2009 $3,000.00

Okay, those are a few serious individual contributions in that mix.

Dan Johnson, a republican, filed his fourth quarter campaign finance report with the Missouri Ethics Commission on January 12th:

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe: ELECT DAN JOHNSON

1. TOTAL RECEIPTS FOR THIS ELECTION PREVIOUSLY REPORTED $2,115.92

2. ALL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $2,590.00

9. TOTAL ALL RECEIPTS THIS ELECTION(SUM 1B + 7A – 8A) $3,955.92

15. TOTAL EXPENDITURES THIS ELECTION (SUM 10B + 14A) $1,733.53

21. FUNDS USED FOR REPAYING LOANS THIS PERIOD $750.00

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $2,222.39

35. TOTAL INDEBTEDNESS AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 29 + 30 + 31 – 32 – 33 – 34) $1,065.92

[emphasis added]

And where did the money come from?:

Committee: ELECT DAN JOHNSON

Report Date: 1/12/2010

Grey Eagle Distributors Maryland Heights, MO 63043 11/1/2009 $250.00

Russ Evans Maryland Heights, MO 11/1/2009 $250.00

B. NON-ITEMIZED CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

13. TOTAL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED FROM PERSONS GIVING $100 OR LESS $2,090.00

[emphasis added]

Democrat Mary Nichols filed her fourth quarter campaign finance report with the Missouri Ethics Commission on January 12th:

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe: MARY NICHOLS FOR STATE REP

1. TOTAL RECEIPTS FOR THIS ELECTION PREVIOUSLY REPORTED $15,000.17

2. ALL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $9,555.00

9. TOTAL ALL RECEIPTS THIS ELECTION(SUM 1B + 7A – 8A) $26,059.17

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $19,560.62

35. TOTAL INDEBTEDNESS AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 29 + 30 + 31 – 32 – 33 – 34) $10,000.00

And where did the money come from:?

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: MARY NICHOLS FOR STATE REP

Report Date: 1/12/2010

St. Charles County Association of Realtors Poltical Action Committee Charles,Mo. 12/15/2009 $325.00

Citizens for truth in Government O’Fallon, Mo 11/20/2009 $300.00

Grey Eagle Distributors Maryland Heights, Mo. 10/08/2009 $200.00

There’s a number of organized labor and firefighter contributions.

You’d think that Grey Eagle distributors would be good for another fifty bucks.

Steven Sieber, an “Independent”, filed his fourth quarter limited activity [pdf] campaign finance report (contributions and expenditures under $500) with the Missouri Ethics Commission on January 9th.

The primary and general elections are going to be interesting to watch.

By now you’ve probably heard of the arrest of 4 people for wiretapping US Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), including James O’Keefe, who was famous for dressing as a pimp and recording his meetings in ACORN offices. (It should also be noted that the videos were heavily edited and in some cases overdubbed with a voiceover, and that ACORN employees called the police to file a report about possible prostitution.)

But did you know that Missouri Republicans Todd Akin and Blaine Luetkemeyer cosponsored a gem of a House resolution praising O’Keefe?

H. Res. 809:

  Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

           (1) honors Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe III for their work as investigative journalists;

           (2) commends Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe III for bringing to light the fraudulent behavior of the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) and helping save millions of taxpayer dollars that otherwise would have funded ACORN; and

           (3) respectfully requests the Clerk of the House to transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe III.

I wonder if either of them would like to retract their praise of O’Keefe now. Probably not.

UPDATE: Somehow I missed that Fired Up had this an hour earlier courtesy of Media Matters. And I thought I was clever.