The New Majority: houston's minority news reader

TSU-GATE?

By Paul Fitzgerald Bennett

Making headline news is the biggest conspiracy of concealment in the history of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (at Texas Southern University). It is a cover-up of epic proportions involving high ranking elected officials, former TSU Board of Regents chairmen and current and former governors of Texas leading indirectly to Crawford, Texas.

It is no accident that the current financial crisis revolving around the so called "mismanagement of state funds" has resulted in TSU being labeled a "financially troubled institution." According to the official state auditor's financial report, TSU is not in financial trouble and the mismanagement scandal has not bankrupted the university. The alleged mismanagement of funds charged against Priscilla Slade, a personal friend of Texas Governor Rick Perry, amounted to only a few hundred thousand dollars that does not justify the implementation of a formal conservatorship.

Texas state auditor John Keel, Mr. Perry and his newly appointed CFO for TSU, Carin Barth (Ms. Barth is no longer CFO but is still currently employed by the university), have not provided any credible financial statement indicating unequivocally that TSU is truly a financial troubled institution. Since November 2006, a report has been requested but has yet to be delivered. What is available shows that TSU is in the black and not in the red. The state auditor has confirmed to the Texas legislature that his financial records and previous audits fail to support the existence of any kind of financial crisis at TSU. The Legislative Audit Committee has not met, nor has it indicated that there is evidence of gross financial mismanagement.

Mr. Perry has somehow made an independent finding of mismanagement at TSU in order to justify his appointment of Ms. Barth as CFO. And the appointment of Ms. Barth includes business partner Russell Bowers, whom she brought along to assist her in this new assignment.

An inside independent investigator of the school's problems, according to sources close to the investigation spoke about the evidence and did so under the condition that they would not be identified for fear of their own survival.

Ms. Barth has close ties with both the current and former Texas governors, and has extremely close ties with two former TSU Board of Regents Chairmen, Willard "Blade" Jackson and Alphonse Jackson. Ms. Barth was both a founder and member of the advisory board of Zina Garrison's All Court Tennis Foundation and worked with Willard Jackson who was Ms. Garrison's husband at the time. More recently, Ms. Barth has been serving as an expert consultant to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under HUD Secretary Alphonse Jackson. Between August 2004 and April 2005, Ms. Barth served as Chief Financial Officer of HUD, appointed by President George W. Bush who is also a former governor of Texas.

Upon assuming the position of CFO of TSU, Ms. Barth immediately fired finance office employees Dennis Walls, Adolphus Moore and Carolyn Burris (The New Majority was not able to verify that Carolyn Burris has ever been employed by TSU). Since then, she has been shredding state documents containing evidence pertaining to the ongoing concealment of facts and issues that amount to a "Watergate" style cover up at TSU.

Ms. Barth has no CPA credentials. However, in spite of this, she has transcribed and altered the financial records, creating the appearance of a financially troubled university, such that the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche could not conduct a true audit. Ms. Barth fired Mr. Walls, Mr. Moore and Ms. Burris in order to conceal her manipulation of the records.

The same source close to the inside investigator stated that the concealment or cover up included information pertaining to the direct and indirect roles of Mr. Perry, Mr. Bush, Willard and Alphonse Jackson and former TSU President Priscilla Slade, who was also a member of Governor Perry's 2000 transition team while she was TSU president.

The source indicated that all five were funneling money for other uses through appropriations to Texas Southern. Several top ranking state legislators have also been implicated in this money laundering operation. Both Willard and Alphonse Jackson functioned as insiders for the Governor's office when they served as regents during the James Douglas and Slade presidencies. Their previous appointments make clear the genocidal pattern of attack that TSU has been subjected to since Governor Bush's administration and the transition between the Bush and Perry administrations.

TSU has been victimized by a lack of adequate financial support from the state, along with educational genocide in the form of key popular academic programs being eliminated over the years. This has amounted to a platform for pushing the institution into conservatorship as a result of the cover up or concealment activities of the aforementioned key players.

The game continues, even though the players may change over time as a result of changing administrations.

The citizens of Texas expect good judgment and a high level of professionalism and integrity from the governor of Texas. Governor Perry wanted the former board of regents appointed by him to resign en masse, creating a vacuum of leadership which begs the question: Were they also part of the cover up?

The governor was upset with then-Board Chairperson Belinda Griffin, because she was willing to expose the fact that Ms. Slade was his close personal friend. Ms. Slade did not meet all of the qualifications for president, but then-Governor Bush instructed the board he appointed to remove President James Douglas from office and name Ms. Slade as interim president.

It was a set up from the beginning. Mr. Bush, as well as Mr. Perry handpicked the TSU Board of Regents to back Ms. Slade's actions. In response, Ms. Slade would always boast to the board, faculty and administration staff that she had the backing of Governor Perry and "Daddy Bush," as she often publicly referred to the former American president on numerous occasions.

In appointing Carin Barth and company, Mr. Perry put his own personal team in play to destroy evidence of the concealment or cover up. Former general, Timothy Boddie (who also has no academic experience) has close ties to Brian Newby, Governor Perry's general counsel. The board was mandated by Mr. Newby to hire Mr. Boddie as interim president after Ms. Slade's dismissal and was threatened with withholding support of supplemental funding for TSU if Mr. Boddie was not hired. None of the regents supported his placement as president, because he lacked any appropriate background or experience for assisting in moving TSU forward.

The governor's office then sent James Hooten (from Texas A&M) up for consideration as permanent CFO, in spite of the board's declining interest in Hooten's services. The board was told that he was the best CFO candidate that they would be able to find, according to Mr. Newby; and this after Ms. Barth's designation as interim CFO. TSU was being required to accept Ms. Barth and her business partner Russell Bowers with combined salaries exceeding $350,000 even though their appointment offered no solutions to the institution's financial crisis.

If TSU is in such trouble financially, why is part of solving this trouble a group of appointed positions commanding compensation even higher than any president of the university (including Slade) was ever paid? Those benefiting most directly from Governor Perry's reconstruction of TSU's governance seem to be his designates from the governor's office, not the university and its constituent community.

In other words, the state's funding of TSU seems to be going mostly to the governor's appointed watchdogs. Ms. Barth continues to run her personal business on university time. In her contract with TSU, there is a clause stating that, if she is sued after completing the process of her tenure as interim CFO at TSU, then the university would assume liability for all her legal fees.

Mr. Perry was inaccessible to the board of regents from March 2006 through to his re-election in November 2006. He simply would not respond to the board's request to meet with him. Yet, after the election, he eliminated the very regents he'd appointed. Mr. Perry appointed a blue ribbon committee to review the situation at TSU as a cover, only to give his team of interim administrators' time to remove all evidence of the on going concealment by restructuring the financial records. Mr. Perry did not consider any of the recommendations from the blue ribbon committee, but he recently placed three of those committee members into service on the five member board of regents at TSU.

We are requesting that an independent investigation be conducted and focus on the following areas of concern:
1. Money-funneling activities misdirecting funds meant for TSU
2. Bonds generated from Crawford, Texas to build two parking garages on campus at TSU
3. Former President Bush-spearheaded $50 million fundraising campaign for TSU (how much was raised and how was it spent)
4. Revenues from the Capital Campaign (how much was raised and how was it used)
5. Tavis Smiley's million-dollar contribution to KTSU-FM (how was it used)
6. Complete audit of the TSU Foundation Fund
7. The two state sponsored trips to former President Bush's home in the Walker's Point section of Kennebunkport, Maine for Ms. Slade, Willard Jackson, Alphonse Jackson and another as yet unidentified TSU board member
8. Whether Ms. Slade's trip to China was also state sponsored
9. The contract for construction of the TSU Recreation Center was awarded to Kennedy & Associates (Alphonse Jackson's roommate) while Jackson was Chairman of the TSU Board of Regents, and the serious malfunctions this building has been experiencing
10. Construction contracts for the following buildings must also be reviewed: science, health clinic, public affairs, KTSU-FM Radio Station, law school, School of Communications, apartments on Blodgett, and the overpayment for mold removal and renovation of Richfield Manor Apartments on Blodgett
11. State legislators awarded contracts with TSU
12. Plans by the state of Texas to eliminate all Masters and Doctoral Programs at Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M universities
13. Lawsuits paid by TSU that the general counsel did not fight

The on going cover up and concealment of these facts and issues at TSU is destroying this once excellent university. Governor Rick Perry's poor decisions have weakened TSU's foundation in the community and standing in the country as America's most well attended HBCU. It is the understanding of the inside investigator that the Texas Legislature's Black Caucus sought confirmation or dismissal of claims that TSU is in financial crisis back in April of 2007. This state legislative body petitioned the Justice Department in Houston's Federal Court Building on Rusk Street and asked them to look into these matters, but so far there has been no response forthcoming.

Editor's note: The views expressed in the preceding sentences do not necessarily represent the views of The New Majority. The New Majority contacted Governor Rick Perry's office for comment. A spokeswoman said, "The governor's office declined to respond to this article. And it's very troubling that The New Majority would publish this article."

< Previous | Next >