Dem superdelegate Joe Manchin, governor of West Virginia, is embroiled in a scandal involving the state's major university awarding a degree to his daughter that she she did not earn. Manchin has not been charged with wrong-doing but has given conflicting statements about speaking with the university about his daughter's degree.
.The Dem governor's daughter, Heather Bresch, attended West Virginia University in 1998 but did not earn enough credits to be awarded a degree. She was awarded the degree retroactively. The bogus degree didn't come to light until the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette broke the story. .
Heather Bresch happens to be a close friend of the university president, Michael Garrison. A politically-connected Democrat, Garrison was appointed university president in 2007 even though he had no academic background. Heather Bresch is employed by Mylan Puskar, the biggest WVU donor. From Examiner.com:
The scandal cracked wide open last week after an investigative panel issued a report saying the university showed "seriously flawed" judgment last fall in retroactively awarding an executive master's of
business administration degree to Heather Bresch, who attended the school in 1998 but did not earn enough credits.
The panel said the business school gave Bresch credit for classes she didn't take, and assigned grades "simply pulled from thin air," giving her special treatment because of who she is. The degree has since been rescinded.
The governor, a Democrat, has denied exerting any pressure and said he first learned of the dispute only after it became a news story. Bresch told The Associated Press that she believes she did nothing wrong.
Bresch, 38, is not only the governor's daughter. She is chief operating officer of generic drug maker Mylan Inc., a major West Virginia benefactor with a lab in Morgantown that employs about 2,000 people. Mylan was one of the companies that raised the money to create the Executive MBA program, which is for full-time executives.
Mylan's chairman, Milan "Mike" Puskar, is a Manchin supporter and one of West Virginia's biggest contributors. The business school deanship is endowed in Puskar's name, and the football stadium was named for him after he donated $20 million in 2003.
Bresch is also a friend and former high school and West Virginia classmate of Garrison. He, in turn, worked for Democratic former Gov. Bob Wise and was once a Mylan lobbyist.
A party-machine Democrat, Manchin has no interest in cleaning up the corruption at WVU. His response has been to stand by Garrison, and to tell people "it's time to move on."
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In an editorial today, the Huntington News says Manchin and Garrison are "intentionally tone deaf".
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Hat tip: JammieWearingFool
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Dem delegates under ethical cloud:
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