Abuse
of power in the University System of Georgia (USG) has reached such extremes
that the commission of major felonies, whether to advance a personal financial
agenda or a broader conspiracy, is commonplace and merely considered regular
course of business. Retaliation, with the goal of complete destruction of
anyone who dares to oppose the system-wide corruption, is also routine, and
rampant throughout the University system.
While
corruption in the USG is nothing new, it has amplified considerably as the
amount of money flowing through the system has risen to $7.7 billion in direct
spending by the USG in 2015, at a time when Governor Nathan Deal, skipping from
one ethics controversy to the next, led Georgia to a number one rating in the
Center for Public Integrity’s government corruption index.
Nathan
Deal resigned from Congress three days ahead of a House committee vote on
articles of impeachment against him for ethical violations. He then ran and
unbelievably was elected Governor of Georgia. When the director of the Georgia
Ethics Commission was fired for pursing an ethics investigation against Deal’s
gubernatorial campaign, the Attorney General of Georgia was fined for
withholding evidence in that case—evidence showing the Governor’s office
pressured the Ethics Commission to drop the complaint against Deal.
Pattern of retaliation
One
clear sign of the impunity that reigns within the USG is the common practice of
eliminating anyone who interferes with extreme abuses of power—including
falsifications of state spending, extortion, bribery, and outright theft of
state funds—eliminating resistance through the systematic manufacture of
knowingly false charges and knowingly false evidence against anyone who
opposes, or even criticizes, the corruption.
Representative
examples include:
The
Attorney General of Georgia, at the behest of then-University of Georgia (UGA)
President Michael Adams, launched an unsuccessful tenure revocation action
against UGA Professor Dezso Benedek. Benedek was an outspoken critic of Adams’
personal use of state funds (as documented in a Deloitte & Touche audit—a
blistering indictment of Adams that the USG ignored). All the charges and
evidence brought against Benedek were found, in a three-day evidentiary
hearing, to be completely contrived.
-Anthony
Tricoli was ousted as President of Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) after he
discovered, and attempted to terminate, millions in wasteful payments to USG
cronies that had been hidden in the GPC budget during his entire term as
president, for at least six years, since before Tricoli came to GPC. Within six
weeks of Tricoli’s cutting off these payments to the purported outside
contractor, who did not perform any discernible services over the six years,
USG officials destroyed Tricoli. They started by releasing false stories to the
media that Tricoli personally mis-spent the wasted GPC funds, though they knew
that official budget reports to Tricoli had been knowingly falsified to hide
this misuse of funds. No action was ever taken against the state officials who,
as it is now documented and undisputed, knowingly falsified the budget reports,
resulting in $9 million in state and federal funds that cannot be accounted for
to this day.
Tricoli’s
ouster was ultimately achieved by USG Chancellor Hank Huckaby threatening to
fire him in the face of these false reports if Tricoli would not resign, When
Tricoli would not resign, claiming fraud by GPC and USG budget officials,
Huckaby offered Tricoli a job in the USG central office if he would resign
quietly at GPC. Under the pressure of the false media stories, Tricoli accepted
the alternate position. Once Huckaby had Tricoli’s resignation at GPC in hand,
Huckaby simply reneged on the new position, purporting to non-renew Tricoli’s
annual contract—in violation of existing USG policy, which the USG changed
after the fact to make it appear to be in compliance.
-Medical
College of Georgia (MCG) X-ray tech Todd Brandenburg was terminated on the spot
and denied any hearing–based on a charge that he insulted a patient’s family
with a remark about the patient’s foot odor, a claim the family denied when the
charge was leveled, weeks after the incident supposedly occurred, by state
officials who were not present at the time. This clearly pretextual
termination, for which all recourse has been denied and Open Records requests
for documents refused, occurred after Brandenburg reported a violation of
Georgia state purchasing law by USG Regent Don Leebern. Leebern’s company was
selling bottled water to the USG as a preferred vendor, which also violated the
Board of Regent’s code of ethics.
Felony criminal
violations
This
retaliation by the USG–for purposes of eliminating state employees who
interfered with such abuses as UGA President Adams’ documented personal use of
state funds, falsification of GPC budget reports to hide misuse of state money,
and ethical violations by Board of Regents members—includes felony violations
of the following provisions of the U.S. and Georgia Criminal Codes:
–Evidence
tampering: The Georgia Attorney General’s office attempted, in a tenure
revocation proceeding governed by USG policy, to conceal UGA records that
proved that the charges brought against Professor Dezso Benedek were false, and
that President Adams and the Attorney General knowingly brought false charges
based on manufactured evidence.
UGA
officials and the Attorney General denied, under oath and in official
correspondence, the existence of documents in their possession that they sought
to conceal. In place of the concealed records, UGA officials attempted to
manufacture false evidence contradicting the records they attempted to conceal
and deny.
–Perjury:
UGA officials, under oath at a tenure revocation hearing, gave false testimony
against Bendek that was contradicted by the UGA records in their possession,
records that the Attorney General’s office attempted to conceal from Benedek’s
counsel.
-Subornation
of perjury:
The Georgia Attorney General called UGA witnesses to give knowingly false
testimony under oath, based on manufactured evidence that contradicted the UGA
records the Attorney General attempted to conceal.
-Improper
influencing of witnesses: The Attorney General’s office influenced UGA witnesses to
give false testimony under oath against Benedek, in part, by advising them they
would be protected from any repercussions by sovereign immunity.
-Identity
fraud:
UGA officials misappropriated the identities of UGA students online and through
the mails in order to manufacture knowingly false evidence against Benedek—to
contradict the evidence in the Attorney General’s possession that cleared
Benedek of all the charges, and that the Attorney General attempted to conceal.
-Fraudulent
use of federal identification documents: UGA officials made unauthorized use of the Social
Security numbers of UGA students in documents disseminated in order to
manufacture knowingly false evidence against Benedek—false evidence that
contradicted the UGA records the Attorney General attempted to conceal.
-Mail
fraud:
UGA officials sent UGA student information through the mails, in violation of
federal student privacy law, to manufacture false evidence against Benedek to
destroy his career. Michael Adams sent tenure revocation certification letters
required by USG policy, through the US mail, that were based on knowingly false
charges and knowingly manufactured evidence.
-Wire
fraud:
UGA officials used telephone and computer networks to manufacture false
evidence against Benedek to destroy his career. GPC officials used computer
networks to knowingly mislead Anthony Tricoli about the GPC budget. USG
officials used telephone and computer networks to broadcast knowingly false
media releases to destroy Anthony Tricoli’s career. USG officials also made
knowingly false radio broadcasts for the same purpose.
-Computer
fraud:
GPC and USG officials used the state computer network to send emails meant to
hide budget falsifications from President Anthony Tricoli to destroy his
career. UGA officials created false log-in IDs in the name of UGA students,
falsely logged on as the UGA students, and impersonated UGA students online to
manufacture false evidence against Benedek to destroy his career.
-Obstruction: Attorney General Sam
Olens misrepresented the documentary evidence of all these crimes, and misrepresented
his office’s previous actions, for purposes of preventing an independent
investigation into criminal wrongdoing, including criminal wrongdoing by his
own office.
-Knowing
misrepresentations re: official state business (OCGA 16-10-20): USG
and GPC officials intentionally falsified and concealed GPC budget reports and
information, which is a felony. Adams issued certification letters in the
tenure revocation proceedings based on knowingly manufactured evidence and
identity fraud through impersonation of UGA students. Attorney General Sam
Olens falsely claimed, for purposes of preventing an independent investigation,
that these cases had already been fully investigated, contradicting previous
admissions that they have not been investigated, and claims by the Attorney
General that there was never any need to investigate the “frivolous” and
“nonsensical” allegations.
Documentation of the criminal violations
These
criminal violations are completely documented in the public record. That
includes official records of UGA, GPC, MCG, and the USG, as well as statements
by public officials to the media. This documentation of the criminal violations
has been provided to and and/or was already in the possession of the USG Board
of Regents, the Attorney General, and the Governor of Georgia. It includes UGA
records of which the Attorney General and UGA officials denied the existence
under oath, in official correspondence, and in response to Open Records
requests.
One
example is a UGA memo documenting a decision, by the same UGA officials who
accused Benedek, to terminate UGA’s study abroad program at Jilin University in
China—contradicting the tenure revocation charge brought against Benedek for
terminating the program without authorization. This memo contradicting the
tenure revocation charge against Benedek was in the possession of the UGA
witnesses against Benedek and the Attorney General—who attempted to conceal
it—before the knowingly false charge was brought against Benedek. That is
documented in the sworn testimony of a witness called by the Attorney General
to testify against Benedek at the tenure revocation hearing.
Another
example of the documentation is an email string among GPC and USG budget
officials warning, over the course of three months, of an impending financial
crisis at GPC—while, during the exact time frame, the same state officials were
reporting a budget surplus and “normal budget process” to then-GPC President
Anthony Tricoli, right up until Tricoli’s ouster over highly-publicized claims
he personally misused funds to create a massive budget deficit. Every
level of state government is implicated. The
fact that similar criminal conspiracies have been uncovered at different USG
institutions shows a related pattern. This deeply-entrenched pattern reaches
the highest levels of the USG and of every branch of state government.
–Other USG schools:
The
representative examples above are not isolated. The Attorney General spent a
decade, and millions of dollars, defending the president of Valdosta State
University for expelling a student who criticized the president in a Facebook
post—all the way to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, that rejected the
state’s defense that the student had supposedly threatened the president as
completely unfounded.
Macon
State College President David Bell fired his executive assistant of fifteen
years, Denise Caldon, within days after Caldon refused in writing to continue
falsifying the personal leave reports on which Bell’s state pension is
fraudulently inflated today.
Also
at UGA, Michael Adams, in addition to attempting to revoke Benedek’s tenure on
fraudulent grounds, also ousted the Dean of the Journalism School, on knowingly
false sexual harassment charges later debunked by a federal judge. The Dean had
turned down Adams’ request to support Adams in a faculty vote of
confidence–after Adams’ troubles with the Deloitte & Touche audit.
–The Board of Regents:
The
Regents ignored extensive documentation of criminal evidence tampering in the
failed attempt to revoke Benedek’s tenure, and admitted to CBS News that they
never investigated any of the documentation.
The
Regents also ignored and admit they did not consider issues of whistleblower
retaliation in upholding the dismissal of Denise Caldon.
It
is documented, admitted, and undisputed that the Regents changed seven
different USG policies, after the fact, to cover up violations committed in the
ouster of Anthony Tricoli on fraudulent grounds. The USG Chancellor induced
Tricoli to resign by extortion and fraud, as described in footnote 1.
–Attorney General:
The
Attorney General’s office directly participated in fraud and evidence
tampering, both by concealing material evidence and manufacturing false
evidence, in the failed attempt to revoke Professor Benedek’s tenure. Attorney
General Sam Olens is defending and refusing to investigate this wrongdoing by
his own office.
Attorney
General Sam Olens is also defending and refusing to investigate the knowing
falsification of GPC budget reports resulting in $9 million that remains
unaccounted-for to this day.
Attorney
General Sam Olens has repeatedly misrepresented that there is no evidence to
support these allegations of criminal conduct by state officials, including
within his own office.
Attorney
General Sam Olens has made such knowing misrepresentations, both publicly and
privately, for the express purpose of preventing an independent investigation
of these alleged crimes, including those committed within his own office.
–The Judiciary:
For
three years Judge Susan Edlein continued to block claims from being brought
against the Attorney General in the Benedek case, on grounds clearly contrary
to law–that had, in fact, already been rejected by the Court of Appeals for
that reason.
It
was subsequently discovered that Judge Edlein had extensive political and
financial connections to Attorney General Sam Olens, who was directly protected
from having claims even filed against him by Edlein’s baseless rulings.
Upon
disclosure of these political and financial connections to Olens, Judge Edlein
refused to recuse herself on false grounds that are plainly contradicted by the
public record.
In
a related case, Judge Jerry Baxter dismissed claims against Attorney General
Sam Olens, without considering the documentation in evidence, stating on the
public record instead that Baxter
knew from his personal knowledge that the Attorney General would not commit any
of the actions alleged.
Trial
Judge Doris Downs and the Georgia Court of Appeals both upheld David Bell’s
firing of Denise Caldon, after she objected to the criminal falsification of
Bell’s performance records. Those rulings held, contrary to law, that Bell, the
person accused of criminal misconduct, only had to allege he had a different
reason for firing Caldon to avoid a whistleblower retaliation claim.
Judge
Daniel Coursey dismissed claims against GPC and USG officials, holding they
were immune as state employees for falsifying the GPC budget to cover the theft
of state and federal funds.
Governor Nathan Deal:
On
three different occasions, Governor Deal has been requested to appoint an
independent investigator, as authorized by OCGA 45-15-18, to look at the
documentation of the alleged crimes. This documentation has been sent directly
to Governor Deal, along with the Attorney General’s written refusals to
investigate. Governor Deal has not responded to any of the requests.
Defense of the corruption.
Instead
of investigating and prosecuting state officials who committed the alleged
crimes, the Attorney General is defending them in court—and is also defending
himself and his own office for alleged and documented crimes. The main basis of
the defense is sovereign immunity. In addition to defending against
falsification of the GPC budget to ruin Tricoli and the manufacture of false
evidence at UGA to destroy Benedek’s career, sovereign immunity has been used
extensively to defend claims against state employees for criminal acts, as
follows:
-State
trooper immune from claims for sexually molesting a female motorist during a
traffic stop.
-State
agriculture inspectors immune from claims for taking bribes to falsely
calibrate gas station pumps, cheating consumers out of gas they paid for and
damaging competitors through resulting unfair price competition.
-Prison
guard immune from claims for prolonged beating of inmate.
-State
office supervisor immune from claims for acts committed with intent to harm in
concerted eleven-month campaign of sexual harassment of female subordinate.
-Football
coach immune from claims for ordering beating of football player.
-Prison
officials immune from claims for murder of inmate placed in cell with another
inmate who previously threatened to kill him.
-College
official immune from claims for rape of female student.
Motivations
for the malfeasance.
The
main underlying motive, not surprisingly, is the vast amount of money that
flows through the University system with hundreds of facilities and tens of
thousands of employees statewide.
Then-Board
of Regents Chairman Ben Tarbutton led the charge to oust Anthony Tricoli as GPC
president, after Tricoli openly opposed a switch to a new company, ADP, to
service the payroll system for the entire University System—a switch that,
among other things, resulted in the building of an ADP payroll service center
in Tarbutton’s hometown of Sandersville, Georgia.
To
retaliate against Tricoli, Tarbutton was able to take advantage of the scandal
caused by USG and GPC officials who actively hid millions of dollars in
payments by GPC to an outside contractor who performed little, if any,
services. Those same state officials falsified GPC budget reports and hid
overspending from Tricoli right up until the USG’s public announcement that
Tricoli personally directed the misuse of the GPC funds.
The
impunity has grown to such extremes, however, that the retaliation machinery
can be unleashed purely on a personal vendetta. For example, it was Deloitte
& Touche that reported that Michael Adams illegally used state funds for
his personal benefit. Dezso Benedek was merely a gadfly critic voicing the
facts. Yet the full power of the state was brought to bear, and continues to be
applied, to destroy him, even after he was cleared of all the knowingly false
charges brought against him by President Adams and the Attorney General.
Conclusion.
It
was Adams’ petty, personal abuse of this illicit power structure that opened a
crack to expose the full extent of its abuses. The miserably failed tenure
revocation attempt, based on knowingly false charges and knowingly manufactured
evidence, identified the same pattern at other USG institutions.
It
implicated the USG and Board of Regents at the highest level. It also exposed
the deep involvement of the Regents’ legal counsel, the Attorney General’s
office—which defends the criminal conspiracies among state officials instead of
investigating and prosecuting them.
Perhaps
even more troubling, the complicity of the judiciary has been graphically
demonstrated by rulings, with no basis in law or fact, protecting Attorney General
Olens in his campaign of misrepresentation and obstruction. Meanwhile, the
Governor, the figurehead for corruption in Georgia, feigns to be blissfully
unaware of the entire RICO conspiracy.
http://gwmac.com/government-corruption-in-the-university-system-of-georgia/
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