Lowman S. Henry |
Commentary:
Good Time on the Public Dime
PHEAA junkets at students' expense
by Lowman S. Henry, CEO
Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research
Whatever credibility Richard E. Willey, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) may have had went out the window recently when he made the absurd claim in an arbitration hearing that financial information about PHEAA junkets could not be released to the media because it would reveal "trade secrets."
What sort of trade secrets? Did our PHEAA board dine on lobster or shrimp? Do they prefer Chardonnay or Chablis? Perhaps the detailed financials of the PHEAA funfest at the posh Nemacolin Woodlands Resort last year would reveal who played golf, and who visited the spa. Trade secrets indeed!
The problem is Willey, like so many in Harrisburg, receives a high profile public position and is immediately afflicted by an arrogance that makes them believe they are somehow above the people they were elected/selected to serve. Like much of our Imperial Legislature, Willey now thinks and acts as though we the people of Pennsylvania serve him, not the other way around.
The issue has been brought to a head because three news media organizations – the Harrisburg Patriot-News, WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh and the Associated Press – filed a "right to know" action against PHEAA when it refused to provide financial information about the board junkets and other matters. The Patriot-News has already reported that PHEAA spent $885,000 on lavish "retreats" in 2000 alone, so the cumulative expense over the past five years is likely to be formidable.
As for Willey, he claims making financial information public would be tantamount to giving PHEAA's business strategy to its competitors. Willey told the Patriot-News: "They don't know how we're entertaining them (the institutions with which PHEAA does business) and how we're thanking them for their business." This raises the question as to why PHEAA is "thanking" anyone for their business. In most circles that would be considered to be a bribe. Further, it is clearly the public's right to know how and whom PHEAA wines and dines. That way we can judge for ourselves whether the expense is justifiable business, or having a good time on the public dime.
Willey wants to operate PHEAA like a private business. But, a private business it is not. He, like many others, need to know that running a government agency is not like running a business. Public agencies must and should be held to a higher level of accountability and transparency. If that tips off the "competition," so be it. Far more is lost when governments operate in secret that is lost when a "competitor" gains some insight into its activities.
All of which raises the question. Why does PHEAA view anybody as a "competitor?" Aren't they supposed to be in the business of serving students and providing financing for those pursuing higher education? The only "competition" is that good old bureaucratic compulsion to build your agency bigger and bigger while accruing as much power and patronage to yourself as possible. Willey's concern over his own power base betrays a lack of loyalty to the mission of his agency and the students which it is supposed to serve.
Several things need to happen here. First, Pennsylvania needs a stronger "Right to Know" law which would open up records of agencies such as PHEAA without forcing media organizations to spend large quantities of money on legal fees. We taxpayers, via the media, are entitled to know how much our public institutions are spending, on what and why. It is absurd that this has become a matter for the courts.
Finally, given his complete disregard for the rights of we the people, his paucity of empathy for the mission of his agency, and the abuse of PHEAA dollars for unnecessary junketing, the only honorable thing left for Richard Willey to do is to resign and let someone more respectful of the public trust assume leadership at PHEAA.
Lowman Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, Inc., a Harrisburg-based non-profit, educational foundation, and host of the Lincoln Radio Journal.
