Friday, March 4, 2011
Arkansas Politics Lu Hardin resigns from Florida college
Posted by Max Brantley on Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 5:17 PM
Lu Hardin, the former Arkansas senator and head of the University of Central Arkansas, has resigned as president of Palm Beach Atlantic University. Said a college news release:
Robert Simpson, chairman of the board of trustees of Palm Beach Atlantic University, announced today that he has accepted the resignation of President Lu Hardin effective immediately.“The board of trustees is grateful to President Hardin for the progress that the University has made through his leadership,” Simpson said. “Palm Beach Atlantic is poised for continued growth in enrollment and access to its academic programs.”
The University is in a very positive state, Simpson said, having advanced recently in many ways. The University expanded the physical plant with the dedication of the Lassiter Rotunda and the acquisition of the Fern Street Theatre. The Rinker Athletic Campus is moving forward at last. Awareness of the University grew through a media campaign that includes television and outdoor advertising. This heightened awareness has resulted in growing undergraduate enrollment, which totaled 3,659 last fall. The appointment of Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter as head baseball coach has increased visibility of the athletic program.
Simpson added that the board will follow the proper procedures to appoint an interim president and name a search committee comprised of trustees, faculty and staff to begin the comprehensive process of selecting the University’s eighth president.
Hardin moved to the Florida job in June 2009 after a UCA tenure that blew up in controversy over bonuses paid Hardin (once on the strength of a note over the names of three college officials that turned out to have been written by Hardin himself.) Financial transactions at UCA during the Hardin era have been the focus of a continuing federal investigation and there's no immediate word if Hardin's resignation has any relationship to that.
I haven't been able to reach Hardin so far.
It's known that a former Hardin aide, Barbara Anderson, and Rush Harding, a member of the UCA Board of Trustees testified before a federal Grand Jury about UCA matters. An ad executive, Ben Combs, also talked with the U.S. attorney's staff about his UCA business. A state audit found that public and private money was used to pay the football coach in excess of the state salary cap.
The Palm Beach Post is working on the abrupt resignation from that end. Updates might reveal more. UPDATE: The newspaper's site is having problems, but I saw it briefly and there's a fresh quote that suggests Hardin had issues to deal with in Arkansas. The official said it might relate to past UCA issues, but he couldn't be sure.
The Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale quotes a college official as saying Hardin resigned for "personal and family reasons." The resignation is being described by Florida media as "sudden" and "abrupt."
UPDATE: Law enforcement sources predict clarity on the issue will come Monday in Little Rock. Hardin's lawyer has not returned my calls.
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Comments (34)
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Top Ten Reasons Lu is resigning...help me out bloggers..this is a group effort
10. Leaving to take job with Huckabee's campaign as finance chairman.
9. Had a better offer from Ark Baptist College.
8.
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3.
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Recapping: Top Ten Reasons Lu is Leaving-
10. Leaving to take job with Huckabee's campaign as finance chairman.
9. Had a better offer from Ark Baptist College.
8.He found out the FBI is about to send him to PMITA prison.
7.The eye cancer has recurred and metastasized?
6.
5.
4.
3.He heard that his old job at the Dept. of Higher Ed was available.
2.
1.
7. There is a vacancy on the Game and Fish Commission coming up at the end of June.
6. Getting ready for a wardrobe and career change?
Naw, we got different rules for the elite and the common people.
"Thomas is very unlikely to be prosecuted or otherwise sanctioned for the simple reason that, in the United States in 2011, we have a two-tiered system of laws. As Glenn Greenwald explains in his forthcoming book With Liberty and Justice for Some, despite living in a country with an unusually harsh criminal code that has created by far the biggest prison population in the world, our political and financial elites operate with something approaching complete impunity, safe in the knowledge that demands they be subjected to the same laws as everybody else will be ignored."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/2011030…
Max, I just have missed the part of this post which explained to me why I should give a shit.
Max, I must have missed the part of this post which explained to me why I should give a shit.
Latest chapter in a huge Arkansas boondoggle is all; a chapter in the story of a guy who was angling to run for governor or U.S. Senate until it all came crumbling down.
Plus, the underlying story will have some interesting aspects when all is revealed.
OK, Max, fine.
Someone has to measure the relative heights of toadstools.
Not anyone has to care.
Absolutely not. The beauty of the blog. Read, write, reject, ignore. All are options. But I'd make the case Lu was a big figure. Well-liked. Influential. A party switcher who helped Mike Huckabee (and got himself a job) by jumping to the Repubs. A Music Man-style salesman. A marketing dynamo. And maybe a good guy trapped, as many of us are, by forces beyond our control. Helluva human story here, I think, when it is all put together.
Finances that are seedy and not transparent? Check.
Part of the good ol' boys club in Arkansas? Check.
A "marketing dynamo"/PR spin doctor? Check.
...
Is this blog about the Clinton School?
Lu:#? Rather face a tornado than a hurricane? I'm with you, Max; a most interesting saga so far, and definitely a "helluva human story" when all the rocks are turned over.
Max, your rationale works, its just inconsistently applied. It seems you only use it to go after who you want to go after and either turn a blind eye or only find what you want to (or not find) when it comes to your pals whose own “huge Arkansas boondoggles” are possibly as egregious, if not more, than the Lu Hardins and Ron Mathieus of the world.
You certainly enjoyed being a super sleuth dedicated to uncovering all wrongdoing, financial mismanagement, and even regular questionable judgment with your many Lu and Mathieu stories. Heck, you and your team were downright pit bulls in the name of fully investigating sound leadership and proper use of resources. And you correctly believed all of that was a huge blinking arrow pointing at inept management and flagrant attempts to at the very least game the system on others dimes.
So let me ask you this - will you apply the same tenacity, diligence and FOI requests to look into allegations of profligate spending, gross mismanagement, lack of any oversight and accountability and fear and intimidation that may be taking place down at the little red school house at the end of the street? Because if half of what's on that Twitter feed is true, you've got one “helluva human story” about a well liked, influential, good old boy, music man style salesman marketing dynamo who may be using school funds to raise his own profile, among a bunch of other behavior that you'd be calling out left and right if it was Lu or Ron.
But then again, its probably easier to ignore so you can prevent any awkwardness in your coffee time together.
www.twitter.com/leadcsps
Have to think that Lu reached for more fruit than he was really entitled to through legal means. Might not hurt to put focus on more educational institutions in the state.
And I am talking about all levels of our education system. And we know the UofA could stand a bit more scrutiny.
" Because if half of what's on that Twitter feed is true, you've got one “helluva human story”
See anything in that begs caution? Lu's story is well-known. You got evidence and facts rather than a bunch of tweet sheet, then bring it out. Don't think anybody over there needs to raise their profile.
But please enlighten us as to what YOU know for fact.
Sure. If it begs caution, don't proceed and just call out the messenger. Brilliant. Most stories are better known when you look at them with 20-20 hindsight vision. Lu's story is well evolved so of course it is well-known. The point is whether Max and his team will take an honest look at this story and see where it goes in the same tenacious way they did with the others that were strikingly similar.
I don't see the benefit for anyone putting that twitter feed up or anyone going against the dean just for sport. Its an obvious cry for help and it most certainly isn't the first from that side of downtown. Either those issues are real or they aren't. Only one way to find out. As they say, sunshine is the best disinfectant.
Doesn't look good for Lu. What is it in life that causes so many nice guys to go to the dark side in order to gain money and power? Maybe If I was 20 years younger I could answer my own question, but Lou is older than I am, so what made him bend so many rules to enrich himself? I'm sure it has more to do with the Good Ole Boy network than it does with a Mafia type setup.
It's just sad and there seems to be so many Lu Hardin types in leadership positions in Arkansas.....probably all over the US today. Greed doesn't effect me as much....I guess, is the simple answer. Are we seeing the effects of latch key children all grown up? Did a lack of parenting doom Lu to this fate? And how many other high powered folks are one click away from a Lu Harden type fall? Are there no honest people at the top any more?
I'm afraid a bright light would show thousands of scurrying cockroaches infesting our institutions of higher learning. The money is too good, is too available and anyone can get away with murder if their board of directors are in their pocket. I know I sound 100 years old and I guess I feel 100 years old these days since I can remember a better America, or at least an America who could keep the lid on for entire careers.
And I agree with wannabee.....I think the U of A has Lu's out the butt, but I'm still pissed that the U of A will turnout most of the current dorm dwellers next year to make way for a new crop of kids who will be put on the streets the year after that. It's great for the University and rotten for kids trying to get an education....and rotten for parents struggling to keep their kids in school in an era of big tuition jumps every damn year. It will help keep us Number 48 despite all the good works of Bill Halter.
Every time I see another Lu story, I'm compelled to listen to Johnny Cash singing "The Man Comes Around". It's a great soundtrack for his downfall...
DBI - do you think that we could get your daughter and my son to split an apartment next year? I'm going through the same thing.
I've been pissed off ever since I found out Gearhart was getting an annuity funded like the Athletic department at the U of A.
Students up there have to play an elaborate game just to get into the core classes that are required. All the classes will be full and closed and you have to keep checking back and watching all through your break for withdrawals just so you can get into your REQUIRED core courses.
He's being compensated like a friggin football coach when that money should be used to have enough classes for the students attending and paying all the bills. And the parking.........don't get me started. It's another money maker for them at their students expense. The University of You my ass!!!
That's what the AT is all about, sunshine! Tweet sheet is undocumented. Document it. So what do YOU know about it, whuddoyouknow?
One little fallacy in there, Mother Earth: All those core classes will be full and closed?
How did they get full?
SOMEBODY had to be able to enroll in them for them to get full. They didn't close empty! How was your particular student singled out for being denied admittance?
We encountered that problem when I was teaching in the day of exploding enrollments.
We had only so many teachers in our department. We could handle only so many students in each section of a paticular class (performance class; had to have time for performance; couldn't just pack hundreds into an auditorium and lecture to them); and we were allowed to teach only so many sections (maximum teaching load).
Usually you can't run out and hire additional teachers, or build new class rooms, during registration. When enrollment runs above projections, some people aren't going to get into classes.
I experienced this as a student: the classes I wanted closed because football players were given preference because of practice and playing schedules; the classes I wanted in my minor field closed because they were filled by majors who were given preference; class I wanted to enroll in already filled by people who pre-registered the previous semester. And my undergraduate years were spent during the time we had classes on Saturday! I had classes on Saturday every one of my four years because I couldn't get into any of the sections on other days.
These things happen. Schools can't always do what everyone thinks they "should" do!
IMHO
"UPDATE: Law enforcement sources predict clarity on the [sudden Hardin resignation] will come Monday in Little Rock. Hardin's lawyer has not returned [Boss Brantley's] calls."
Uh oh!
Well, they've returned MINE.
Let's just say (others should take credit Monday, since I've plenty):
Lu + $ = Hinky
All I can say is that he deserves whatever he gets. During his tenure as president of UCA, he took care of all his "GOOD OLD BOY" friends at all cost. The cost of course was picked up by the citizens of Arkansas.
Does anyone else see the irony in labelling Lu as a "good old boy" (with negative connotations) when Max and his coffee buddies are exactly the same?? And benefit far more than they should as a result??
Arkansas4Life, that's the problem. This state has good old boys of every stripe. What they have in common is doing what is best for them, not their institutions, and protecting each other as they do it. The point I've been trying to make is that Max is inconsistent, and that's putting it very nicely, when it comes to who he chooses to focus his team's energy on exposing. I think it pretty clearly undercuts his credibility to go after some but not others and ultimately puts him in the same boat with the other good old boys he is protecting.
Notice how Max hasn't replied here except to defend his choice of following the Lu story.
Wannabe, the Twitter feed appears to be a good start for outlining the issues. I agree some more detail wouldn’t hurt, but if you give it a good read it seems to be heading in that direction and pretty strongly points to some specific issues. Also, here’s a recent blog post with some pretty specific and pointed commentary about the use of funds in connection with the school's "free" speaker series.
http://www.arktimes.com/gyrobase/blogs/Pos…
I say let the sunshine in and let the chips fall where they may. If Skip’s got nothing to hide, then what does he have to lose? Looks to me like he needs to open the books and account for every last penny spent at the school and either firmly stand behind each expense or step aside and let someone else clean up after him. Its also worth noting that expenses appear to only be one of several major areas of concern.
Maybe Lu is switching back to the Democratic Party again. He was one of Mike Huckabee's cronies who switched parties. Huckabee kept all the Democrat Cabinet Members too, as I recall. What ever happened to Lieutenant Colonel Ed Rollie who was very close to Huckabee. I recall that Rollie, Frank White & H.D. McCarty selected Huckabee's Adjutant General for him. Rollie was a leader in Employment Security and then vanished?
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