Other Options for Dealing With
Malfeasance
In earlier blog posts we described in detail the failure of the PASSHE Board of Governors—consisting solely of elected officials and appointees of elected officials—to preserve or deliver the Act 188 statutory purpose¹ of public higher education in Pennsylvania: “High quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students.”
We began last time by looking at options available to citizens whose elected officials fail to enforce a law that would benefit them—if enforced—but whose failure to enforce is instead harming them greatly.
The first option we looked at was legislative censure or impeachment of a sitting governor for a failure to follow the law. We concluded that neither punishment was likely to occur in the instant case for at least two reasons: 1) the legislative branch of State government also benefits from the status quo, and is unlikely to want to see it changed; and 2) the absence of a public outcry over a failure to follow the law allows the executive and legislative branches to safely ignore the issue, and yet preserve the status quo.
In this blog post we will look at two State offices that have been given responsibility for ensuring that the laws of the Commonwealth are followed: the Office of Inspector General; and the Office of General Counsel. It is possible that one or both of these offices might help to change the status quo that is now harming the Majority Stakeholders—PASSHE students, parents and alumni—who are providing 75% of PASSHE’s annual revenue but who continue to be denied the Act 188 statutory purpose of public higher education in Pennsylvania: “High quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students.”
The Office of
Inspector General (OIG)
On April 6, 1987 Governor Robert P. Casey issued an
Executive Order creating a State-wide Office of Inspector General. The duties² of the Office of Inspector General
are listed on its website as follows:
”The Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General was created in 1987 by Executive Order 1987-7 to protect the interests of the Commonwealth and its citizens. The Office of Inspector General’s mission is to prevent, investigate, and eradicate fraud, waste, abuse, and misconduct in the programs, operations, and contracting of executive agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction. The Inspector General is a cabinet-level official who is appointed by, and reports to, the Governor. Additionally, since 1994, the Office of Inspector General has been investigating welfare fraud and conducting collection activities for public assistance programs administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.” (Emphasis added.)
Protect the Interests of the Commonwealth and
its Citizens
This aspect of
the executive order signed by Governor Casey in 1987 clearly applies to the
instant case in which the interests of the citizens that we call PASSHE’s Majority
Stakeholders—the 100,000+ students, 200,000+ parents/guardians, and 450,000+ living
alumni who reside in Pennsylvania—are currently not being protected.
Also, since the failure of the PASSHE Board of Governors to preserve and deliver the statutory purpose of public higher education in Pennsylvania meets the Dictionary.com definition of “malfeasance,” which is a synonym for “misconduct by public officials,” it seems clear that the OIG’s mandate “to prevent, investigate, and eradicate …misconduct in the… executive agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction” would apply in the instant case because, according to the Commonwealth Attorney’s Act, PASSHE is one of thirty-six executive agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction.
The Office of General Counsel (OGC)
According to
its website: “The Office of General Counsel is committed
to providing the Governor and the Executive Branch with expert,
responsive, practical and cost-effective legal services necessary to support
the administration of Pennsylvania's government for the benefit of the public.”
The Commonwealth Attorney’s Act³ specifies the powers and duties of the OGC, in part, as follows:
“Under the Act, the General Counsel serves as chief legal advisor to the Governor and directs the legal activities of the executive branch.”
In the case of OGC, just as with OIG cited above, PASSHE is considered a “State agency” which, under the Commonwealth Attorney’s Act, receives its legal advice from attorneys reporting to the Office of General Counsel which, in turn, reports directly to the Governor.
The Mission of PASCU⁴
Recall that: “The Mission of the
Pennsylvania Association of State Colleges and Universities (PASCU) is to
ensure that the statutory purpose of public higher education in Pennsylvania as
specified by Act 188 of 1982: ‘High Quality Education at the Lowest Possible
Cost to the Students,’ is indefinitely preserved and faithfully delivered.”
Recall also that PASCU’s primary goal is: “To promote the legal rights of that segment of society which includes all PASSHE students, parents and donors, primarily alumni who, as a group, have contributed the majority of the annual funding to the PASSHE universities in Pennsylvania since 1992 and continuing to the present time.”
For the above reasons, PASCU will contact both the OIG and OGC and will use their standard complaint forms to alert both offices to the failure of the PASSHE Board of Governors to preserve or deliver the Act 188 statutory purpose of public higher education in Pennsylvania since 2002. We will provide updates on this blog regarding whatever responses PASCU’s receives, if any, from these two State agencies.
To be continued.
¹https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/6772880/act188-pdf-405k.
²http://www.oig.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/oig_home/3772.
³http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/about_the_office/3252/commonwealth_attorneys_act/425242.
⁴http://www.pascu.net/
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