Rattler Nation has learned that the avid readers of this blog over at the Tallahassee Democract have done a public records request asking FAMU to provide it with copies of all contracts the university has with B&C Associates, the North Carolina based PR firm owned by newly appointed trustee Robert Brown.Mr. Brown was appointed to the FAMU Board last week by the Florida of Governors despite warning by FAMU NAA President Alvin Bryant, who was acting as a private citizen, that his potential appointment might pose problems. Bryant warned, in a letter obtained by Rattler Nation, that Mr. Brown's contractual relationship with the university is in violation with SACS compliance standards.
The university is currently reviewing the B&C documents and is expected to turn them over to the Tallahassee Democrat next week.
You can download one of the work products B&C completed for the Office of Alumni Affairs here: FAMU Alumni Survey
Also see: Trustee candidate has contracts with university
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And I quote from Mr. Brown's interview when questioned about his lack of a college degree, "I was a special assistant to President Nixon. I helped run the USA, if I can do that without a college degree, I think I am qualified to serve on this board."
ReplyDeleteThere you have it folks and we all know what happened to Tricky Dick -- Watergate.
Let's see if the St. Bleep Times chimes in and blames this on Humphries as well.
Mr Brown helped run the USA?
ReplyDeleteYowsa! if Brown "helped run the USA," then, daggummit, he's the man we've all been looking for. Between Bill and Proctor (being the best political science professor in the state) and mr. Brown, well, we're headed nowhere but UP! where have these two dudes been all this time?? Just the folk we need. A scam/sham artist (Proctor) and another shyster on the board. Moving forward.
ReplyDeleteLay off Proctor I had him as a teacher and he was damn good at it. He made going to class actually something you wanted to do and learn unlike most professor that would bore you to tears. So get off your high horse and lay off
ReplyDeleteYou all ought to see that all you are doing is putting stuff up here for the Dixie Crat and St. Pete Times to find. Damn, yall are making their jobs so easy. Can I get you all to start printing some of the great things that are happening at FAMU?
ReplyDeleteSeriously. Are you all a part of the ploy to get rid of FAMU.
The following was taken from the Democrat's section where readers can ask TK Wetherall questions:
ReplyDeleteCheck this out. They are supposed to be so perfect and drama free.
****************
Dr. Wetherell,
1) At one time FSU was rated far higher by the US News. However, over the past decade the ranking of the university has slipped dramatically. What is your administration doing to reverse this trend?
Mr. Brown should do FAMU, himself and everyone a favor and resign. FAMU is in fact a producer of higher education and if that's not important enough for him to get a degree, it shouldn't be important enough for him to want to be a Trustee. It just doesn't add up. Sounds like misplaced values to me.
ReplyDeleteWhy does not the Tallahassee Democrat look into, while as Provost James Ammons hiring a tremendously under qualified teacher in Commissioner Proctor? They took no other applicants I might add. So much for "Excellence with Caring"
ReplyDeleteIs the honeymoon with Ammons ova? What about Ammon's exclusive decision to handpick former COL dean Percy Luney?
ReplyDeleteAP
ReplyDeleteJudge Drops Charges Vs. 13 in KPMG Case
Monday July 16, 12:47 pm ET
By Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Writer
Judge Dismisses Charges Against 13 Former KPMG Employees in Major Tax Case
NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal judge dismissed charges Monday against 13 former KPMG employees in what the government had described as the largest criminal tax case in U.S. history, saying the prosecutors prevented them from presenting their defenses.
ADVERTISEMENT
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the dismissal was necessary because the government coerced KPMG to limit and then cut off its payment of the onetime employees' legal fees.
The case resulted after the government investigated what it described as a tax shelter fraud that helped the wealthy escape $2.5 billion in U.S. taxes.
Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors, said the government had no comment.
Kaplan said the case will proceed to trial against three former employees who had not established that KPMG would have paid their defense costs even if the government had left the company alone in regards to defense costs. He also let the case proceed against two defendants who were not employed by KPMG and whose rights were not affected.
Kaplan said the Department of Justice "deliberately or callously" prevented many of the defendants from getting funds for their defense, blocking them from hiring the lawyers of their choice.
"This is intolerable in a society that holds itself out to the world as a paragon of justice," Kaplan said, adding that he reached his conclusion "only after pursuing every alternative short of dismissal and only with the greatest reluctance."
Kaplan said he understands prosecutors must be aggressive in pursuing serious crimes. He called the federal prosecutor's office in Manhattan a "model for the nation," but said there are limits on the permissible actions of even the best prosecutors.
A federal appeals court in May had all but dared Kaplan to dismiss some cases, saying he had the authority to toss out conspiracy and tax evasion charges if he concludes prosecutors deprived the workers of constitutional rights by pressuring KPMG to stop paying legal fees.
KPMG LLP has signed a deal admitting its role in the tax shelter scheme. It avoided criminal prosecution as it agreed to continue cooperating and to pay a $456 million fine, including $128 million in forfeited fees from sales of the shelters.
Kaplan found in June 2006 that the government violated the constitutional rights of the former KPMG employees charged in the case by threatening the company with indictment and destruction as it demanded the firm depart from its prior practice of paying legal fees for its workers. He did not decide the remedy at the time.
The judge had concluded KPMG would have paid the legal expenses if the government had not acted improperly.
Have you all forgotten that Gov Crist hasn't signed off on Brown's appointment. So he's not on our board...yet.
ReplyDeleteIf you're true Rattlers and you're concerned about him being placed on our board, then contact the governor.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete"Mr. Brown should do FAMU, himself and everyone a favor and resign. FAMU is in fact a producer of higher education and if that's not important enough for him to get a degree, it shouldn't be important enough for him to want to be a Trustee. It just doesn't add up. Sounds like misplaced values to me."
Stupid Statement of The Day.
Here is a person who beliefs that their piece of paper without common sense somehow makes them better than others. How is it that you think that because this person doesn't have a degree but a world of experience and knowledge isn't qualified to be on our board. Your logic mirrors that of CVB as it relates to the SBI 8. Maybe you are closely related to CVB. Thank God you aren't you aren't apart of our FAMU's Admin Team.
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THE 1:08 POST KPMG NEEDS TO BE SUED BY SOME FAMU ALUMNI SO WE CAN GET OUR DAMN MONEY BACK! THEY STEALING FROM EVERYBODY THEY CAN!!!!
ReplyDeleteKMPG isn't stealing from FAMU. FAMU is giving them the money!!!!! Maybe we should sue our Board of Trustees or the Board of Governors for hiring people that in turn hired people that could not get the job done. If we're paying our financial people almost 200 thousand a year to get our books straight, then why you they have to pay thousands to millions to other firms to do the same task. Seems like we should either hire competent people or just hire an outside firm from the start.
ReplyDeleteIf FAMU is stupid enough to pay for ridiculously priced services from outside firms while paying their everyday worker poorly, why blame the firm? Shouldn't we blame FAMU?
2:42, it's not about being on a high horse or Proctor being a "good teacher." It's about being a responsible adult. It's about character, which, apparently you know nothing about. Yes, I imagine that he was a "good teacher" on the days that he showed up to teach. That, my friend, is a no-brainer. High horse or low horse or no horse at all.
ReplyDeletethe democrat or the stP times doesn't need us or this blog to get the goods on proctor. He makes everything so easy.
ReplyDelete7:55pm Famu was being run by old Jeb and we know what happens when Bush's have their hand in something...Saving and Loans in Texas...It just so happens he stacked FAMU's Board with uncle tom puppets and they, the Bush folk, not FAMU hired KPMG and we the FAMU folk should sue their asses!!
ReplyDeleteA minimum requirement for a BOT member should be an undergraduate degree. Without it we're sending the wrong message to our students. I bet every BOT member at UF, FSU, UCF, etc., has at a minimum at least an undergraduate degree. If Mr. Brown wants to lend his expertise and "world of experiene," FAMU has a J-School with a PR division. But there are too many talented people with a college degree who can send the right message to our students that a degree, as well as experience, is important in this highly competitive environment. Hopefully, Governor Crist will agree and reject Mr. Brown's nomination.
ReplyDeleteIf a brother has made as much money as he has, and has managed to keep it and establish a successful business, then I think he can be an asset to FAMU. Perhaps he can enroll in FAMU and see the university from our side of the fence!
ReplyDeleteWho said this guy has made alot of money. How much? Is that the criteria for being a leader in higher education?
ReplyDeleteNot earning a college degree does not disqualify a person from being a good trustee, or a good faculty member in fields like poetry and the creative arts.
ReplyDeleteA lot of universities hire un-degreed teachers who have won major prizes for their creative work.
Brown's lack of a college degree is no big thing, given his accomplishments. Besides, doesn't he have a closet full of honorary degrees?
Dude Rattlers, what is Commissioner Bill Proctor doing teaching Poly Sci? Did you read what he said in the St. Pete Times? He makes FAMU look bad. Everybody is laughing at FAMU's expense. No students down south in the Tampa/St. Pete area takes this unviersity serious.
ReplyDeleteNo students down south in the Tampa/St. Pete area takes this unviersity serious.
ReplyDelete7/17/2007 11:17 PM
WGAS?
People are simple students all over the COUNTRY take FAMU serious that is why even in the face of the greatest attack on our Beloved University, by the Dixiecrat, St.Shyt Times, and Orlando’s crappy paper they have still come! I know because I have recruited some of them myself and I am not paid a dime nor would I accept a dime to go out and get students to attend FAMU! FAMU changed my life! So instead of writing stupid statements as if you know every student in St.Pete and Tampa shut the hell up and do something positive with your time! RACSIM is still ALIVE!!! This attack was not only on FAMU, but on African Americans as a whole throughout the state of Florida!
ReplyDeleteRN, or anyone for that matter, when was the deadline fot BOT application submission?
ReplyDeleteTYPO: RN, or anyone for that matter, when was the deadline for BOT application submission?
ReplyDelete