MSU Hires Weinstein-Linked Risk Management Firm
This one boggles my mind a bit, and I really don't have a comment beyond that...
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/02/14/msu-tit…
When asked about MSU hiring a firm that allegedly helped Weinstein discredit his accusers, Engler had this to say:
"During a press conference Wednesday, Engler addressed the concerns about Kroll and said he was aware of the firm’s relationship with Weinstein.
“But just as I might disagree with one news network’s coverage of, say, some issue, I wouldn’t blame all news networks for that,” Engler said.
In conclusion, if nothing else is to be taken from this, John Engler is terrible at analogies...
February 15th, 2018 at 1:44 PM ^
at reader's behest.
February 15th, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
Engler's part of the problem.
February 15th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
Because it's all an inside job. Schuette, Engler, Blanchard, Forsyth, and Secchia are all intertwinned... It's an inside job to protect the name. Nothing more. And the local media will do nothing about it because they want to keep thier access.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
It has already been bleached from local media. It turns out that Mike Valenti had the definitive take for all of the "distinguised" local media outlets and "journalists."
February 15th, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
that this is what institutions doing damage control have to do nowadays (etc., rinse, repeat). And happily I didn't find it (though no doubt this is the speech upper admin is giving itself over at MSU).
But I just have to say that doing damage control with one hand while pretending to do a searching let the chips fall where they may investigation with the other is. . . a joke, a contradiction IN TERMS.
Nonetheless, while only jail time, huge fines, and the end of some of MSU's sports programs could approximate "justice" at this stage, in a way that doesn't matter. The ugly will still be seeping out for a long, long time to come whatever these noodles think, and the damage will be profound.
February 15th, 2018 at 11:29 PM ^
It has not been purged from the national media -
http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/22457780/michigan-state-freshma…
This was posted about 7:00 PM EST. This will not go away as quietly as certain folks at MSU would hope. Engler threw coals on the fire by calling out ESPN specifically. While true the local media will likely bury this - MSU just picked a fight with a company that doesn't have a whole lot on their plate right now as far as broadcasting. Good luck with that.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:49 PM ^
John Engler is basically the patriarch of the Republican party in Michigan. If you notice, he thought that ESPN's expose of Izzo and Dantonio's programs was sensationalized. Immediately after publishing a letter saying so, Schuette issues the directive that the scope of the AG investigation is limited only to Nassar victims.
Engler basically assuring the Republicans (like MSU grad Peter Secchia) that Izzo and Dantonio are safe, at least from the state government perspective.
The MSU board of ttee's, scoundrels that they are, are politicizing the situation. Not so much like what Lou Anna Simon warned about, but she had a point.
February 15th, 2018 at 4:06 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 4:25 PM ^
and if they controlled the Michigan legislature, that MSU would have hired Blanchard to be the interim president and Engler as his assistant. MSU's board is split among the two parties. Engler does seem to be throwing his weight around with Republicans to protect MSU. He doesn't have to.
Whitmer was prosecutor for 6 months in 2016, brought in to try to clean up the mess in that office when her predecessor was sent to prison.
February 15th, 2018 at 7:09 PM ^
I think the prevailing issue is that they are trying to gain as much leverage as they can.
February 15th, 2018 at 7:50 PM ^
cutting imperatives here. And the whole stinking process touches both (plenty-corrupt) parties, each will be quietly working to salvage what political gain, to minimize whatever loss for its party, too. The fact that the fix is in from both sides where MSU's investigation of itself is concerned (doomed to lack real credibility but par for the course) hardly means it doesn't have many party-political nuances, too.
I don't think there's too much need to be defensive about this. This a hack clownshow start to finish.
February 15th, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^
Moley
February 15th, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^
Because if you are, get your head out of the fucking sand.
We are living in the darkest timeline.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
I am, actually, surprised by this. This signals to me Michigan State is going to play offense against the women who testified. I understand the need to verify accounts. But you don't need to hire Pinkertons to do that.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^
actually am surprised about this, and very little surprises me when it comes to MSU and its handling of this.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
We are living in the darkest timeline.Well, we have avoided nuclear holocaust (so far).
February 15th, 2018 at 1:39 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 1:52 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 2:24 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 4:08 PM ^
it's called "social media." Smallpox thinks it's horrible.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
Oh, that is just fucking lovely. Kroll are modern day Pinkertons. They are who corporations hire to spy and help coverup shit like human rights abuses.
See attached, e.g.:https://www.ran.org/chevrons-human-rights-hitmen
February 15th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 3:55 PM ^
What the shit? You can't fix this by hiring a p.r. firm to massage your image. Fuck MSU.
February 15th, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
Honestly my politics align with Engler's, but the way Engler and Schuette are handling this boggles my mind and the optics look like complete shit. Whoever is running Schuette's campaign should be worried because potential voters (e.g. me) are seeing him play games with the MSU investigation. Things that are just insane include:
1. Hiring Jim Blanchard's (who I think MSU brought on with Engler to help run the school) firm (DLA Piper) to investigate their Title IX investigations. DLA Piper is a great firm. However, just the optics of this look terrible. There are literally 99 other V100 firms. Hire one of them. They can do just a good of a job investigating Title IX provedures.
2. John Engler blaming ESPN for their reporting e.g. "sensationalizing" This is self-explanatory and seems very Scott Paterno-esque.
3. William Forsyth (I believe) being the lead State investigator for AG investigation when an MSU lobbyist paid for his retirement party.
4. Engler endorsing Schuette . Self-explanatory COI.
5. Engler having no higher ed or Title IX experience. Granholm (who I am not a fan of) has better credentials to run MSU.
6. Engler having no empathy hiring the Weinstein investigator. Again, shit optics. There are many other firms. Again, he brushes it aside saying "they do great work and looking forward to what they can do" and says nothing about the victims.
This whole thing is even more of a clusterfuck than under Simon. I think Simon was caught in a shit-storm and it would be easy for whoever follows her to basically admit guilt and try to move on. Instead you have Engler playing good ole boys club and politics and not admitting guilt at all.
MSU is a fucking tire fire right now.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:27 PM ^
Whether it's smart or stupid is perhaps a matter for debate, but Michigan State University doesn't give two shits about optics.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:51 PM ^
they are playing to. If it's their sports fans, fan media and big individual donors, they're doing great.
I think they're taking a big gamble that things won't blow up in their face.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^
I'm starting to wonder how long it will be before they hire Sandusky's attorney just to prove they've given up any pretense of caring...
February 15th, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 7:04 PM ^
That their endowment isn't exactly liquid and they would have a really hard time coming up with the cash unless undwinding some positions at a loss, and that would unveil really really bad cash flow/accounting issues at MSU.
What's $200-300 million in the scheme of things in order to do the right thing if you have a $3 billion dollar endowment? Nothing.That is of course, you don't actually have a $3 billion endowment.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:05 PM ^
Looks like the strategy to deny, obfuscate, and ignore is gaining traction. I'm sure the local media will say nothing about this after the story announcing the hire.
February 15th, 2018 at 6:07 PM ^
They aren't going to touch this outside of the odd commentary.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Still a better hire than McElwain.
/s
February 15th, 2018 at 1:27 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 1:44 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
Anthony Weiner will be in charge of social media posts.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:55 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 2:16 PM ^
is, it was a thinly veiled bash at ESPN for their OTL report.
February 15th, 2018 at 3:28 PM ^
That is clearly what it was. Engler is throwing as much red meat to the "Izzo and Dantonio are gods" base as he can. It makes me wonder if something big is coming that the MSU community won't like, and he is shoring up support from the sports-diehards segment?
February 15th, 2018 at 1:57 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 2:09 PM ^
I hope that Kroll just as successful rehabilitating MSU's public image vis-a-vis the Nassar PSU-like atrocities and the Dantonio/Izzo Baylor-like atrocities as Kroll has been at rehabilitating Harvey Weinstein's public image.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:22 PM ^
Why does MSU need a risk management firm? According to Engler (or as my Grandpa used to call him, Coho Face) nobody has done anything wrong except ESPN.
I can't understand at all why MSU's faculty have no faith in their board.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:34 PM ^
Freep is reporting that Forsythe is not an independent special prosecutor as has been stated publicly by Schuette; he is serving under Schuette's direction. Schuette is of course seeking to run on the R ticket. Also seeking the R nomination, Lt. Gov Brian Calley stated that the investigation is not independent, and House Minority Leader Signh called on Schuette to recuse himself. Mike Cox says that Forsythe isn't going to be controlled by Schuette. The truth? Who knows. Forsythe, in the same article, claims he has complete independence, but wait... he can't say anything publicly without Schuette's approval, and any report also has to be reviewed and approved by Schuette. My verdict: less than independent.
News just did an op-ed stating that the election system for choosing the BOT is a failure, and that MSU's "bungled handling of this horrible situation" is placing this system in the spotlight.