Politics

Blanchard: 'Preposterous' That MSU Offered President Raise Amid Scandal

February 14, 2018, 7:46 AM


James Blanchard: "I was puzzled."

Ex-Gov. James Blanchard expresses what many thought when the Michigan State Board  of Trustees in December offered then-President Anna Lou Simon a $150,000 a year raise during the Larry Nassar scandal. Even Simon, at the time, must have realized the inappropriateness when she turned it down.

On Tuesday, ex-Gov. James Blanchard, whose law firm has been hired by interim MSU President John Engler to lobby in Washington, D.C. and help deal with a variety of congressional inquiries, weighed in on that raise the board offered. 

"I found it preposterous that in the midst of this, the board would give her a raise," he said in a phone call with the Free Press. "It showed they were out of touch."

It shows the board was out of step with the realty of the situation and operating in a cocoon, he says, adding that the board should have met without Simon at times. She has since resigned.

"I was puzzled when they told me they had never met alone without (former President Lou Anna) Simon in the room until after she resigned," he told David Jesse of the Free Press. "It's normal board governance for a board to meet without the CEO occasionally and then if there are issues, the chair and the CEO can have conversations."


Read more:  Detroit Free Press


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