(12-14-2018 02:15 PM)TheDuke Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:09 PM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  Is this really that big of a deal? Dont visiting scholars get sweetheart deals all the time due to their connections?

Pretty sure Bolling's kid went to JMU as well.

Yep, I was about to say the same thing. He's a former big name in politics. You think Jim Comey didn't get to write his own job description at W&M?? I bet if a reporter decided to FOIA W&M (or any other school with politician employees) to death they'd find more of the same.

That doesn't make it right.

Is this news?

Read the article below and it is fairly obvious this is a created job for a former politician.

https://www.breezejmu.org/news/jmu-creat...53b79.html

(12-14-2018 02:18 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:15 PM)TheDuke Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:09 PM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  Is this really that big of a deal? Dont visiting scholars get sweetheart deals all the time due to their connections?

Pretty sure Bolling's kid went to JMU as well.

Yep, I was about to say the same thing. He's a former big name in politics. You think Jim Comey didn't get to write his own job description at W&M?? I bet if a reporter decided to FOIA W&M (or any other school with politician employees) to death they'd find more of the same.

That doesn't make it right.

What is so wrong about it? Schools think big political names bring value to their institutions. The deal sounds a bit like, oh I dunno, a head football coach's contract that has a bunch of perks like free rent in a house near campus.

And did we even have a coach on staff with a salary as small as Bollings? Just trying to put it in perspective. Schools all over the country will fork out money to people they believe to be a commodity.

Just to confirm that I am not misreading something, but Bolling did the job he was hired to do right? I would understand outrage if he made up a fake job and collected $140k a year to sit on his butt and do nothing.

(12-14-2018 02:28 PM)TheDuke Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:18 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:15 PM)TheDuke Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:09 PM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  Is this really that big of a deal? Dont visiting scholars get sweetheart deals all the time due to their connections?

Pretty sure Bolling's kid went to JMU as well.

Yep, I was about to say the same thing. He's a former big name in politics. You think Jim Comey didn't get to write his own job description at W&M?? I bet if a reporter decided to FOIA W&M (or any other school with politician employees) to death they'd find more of the same.

That doesn't make it right.

What is so wrong about it? Schools think big political names bring value to their institutions. The deal sounds a bit like, oh I dunno, a head football coach's contract that has a bunch of perks like free rent in a house near campus.

And did we even have a coach on staff with a salary as small as Bollings? Just trying to put it in perspective. Schools all over the country will fork out money to people they believe to be a commodity.

Just to confirm that I am not misreading something, but Bolling did the job he was hired to do right? I would understand outrage if he made up a fake job and collected $140k a year to sit on his butt and do nothing.

That’s the question I have ... one of his duties is fundraising. If he’s bringing in 10’s of millions in contributions, I’m a bit more ok with this, though i still don’t like the way the political game works in general.

I’m sure something like this has happened at every school in Virginia.

(12-14-2018 02:28 PM)TheDuke Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:18 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:15 PM)TheDuke Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:09 PM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  Is this really that big of a deal? Dont visiting scholars get sweetheart deals all the time due to their connections?

Pretty sure Bolling's kid went to JMU as well.

Yep, I was about to say the same thing. He's a former big name in politics. You think Jim Comey didn't get to write his own job description at W&M?? I bet if a reporter decided to FOIA W&M (or any other school with politician employees) to death they'd find more of the same.

That doesn't make it right.

I would understand outrage if he made up a fake job and collected $140k a year to sit on his butt and do nothing.

That's EXACTLY what it sounds like he did.

(12-14-2018 02:33 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:28 PM)TheDuke Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:18 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:15 PM)TheDuke Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:09 PM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  Is this really that big of a deal? Dont visiting scholars get sweetheart deals all the time due to their connections?

Pretty sure Bolling's kid went to JMU as well.

Yep, I was about to say the same thing. He's a former big name in politics. You think Jim Comey didn't get to write his own job description at W&M?? I bet if a reporter decided to FOIA W&M (or any other school with politician employees) to death they'd find more of the same.

That doesn't make it right.

I would understand outrage if he made up a fake job and collected $140k a year to sit on his butt and do nothing.

That's EXACTLY what it sounds like he did.

What are you basing that on? Your opinion? Do you know how much money he brought in fundraising? Do you know if he brought any speakers to campus? Do you know if he organized events? Do you even know how many days per week he spent on campus?

If you have any facts that show that this was a sham and he did none of the above, I'd love to hear it and I will definitely be outraged right along with you and would hope an investigation is launched to figure out what JMU is doing with our tax dollars.

But I hope you aren't just letting this reporter, who likely has a political agenda, lead you down a rabbit hole based on nothing but his own hunches. The breeze article JMU98 just posted gives a lot of the same information but for some reason no one cared back in September.

For f's sake the article in the Breeze wasn't JMU hired Bolling it was JMU "created" job. This was not some big secret.

(12-14-2018 02:46 PM)jmu98 Wrote:  For f's sake the article in the Breeze wasn't JMU hired Bolling it was JMU "created" job. This was not some big secret.

Exactly, I'm confused as to why everyone is outraged now but didn't care back in September when the news actually broke.

Is it bc FOIA information showed that during the negotiations he was able to change his title and write some of the job description? Bc again, I bet Comey and all other big name politicians do the exact same thing.

I just don't get the outrage here. Again, unless someone can show it was all a sham and Bolling has just been collecting checks and never even does anything with JMU.

The issue is he was actively sitting on the JMU BoV while negotiating/planning a job at JMU.

Is that bad? I genuinely dont know

(12-14-2018 02:58 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  The issue is he was actively sitting on the JMU BoV while negotiating/planning a job at JMU.

As George Costanza said "Was that Wrong?"

Once again was any of this a secret when it was announced 3 months ago? If he had stepped down and then go the job a week later would it matter? In business CEO's sit on the board and negotiate their own salaries and benefits, so how is this really different.

Proverbial mountain out a mole hill, IMO.

The Breeze article didn't hit some details. For example: requesting to work from Richmond two days a week, pushing hard for a three year deal when it appears JA may have preferred a one year agreement but gave Bolling what he was wanting, and allowing him to continue working at the insurance firm. All sort of odd IMHO.

(12-14-2018 03:21 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  The Breeze article didn't hit some details. For example: requesting to work from Richmond two days a week, pushing hard for a three year deal when it appears JA may have preferred a one year agreement but gave Bolling what he was wanting, and allowing him to continue working at the insurance firm. All sort of odd IMHO.

I think the practice is wrong. However, I think Bolling has probably brought in enough contributions to cover his salary each year. Doesn't make it right but makes it less wrong.

Cent, if they create a job for me, I'll create a job for you. Of course it didn't work out for that band guy when they created a job for him and didn't offer it to him.

(12-14-2018 03:21 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  The Breeze article didn't hit some details. For example: requesting to work from Richmond two days a week, pushing hard for a three year deal when it appears JA may have preferred a one year agreement but gave Bolling what he was wanting, and allowing him to continue working at the insurance firm. All sort of odd IMHO.

I mean, you're just talking about contract negotiations. Yeah, Bolling wanted 3 years so he could get an increased pension...and? Last time I checked, someones motivation for getting a job perk doesn't matter. If a potential employer offers me two weeks of PTO and I talk them up to three or four weeks, it doesn't matter what I'm going to use my PTO for. Or if they set the expectations at 50 hours/week and I talk them down to 35 hours/week...and? They're not going to do that for a normal staff position, but a school like JMU has to do some work to put someone like Bolling in that position.

And from the article it sounds like they didn't actually negotiate when he was in office...in fact they specifically didn't negotiate until he was out. They may have had a convo of "hey, we want to hire someone for a position like this...are you interested?" "yes" "okay then, we'll go over details in a few months once you're off the BOV".

Not saying any of this is "right", but I, 1) disagree that this is a 'story', 2) think it's funny that this is all of a sudden an issue, 3) think it's naive to think this doesn't happen ALL THE TIME...especially at bigger schools

Also, yes, his son went to JMU and was/is a HUGE JMU fan.

And listing out that JMU has increased tuition every year (like every. other. school. in. the. country.) is ridiculous.

All journalism is not created equal.

(12-14-2018 04:05 PM)jmufan2008 Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 03:21 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  The Breeze article didn't hit some details. For example: requesting to work from Richmond two days a week, pushing hard for a three year deal when it appears JA may have preferred a one year agreement but gave Bolling what he was wanting, and allowing him to continue working at the insurance firm. All sort of odd IMHO.

I mean, you're just talking about contract negotiations. Yeah, Bolling wanted 3 years so he could get an increased pension...and? Last time I checked, someones motivation for getting a job perk doesn't matter. If a potential employer offers me two weeks of PTO and I talk them up to three or four weeks, it doesn't matter what I'm going to use my PTO for. Or if they set the expectations at 50 hours/week and I talk them down to 35 hours/week...and? They're not going to do that for a normal staff position, but a school like JMU has to do some work to put someone like Bolling in that position.

And from the article it sounds like they didn't actually negotiate when he was in office...in fact they specifically didn't negotiate until he was out. They may have had a convo of "hey, we want to hire someone for a position like this...are you interested?" "yes" "okay then, we'll go over details in a few months once you're off the BOV".

Not saying any of this is "right", but I, 1) disagree that this is a 'story', 2) think it's funny that this is all of a sudden an issue, 3) think it's naive to think this doesn't happen ALL THE TIME...especially at bigger schools

Also, yes, his son went to JMU and was/is a HUGE JMU fan.

And listing out that JMU has increased tuition every year (like every. other. school. in. the. country.) is ridiculous.

All journalism is not created equal.

A member of the media took a non-story that was made public months ago, added collateral issues like the tuition increase and the negotiation info collected in the FOIA request, and crafted up a piece that conforms to his own personal agenda in an attempt to push that agenda and create outrage. They do it every day. Just so happens this time JMU is suffering collateral damage from it.

Frankly, as much as what goes on with hiring politicians may rub me the wrong way, I don't care for what this "reporter" is doing. It's a step above yellow journalism.

(12-14-2018 01:23 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  Longhorn, when you have a moment to digest this, would you give us some thoughts.

It smells. Bad.

(12-14-2018 05:18 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 01:23 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  Longhorn, when you have a moment to digest this, would you give us some thoughts.

It smells. Bad.

So does cooking up some collards, but I like eating them collards. You are very good at dissecting. I'm willing to wait.

(12-14-2018 02:58 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  The issue is he was actively sitting on the JMU BoV while negotiating/planning a job at JMU.

Shhhh! Don't confuse them with facts, it only pisses them off.

(12-14-2018 11:54 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 02:58 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  The issue is he was actively sitting on the JMU BoV while negotiating/planning a job at JMU.

Shhhh! Don't confuse them with facts, it only pisses them off.

Facts??? I asked you to provide some facts earlier about Bolling and his perfomance in the job he was hired to do and you failed to. You are the only one here making factless assumptions.

Also, I have yet to see anyone provide any information stating that being on the board and becoming and employee is unethical. As mentioned previously, it happens literally every day with corporations where employees sit on the board of directors and negotiate their salaries and benefits packages. Sure you may not like it, but does the percieved conflict of interest cross any actionable lines? I'm asking, does it? Can anyone provide any instances where someone was prosecuted or at least was forced to step down due to this type of act?

Again, if anyone has any information that the job is fake and Bolling is simply cashing checks while sitting in his living room, OR perhaps that he somehow promised to use his political influence to benefit Alger in a quid pro quo arrangement, I would love to hear it and would most definitely share in your outrage!

Until then, this looks like a hit piece drafted up to create outrage. And it appears to be working.