LSAClassOf2000

January 20th, 2019 at 5:46 PM ^

"Michigan arrogance", whatever you believe that is, cannot be the same as asking people to exercise a little editorial judgment and create a situation where the title can be both informative but also not quite so verbose. Trying to find a little balance between the title and the summary at the top is certainly not an unreasonable request. 

HelloHeisman91

January 20th, 2019 at 2:23 PM ^

Well, the Michigan AG already wants to talk to Engler about shielding internal email exchanges about the investigation by including an attorney on the mailing list so I guess this will just add to the list of questions.  Also, add this to the list of examples of Engler’s ethics problems, crazy man.  We all know who the crazy man is. 

MGlobules

January 20th, 2019 at 3:17 PM ^

Do you think this is legally crooked, or just good old fashioned crooked people crooked? I'm interested in the fact that Perles continues to have his name attached to the plaza or whatever it is.

Also glad that the Free finally appears to have got one right--that is, found something of real note to investigate and uncovered the story. Sometimes the sense of proportion over there has been sorely lacking.  

Section 1.8

January 20th, 2019 at 4:17 PM ^

Since this involves attacking a Republican, you should regard this as part of the Freep's mission statement.  One of their core competencies.

Athough -- and it is a bit hard to believe -- the Freep actually endorsed Engler in 1998, when the alternative was Fieger.

So let's get this straight; the MSU BoT (not Engler) approved the zeroing out of Perles' donation pledge.  And the BoT (not Engler) accepted Perles' resignation.  Before his resignation, Perles was in badly failing health.  It was widely known that he was not competent to remain a Trustee.  And so he resigned.  And he did so at a time when nobody knew who would be the Governor in 2019.  And, the Perles resignation was accepted at a time when neither Engler nor any Republican member of the BoT could pick the replacement.  It was up to Snyder, who clearly did not choose any sort of Engler sycophant.  And presumably all of this was reviewed by attorneys for MSU and approved.  It may even be that in failing health, Perles could not personally afford to make his final contributions to fulfill his pledge, and it would have been a loss to MSU in any event.  I know nothing about Perles' personal finances.  But if he had invested badly and lost his money, he would not be the first coach or athlete to have done so.

Can anyone explain to this lawyer where a crime or a civil cause of action might lie here?

 

HollywoodHokeHogan

January 20th, 2019 at 4:51 PM ^

Where did it say the BoT approved zeroing out the account? The article just says the directive came from Engler’s office.  The board doesn’t have to approve every zeroing like this, so I don’t know if they ever approved this one.  If so it sounds like management buying influence on ownership, which still isn’t necessarily illegal.  But it’s not a good look.

jbrandimore

January 20th, 2019 at 5:20 PM ^

Once again, your love for Engler blimds you to pertinent facts.

Perles resigned on November 29th.

I am pretty sure that Engler knew almost a month after the election who the governor was going to be.

Keep swinging off his jockstrap though.

Section 1.8

January 20th, 2019 at 5:47 PM ^

You are entirely correct.  I was mistaken about the date of the Perles resignation.  I was confusing the chronology; thinking about when Perles’ name came up in one of the MSU/Nassar civil suits.  Quoting from the Freep:

Erika Davis said in the lawsuit, filed in September in federal court in Grand Rapids, that she told her coach, Martha Ludwig, that Nassar had raped her and that Ludwig confronted Nassar about what happened and demanded and received a video recording of the assault. Perles forced Ludwig to return the video, resign and sign a non-disclosure agreement, according to the lawsuit.

Section 1.8

January 20th, 2019 at 6:36 PM ^

A Grateful Dead Show?  What might we find; some 25 year-old LSD?

Why is it so hard for some of you to accept that John Engler:

a) Had absolutely nothing to do with the substance of the Nassar scandal;

b) Accepted the MSU presidency on a purely interim basis, at no gain to himself.  It was a pressure-cooker of a job, while Engler was donating his $500,000 salary back to MSU;

c) Said over and over how much he cared for the survivors and the University, and oversaw massive internal changes in the wake of the scandal;

d) And that the various kerfuffles over various statements made by Engler, and routinely reported by a biased and hostile media reveal nothing about Engler's attitudes toward survivors, but rather Engler's unconcealed and largely justified contempt towards the trial lawyers, who were unquestionably the big winnners in the Nassar matter?

 

 

HollywoodHokeHogan

January 21st, 2019 at 12:38 AM ^

Why are you unable to read a fairly simple news report without producing some absurd interpretation of it?  The report also quotes an law professor saying it’s not likely anything illegal has been revealed, so why are you demanding some explanation from people in your post above?    There are whole forums on the internet devoted to the supposed persecution of Republicans in the media.  You should go to them and post there.  And only there.

yossarians tree

January 20th, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^

Well the special investigator, the former AG up until about 2 weeks ago, and Engler all go to the same MSU tailgate parties. So not expecting much to come of this.

Plus it makes me laugh that Perles is reneging on a donation when the dude used to extort MSU every off season by threatening to go to the NFL. That place is one big circle jerk of incompetence and fraud.

jbrandimore

January 20th, 2019 at 6:41 PM ^

Once again, you inherent inability to apply facts in an evenhanded manner is completely lacking.

Just above this comment from you about the new AGs allegedly making some controversial comments that you view in the worst light is a comment from you about Englers well documented history or making inappropriate remarks demanding they be viewed in a positive light.

A light so absurdly positive that I dare suggest that Engler himself would be offended.

Mr Miggle

January 20th, 2019 at 3:16 PM ^

This was to continue the reform work Engler started. How could anyone say this with a straight face? Wasn't Engler supposed to be the interim president? I guess interim meant for as long as possible to them.

John and his supporters really needed Perles to go while Snyder was still governor," said a former university insider with ties to Engler. "They really thought they could use their connections with Snyder's administration to get someone on the board who would be supportive of Engler and work with him to do the reforms Engler...started.

 

Ibow

January 20th, 2019 at 3:31 PM ^

Unbelievable how dirty things can be behind the scenes when these kind of people are involved. Gosh what an AWFUL program there. 

BahamaMama

January 20th, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^

Who knows what other dirty deeds will be eventually uncovered in EL. I can't imagine that the average donor to MSU athletics would be thrilled to hear about this when they are being asked to send more dollars for the cause.

MadMatt

January 20th, 2019 at 7:23 PM ^

From the article:

 "Barbara McQuade, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and the former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan who put former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick behind bars, said it'd be hard to prove that a crime had been committed even if zeroing out the account was some sort of incentive for Perles to retire. But the move might still be questionable.

"'In our office, we often talk about crime versus slime,' McQuade told the Free Press. 'I'm not sure this is a crime, but it has a lot of slime.'"

Kinda answers the question in the original post.

old98blue

January 21st, 2019 at 2:49 PM ^

The more of the story I read the more confused I get. I can decide who the biggest piece of shit is on that campuses is it George Perles is it Lou Anna Simon is a John Engler is it Joel Ferguson or any of the other cast of assclowns. Set them on couch give them some matches to play with and let's move on