On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, a recap and reaction to President Obama’s immigration action; how Pennsylvania is helping Buffalo dig out from an historic snowfall; and a Pennsylvania Congressman speaks out against the NCAA.
Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting, commentary and analysis on the top news stories of the week.
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On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Matt Paul catches us up on the Attorney General’s disapproval of the controversial lottery management contract. He’ll also chat one-on-one with State Rep. Scott Conklin (D-Centre) about all of the latest developments in the Penn State scandal. Plus a Pennsylvania Bishop discusses Pope Benedict XVI’s big announcement.
Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.
Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:
[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable02-15-13.mp3]
With a unanimous vote, the state Senate has advanced legislation that would require Penn State’s $60-million dollar fine to be spent here in Pennsylvania. Currently, up to 75% could be distributed to fund sexual abuse programs in other states.
Senator Jake Corman (R-Centre) addressed the chamber before today’s vote:SB187
The first $12-million dollar installment is sitting in an escrow account, and has not been dispersed pending a lawsuit that Corman has filed.
Governor Tom Corbett has filed his own lawsuit seeking to overturn all of the NCAA sanctions, but he tells us Penn State should still honor the fine by funding sexual abuse prevention programs & victims services within the commonwealth’s borders.
Corman’s bill (SB 187) would also apply to future governing association fine levied on PA colleges & universities. The House must take up Corman’s bill before it can be sent to the governor’s desk.
Meanwhile, as the Senate was voting today, Judge John Cleland issued an order denying Jerry Sandusky’s post-sentencing motions. The ex-assistant football coach is currently serving 30 – 60-years in prison for the sexual abuse of ten boys.
Pennsylvania voters are giving Governor Tom Corbett poor marks half-way through his first term. Today’s Quinnipiac Poll finds that voters disapprove of the job Corbett is doing by a margin of 42 – 36%. That’s down from a 40 – 38% approval rating in November’s Quinnipiac Poll.
Pollster Tim Malloy says there’s no strong base of support for Corbett among any income or age group, or in any region of the state. “It’s halftime in Gov. Tom Corbett’s first term and if he were running a football team instead of a state, he’d fire his offensive coordinator,” Malloy said in a statement.
While 50% of PA voters disapprove of the way Corbett has handled the Penn State scandal over these past 15-months, the poll finds that they do support his lawsuit challenging the NCAA sanctions by a margin of 43 – 37%.
53% of voters say the sanctions – including a four year bowl ban and $60-million dollar fine – were too severe. 13% told pollsters they weren’t severe enough. Meanwhile, voters do have a favorable opinion of the late Joe Paterno (43 – 29%).
Responding to a listener question on Radio PA’s Ask the Governor program, Tom Corbett expressed confidence that he will win the antitrust lawsuit he filed against the NCAA earlier this month. Governor Corbett is asking the federal courts to throw out the NCAA sanctions imposed on Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
“The NCAA didn’t even follow their own rules. It seems to me they’re accusing Penn State of not following guidelines. There are no rules under which they were ever charged.”
Corbett calls the so-called loss of institutional control “vague” and “ambiguous.” In fact, pointing to an external investigation of the way the NCAA handled its investigation of the University of Miami, the governor suggests it has lost institutional control.
The sanctions included in the NCAA’s consent decree with Penn State are: a four-year postseason ban, a loss of scholarships, five years of probation, the vacation of all wins from 1998 – 2011 and a $60-million dollar fine.
Even if the sanctions are thrown out, Corbett says Penn State should honor the $60-million dollar fine. However, he believes that 100% of the money should stay within Pennsylvania borders to benefit programs that prevent child sex abuse and assist its victims. Under the consent decree, only 25% is guaranteed to stay in-state.
The NCAA has 60-days from the date of the lawsuit to file its response. The Commonwealth will then have 30-days to respond to the motions being made, so any action on the suit is still months away.
When Penn State was ordered to pay a $60 million fine among the NCAA sanctions announced last summer, 25% of that money was designated to be spent on programs within the state. That wasn’t good enough for Pennsylvania Senator Jake Corman, who filed a lawsuit demanding that all of the money go to child abuse prevention programs and educational organizations in the Keystone State.
That lawsuit has yet to be resolved, but in the meantime, Corman’s office has announced that the NCAA has agreed not to “disperse or otherwise dissipate” any of the $12 million paid so far by the university. It’s part of a preliminary injunction filed by Corman, who believes all of the fine money should stay in-state.
In a separate lawsuit, Governor Tom Corbett is seeking to overturn all of the NCAA sanctions handed down to Penn State.
The NCAA has tapped a task force to figure out how to administer the endowment fund to be created with a record $60-million dollar fine levied against Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. The NCAA sanctions called for that money to be used to fund programs that help to prevent child sexual abuse and treat its victims.
The NCAA indicates that at least 25% will be reserved for Pennsylvania organizations. It’s a good start, according to state House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny), but not good enough.
Frank Dermody
“We have issues in Pennsylvania. We’ve had budget cuts for programs that work with victims of child abuse and we should keep that money,” Rep. Dermody tells Radio PA. “That money should stay in Pennsylvania to help fund those programs.”
Penn State forwarded the NCAA the input it received regarding the endowment. “The NCAA has determined that at least one quarter of the annual disbursements from the endowment will be reserved for Pennsylvania organizations. However, recognizing that child sexual abuse is a national issue, the NCAA has determined that grants from the endowment will be available in other states as well,” PSU President Rodney Erickson said in a statement.
The ten member NCAA task force includes two Pennsylvanians: Nan Crouter of Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development, and Craig Hillemeier of the Penn State College of Medicine. It will be chaired by the chancellor of the University of California, Riverside.
While Dermody doesn’t know much about the non-Pennsylvania task force members, he believes they are highly qualified. “So I hope they see that it’s the right thing to do to make sure that Pennsylvania’s children are taken care of.”
Now that the NCAA has slapped Penn State with a $60-million dollar fine to fund programs that prevent child sex abuse and assist its victims, the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association is weighing in on how that money should be used. Association president Shawn Wager has written the presidents of both PSU and the NCAA to say those funds would be best used supporting the Children’s Advocacy Centers across the state.
“The DA’s Association has chosen to weigh in on this discussion regarding the use of the NCAA endowment funds because we as district attorneys believe Children’s Advocacy Centers best fulfill the obligations laid out in the consent decree by the NCAA,” Wagner says, “to provide direct services to child abuse victims and to focus on public education & child abuse prevention. I can assure you Children’s Advocacy Centers do both of those things.”
Adams Co. District Attorney Shawn Wagner is president of the PDAA.
Wagner was joined by fellow prosecutors and victim advocates from across the state at news conferences in State College, Harrisburg and Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Victim advocate Jennifer Storm has been involved in the Jerry Sandusky case, and supports the district attorneys efforts:STORM
In a statement, Penn State lauded the work of both the DAs and the CACs. It continues: “The University is working to formulate a plan to create and administer the fund. It is our hope the fund will produce countless opportunities to help children in need. We appreciate this valuable input and will provide additional details when they become available.”
Pennsylvania is home to 20-Childrens Advocacy Centers, which do not have a consistent or dedicated funding stream. Advocates add that for every child served, there are hundreds of additional child victims in PA that do not have access to CACs.
Twelve months ago, Joe Paterno was prepping for his 46th season and leading one of the most respected college football programs in the country.
What a difference a year makes.
On Sunday, Paterno’s statue outside Beaver Stadium was dismantled and today NCAA President Mark Emmert dismantled his record, vacating 111 victories from 1998 through 2011. Additional sanctions against Penn State are staggering. They include:
-A $60 million fine (to go into a special fund to aid programs for victims of child sex abuse)
-No bowl games for 4 years
-A reduction in scholarships for 4 years
-A 5-year probation
The vacating of victories means Paterno’s win total drops from a record 409 to 298. The NCAA will allow current Penn State players and recruits to transfer to another school without penalty.
Emmert says the so-called “death penalty,” whereby the football program would have been suspended for a year or more, was considered, but the NCAA felt that would punish too many people who had nothing to do with the Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
Meanwhile, Jerry Sandusky sits in prison awaiting his formal sentencing in September for the sexual abuse of young boys.
Additional penalties from the Big Ten Conference were expected today and the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors issued a statement that included the following language:
Today, we have read the NCAA release on Penn State University. We note in the release, and have independently confirmed, that Penn State has accepted the factual findings in the July 12, 2012 Report of the Special Investigative Counsel prepared by Louis Freeh and his firm (the Freeh Report). Based on the findings, as accepted by Penn State, we fully support the actions taken by the NCAA. Further, following a thorough review of the Freeh Report, the COPC has voted to impose the following additional sanctions on Penn State, effective immediately:
1. Censure: The accepted findings support the conclusion that our colleagues at Penn State, individuals that we have known and with whom we have worked for many years, have egregiously failed on many levels-morally, ethically and potentially criminally. They have failed their great university, their faculty and staff, their students and alumni, their community and state-and they have failed their fellow member institutions in the Big Ten Conference. For these failures, committed at the highest level of the institution, we hereby condemn this conduct and officially censure Penn State.
2. Probation: The Big Ten Conference will be a party to the Athletic Integrity Agreement referenced in the NCAA release, and will work closely with the NCAA and Penn State to ensure complete compliance with its provisions over the 5 year term of the Agreement.
3. Ineligibility: As referenced in the NCAA release, Penn State’s football team will be ineligible for postseason bowl games. It will also be ineligible for Big Ten Conference Championship Games for four years, a period of time that runs concurrently with the NCAA postseason bowl ban imposed this morning.
4. Fine: Because Penn State will be ineligible for bowl games for the next four years, it will therefore be ineligible to receive its share of Big Ten Conference bowl revenues over those same four years. That money, estimated to be approximately $13 million, will be donated to established charitable organizations in Big Ten communities dedicated to the protection of children.
Penn State University is a great institution and has been a valued member of the Big Ten Conference for more than 20 years. Since early November 2011, it has been working very hard to right a terrible wrong. There is more to be done. The intent of the sanctions imposed today is not to destroy a great university, but rather to seek justice and constructively assist a member institution with its efforts to reform. From this day forward, as Penn State continues to make amends, the Big Ten conference and its member institutions will continue to engage with them in every aspect of conference membership.
Today is the day Penn State University learns of its fate from the NCAA. In the wake of the Sandusky scandal and the Freeh Report – which detailed a cover-up involving former school President Graham Spanier and former Head Coach Joe Paterno, among others – the school will learn this morning what sanctions it will face in the coming years. Possible penalties include the loss of scholarships, bowl games and television appearances.
NCAA President Mark Emmert is scheduled to make the announcement in Indianapolis at 9:00am (ET). Reports indicate that the so-called “death penalty,” which would suspend the entire football program, will not be imposed but the sanctions will be among the harshest ever handed down by the NCAA.
On Sunday, the centerpiece of the Paterno legacy was gone, as a crew removed the statue of the former coach outside Beaver Stadium. That decision was made by university President Rodney Erickson, who said in a statement that the statue had become a “source of division” and an “obstacle to healing.” Erickson said Joe and Sue Paterno’s names will remain on the library they helped to build.
Meanwhile, Jerry Sandusky awaits sentencing in September for his convictions on 45 counts involving the sexual abuse of young boys. Former Athletic Director Tim Curley and former university Vice-President Gary Schultz are awaiting trial on charges they failed to report the abuse allegations.