UB2020 Fatal Flaw #1: Brought Down by an Expensive Hooker and a Blind Man

Link: http://UBdumb.com

It's hard to believe that in the final analysis UB2020 really was destroyed by an expensive hooker and a blind man. Governor Eliot Spitzer's personal life-style caught on tape with one of his expensive prostitutes abruptly ended what promised to be one of the best governors in the state's recent history. There was even considerable talk about presidential material and possibilities of a White House run. He had been one of New York's more aggressive and more effective attorneys general not only at fighting crime but also at helping the little people with their struggles against large exploitative corporations. The Buffalo Blog Frog liked Governor Spitzer, personal life-style choices aside, and applauds what he was able to accomplish before his untimely demise.

The "blind man," of course, is New York State's former Lieutenant Governor who assumed the role of Governor with Spitzer's abrupt departure. He is legally blind but the reference is not to his physical disability but to his mental blindness as to the potential greatness of the UB2020 plan. Now Governor Paterson simply couldn't see driving New York State into greater debt to bolster the economy in Western New York and obviously had no great love for UB. All deals were off; the commitments made by Governor Spitzer were not going to be honored by the new man in charge. End of the fairy tale, except President Simpson didn't quite get the message as he persisted in replaying the theme from the movie "Field of Dreams" over-and-over to the University and to the local community. Further set-backs came from Albany not passing legislature that would permit UB to set its own tuition rates independent of the SUNY system and to continue building the downtown campus expansion on the backs of increased undergraduate tuition. UB was to remain, at least for the moment, part of the SUNY system under state control.

When did WE decide that we didn't want to be part of the SUNY system. After all, we are the flagship of one of the largest university systems in the country. By shifting our identify to the University at Buffalo we are "the University at Buffalo," nothing more except perhaps a casual relationship with a nearly defunct public eduction system. Few people outside the region have heard of the "University at Buffalo" while "the flagship of the State University of New York" touts some clout.

Like most of the important decisions made in New York State politics, the decisions were all made by executive committees. Nobody ever voted on them or got much of a chance to voice their opinion. But then the whole UB2020 plan was developed largely in executive committee, this time at the university level with outside consultants and the blessing of the governor's office. How did so few people ever get so much power? After all, the governor was promising to support a multi-million dollar project without as much as debate by the state legislature.

I hate "executive committees:" This term has become synonymous with small groups of elite people meeting behind closed doors to decide big issues. The only positive thing I can say about the whole thing (and that's somewhat tongue in cheek) is that it's no longer just "small groups of elite men" but now includes women as almost equal players. Of course that's really little progress; the women players have to behave like the male players and suspend their 'better judgment' in order to gain and sustain admission to this small club -- the "old boys' club" now reads (some) "women admitted."

So what exactly was the flaw? Too much control rested in the hands of a single, vulnerable person who ultimately would drop out of the scenario, and the success of UB2020 relied on paving the way to the promised land with New York State taxpayer money. It's seemingly bad style to state the obvious, but the Buffalo Blog Frog makes his reputation on his candor: this is the sort of thing that you hire a private detective to try to dig up all of the dirt, all of the skeletons in the closet before you rest so much on a single person. Surely some of that extravagant consulting budget could have been spent on a gumshoe. (Hum, did I really say that?) I suppose the UB administration thought Spitzer was already vetted (viz., investigated) thoroughly by his opponent when he ran for governor. I guess UB should have hired a better detective.