It has been some time since my last blog on the "Purdue and Party Politics" series I am writing, but I am not yet done (for a review, here are links to Part IV, Part III, Part II, Part I).
In Part IV, I detailed how the ongoing and pervasive "Politico Corrupticus Syndrome" had manifested itself as Chancellor Howard Cohen apparently decided that he must defend and protect an elected official, John C. Aguilera, from criticism from one of "his" employees, namely me (if you are unsure what the problem is with such behavior by an administrative head of a state funded institution, please see Parts I through IV). I will pick-up the story line of "Politico Corrupticus Syndrome" (the unholy alliance between party politics and your local university), but first, there is some background information needed to set-the-stage. Part V is a real scream, so I wanted to make sure that everyone was well informed before that fun filled adventure!
Interlude (aka background information)
By all indications (at least from my point-of-view), Chancellor "the great protector and defender of elected Democrats" Cohen had, apparently, determined that silencing me regarding local politics would just not be so easy. Since I was not cooperating with the "game-plan," he had to, he just had to do more. I am sure he, and the other politicos of Lake County wondered what more could be done? Turning to their "Politico Corrupticus Syndrome" manual, here they were able to find the SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures) so desperately needed to deal with political criticism. Turning to the chapter on "How to Silence Critics" -- there it was -- all laid out for him. He would need to attack my professional credibility. He would need to attack my moral credibility. Both types of attacks are meant to isolate the critic (isolate, in the sense that, it becomes clear to everyone surrounding the critic that this is a person that needs to be ignored or the "beast" might try to attack them too). But in doing so, and here's the trick, never, ever answer the criticisms. That is the "tried and true" NWI SOP; never answer the criticism but attack and destroy the personal and professional life of the critic. Why had he not thought of that on his own! Of course, by 2006, I was aware that the University had been consulting this manual for quite some time and had been actively working its "steps to success."
So, it came as no surprise to me that during the same month (February 2006) that State Representative Aguilerra was threatening to sue me, my then Department head (Dr. Saul Lerner) was actively excluding me from participating in a joint Purdue Calumet-Jewish Federation initiative that involved the Western Galilee College from Israel. The NWI Jewish Federation was in the process of building bridges between local universities and its sister region in Israel, the Western Galilee. That's right -- in the name of "Cohen would not like it", Dr. Lerner told the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Northwest Indiana that he (the executive director) needs to exclude me from any discussions involving Western Galilee College and Purdue Calumet. Dr. Lerner made it clear that if I participated Cohen would make sure that Purdue Calumet would not.
Now, to be fair, I do not know for certain what Cohen told Lerner that resulted in his acting in this manner. But I do know for certain that Lerner did indeed tell the above referenced executive director to exclude me because my participation would be a "non starter" for Cohen. From my point-of-view, the fact that Lerner thought that such a request to exclude me was necessary, suggests that Cohen was in the habit of making his attitudes about me well-known and was actively communicating this message regarding how he wanted me to be excluded (implicitly or explicitly). Its purpose was to damage me personally and professionally. As a supporting member of the Jewish Federation, as a faculty member of PUC interested in collaborating with colleges and universities in Israel, and as an Israeli who -- shocker! -- understands Hebrew, this was quite the request -- all in the name of "Cohen would not like it" (and not like it to the extent that he would pull Purdue Calumet from participation).
Now, I knew from the day that Lerner made this exclusionary request in the name of "Cohen would not like it" that this unseemly little event had occurred. How? The Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of NW Indiana called my wife and apologized.....and apologized, and apologized, and apologized. He was in a horrible position. After all, everyone had some sort of claim: the Western Galilee College was counting on him to arrange meetings, I am a contributor to the Jewish Federation and presumably, so is Lerner. My wife told him not to worry about it. Poor bloke, Cohen -- via Lerner -- had just extended his sorry self into an organization that is good for the Jewish community, and had done so in a manner detrimental to it.
The truth is, this was not the first time that Cohen had issued the "if Maurice is involved then I won't be" ultimatum. It had also happened on September 26, 2005. This was when the Regional Development Authority (RDA) held its first public meeting at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana. I attended the meeting, as did Mr. Joe Gomeztagle, founder of OperationTEN (Tax Education Now). After the meeting ended, Mr. Gomeztagle approached Chancellor Cohen (who he had known previously) asking him to attend a Tax Education NOW community educational event that following week at the NWI Visitors Center. Chancellor Cohen told Mr. Gomeztagle that he would not attend his event because of my presence on OperationTEN's board of directors. (I was not scheduled to be at the event itself.)
But interfering in my departmental activities and relationships, and boycotting worthwhile organizations I am associated with, apparently, was still not enough for Cohen. No, the campaign to professionally and personally take-me-down was underway and there were no limits to be breached. So it was in August 2006, a well-known local pastor (Stephen Munsey) informed me that in interacting with Ms. Regina Biddings-Muro, the Executive Assistant to Chancellor Cohen (they were both members of the Lake County Drug Task Force), that she had indicated to him that I am someone to be avoided, that I am not well liked by the University and that I had a bad reputation. This local pastor then asked Ms. Biddings-Muro the obvious question: have you ever actually talked with him? And, of course, she had to answer "no." So, essentially, she was repeating Cohen's perspective (which, in large part, comes from the local crooks -- called elected Democrats -- who don't like it when the public, i.e. the citizens, take notice of their thieving ways and run crying and complaining to Cohen who somehow must think that it is his job to defend and protect elected officials), all of which came as a shock to this local pastor as we had fostered an excellent relationship working together on joint Jewish-Christian events.
Well, at any rate, in a delightful twist of events from which I derive great humor, on November 4, 2007, Lerner, Cohen, me, and the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of NW Indiana will all be at the same event -- hosted by the Jewish Federation of NW Indiana. And guess what, Pastor Munsey is to be honored at this event as well. Maybe Cohen is just unaware that I will be there so he has not yet had the opportunity to push the "if Maurice is involved I won't be there" button. (In fact, I'm curious as to why he is attending; after all, to the best of my knowledge, he has never offered any personal financial support to the organization.)
The problem is not with what Mr. Howard Cohen does as a citizen; but when he accepted the position of State appointed head of a major State institution he is required by law to remain neutral, politically. There is not a political figure in Lake County that would not characterize him as the most politically involved Chancellor in the State of Indiana. His partisan involvement is in favor of the Democratic party of Lake County and the overall State of Indiana. All to the best of my knowledge in breach of his fiduciary duty as Chancellor.
It is within this general "milieu" that the events of November 2006 unfold. That is the subject of Part V.
