Team 4: PHEAA Spending Still Under FirePOSTED: 3:54 pm EDT March 12,
2007 The following is a transcript of a report by Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons that first aired March 14, 2007, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m. Gov. Ed Rendell is speaking out about a Team 4 Investigation detailing the spending at the state's student loan agency."It's a disaster," Rendell said. "We have to totally re-evaluate PHEAA. I think we have to clean house and establish a new culture."Team 4's Jim Parsons is one of three reporters who had to fight in court to get those spending records from PHEAA.Auditor General Jack Wagner said he is considering a full-blown audit of PHEAA's performance in serving Pennsylvania's college students.This comes in the wake of Team 4's reporting on spending by PHEAA board members. One of those board members is Westmoreland County state Rep. Jess Stairs.Stairs, of Acme, Westmoreland County, keeps a low profile for a lawmaker. Team 4 had to go back six years into WTAE Channel 4's archives to find video of him.He's not commenting on new spending records released by PHEAA that show Stairs and his wife billed the public for services at Posh Resorts.Stairs has been a PHEAA board member for years, and he and his wife were regulars at the annual board retreats at resorts like Nemacolin."This is one of the secrets that's been around Harrisburg for a very long time," said Tim Potts of Democracy Rising. "If you want to be appointed any board, that's the one you want to be appointed to."At the board retreat at Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia in 2000, Joan Stairs joined the wives of several other lawmakers for a gourmet cooking class, which cost $583.The following year, PHEAA's board was back to Greenbrier and Stairs ran up the third-highest beverage bill at almost $250. His wife enjoyed multiple visits to the spa and there was a purchase from the equestrian shop for a total of almost $350.Also in 2001, at Meadowwood Resort in California, Joan Stairs was at the spa again, enjoying a 60-minute massage with its own title, Pure Relaxation.At the Homestead Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2004, Joan Stairs was back at the spa for a pedicure and manicure, which cost $116.And at Nemacolin in June 2005, Stairs billed the public for room service, a bar tab from Paradise Pool and a $212 bill from Lautrec restaurant. That expense shouldn't have been for a dinner, because PHEAA had already provided all meals at the Nemacolin retreat.All of the spending has Rendell ticked off."That ticks me off, but as much as that ticks me off, the PHEAA spokesman who said that this is necessary to do business with our clients," Rendell said. "You mean it's necessary to give board members' wives spa treatments? Those things are necessary? Gosh, they must think we're awfully naive. We have to clean house at PHEAA or do something like privatize."Stairs did not return calls for comment on this story.In the meantime, a PHEAA spokesman said the agency has discontinued those board retreats and is revamping the agency's entire travel policy.Rendell said he's waiting for that new policy before he decides what to do about PHEAA. Related Links: Team 4: New PHEAA Spending Details Emerge Team 4: PHEAA CEO Upset Over Exposed Travel Expenses Questioning Of Public Funding For PHEAA Trips Continues PHEAA Bucks Recommendation, Keeps Spending Files Secret Related Links: More County NewsGet RSS | E-Mail Alerts Copyright 2007 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |








