Rumors spread by commenters on this blog that Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, will be ushered in as a replacement for embattled Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck if he loses his Congressional race have no basis in fact, Nodler told The Turner Report Saturday."I am never going to be president of Missouri Southern State University," Nodler said.
Nodler, who is in a primary race with Springfield auctioneer Billy Long, Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon, and a host of lesser known candidates, said he had never sought the president's job nor any position with the university "and I will not do so in the future."
I will never be an applicant for a job with the university in the past and I will never be one in the future." Nodler said his statement covers any position with the university, not just the top job.
One of the criticisms that has been leveled at Nodler, both in comments on The Turner Report and on other southwest Missouri blogs is that Nodler pushed through legislation that would allow former legislators to be hired for positions in higher education even if they did not have master's degrees.
Not only was that legislation sponsored by another senator, Tim Green of Florissant, Nodler said, "but I voted against it."
The connection between Nodler and the MSSU president's position was first mentioned in my blog entry of Aug. 31, 2007 entitled "Rumors of Nodler as college president rock Missouri Southern," which included the following passage:
Word has spread across the Missouri Southern State University campus that the leading candidate for the vacant college president job is Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, former chairman of the Senate Education Committee and current Appropriations Committee chairman.
Nodler, of course, was the driving force behind the bill which resulted in MSSU receiving university status.
He also was the man who put Neosho attorney Dwight Douglas, the current president of the MSSU Board of Governors, on the board in 2003. Douglas is heading the search committee which will choose the successor to longtime President Julio Leon, who was forced to resign earlier this month.
Campus sources indicate that some quality candidates do not plan to submit their names because the word has spread that the fix is in. Of course, the same kind of stories circulated earlier this year about Kit Bond and Kenny Hulshof and the University of Missouri position and did not pan out.
Nodler received a bachelor of arts degree from Missouri Southern and was named the university's outstanding alumnus in 2003. During his tenure on the Senate Education Committee, he has been instrumental in landing a considerable amount of money for university projects.
While no one denies Nodler has delivered the goods for his alma mater, the concern is his lack of an academic background. Longtime Southwest Missouri political observers will also remember that Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt made a short pit stop as president at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar prior to being elected to the House, a position Blunt first won by defeating Nodler in the GOP primary.
While Nodler insists he has never been a candidate for the position, he told Alexandra Nicolas, a reporter for Missouri Southern's newspaper, The Chart, (and now a reporter for the Joplin Globe) in September 2007, that he had been approached by people asking him to seek the position after former President Julio Leon was forced out.
From The Chart article:
Sen. Gary Nodler (R-Joplin) told The Chart today that he is not a candidate for the position.
"No, there's no substance to that rumor," he said. "I was just appointed chairman of the (Senate) Appropriation Committee." Nodler also said he is "obviously in a position to benefit Southern," in other ways, though he was encouraged to apply by members of faculty and the community.
The talk of Nodler becoming university president has heated up again in recent weeks as many see current University President Bruce Speck nearing the end of the line.
(Photo: Gary Nodler, left, MSSU Board of Governors member Dwight Douglas, and former MSSU President Julio Leon)
13 comments:
Didn't Nodler seek the Alumni Association Director job when Kreta Gladden left, only to lose out to Lee Elliff-Pound?
I think Nodler was a finalist but Julio chose Lee Pound.
which leaves me to ask why there were ever any postings at all on this subject when I do not know any of any evidence that Sen. Nodler wanted to be head of the school and I know of no one "in the know" who ever suggested he did.
Rumor spread by what Randy calls "commenters" on this blog show how hateful people and unprincipled "commenters" and "wannabe reporters." A good man has been dragged through the slime by slime merchants...if we must have blogs, I hope we one day have standars and blog administrators are held responsible for this kind of thing.
Nodler was long ago on the short list for VPAA, but they chose instead an uneducated bag lady with a criminal record and serious brain injury.
It was a wise and unimpeachable choice.
To anonymous 11:58
If it were as you say, then I suspect he sullied the slime. The man uses the MSSU email system as his personal political mailing list! He makes Lyndon Johnson look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm!
If most legislators were like him, we'd have ... wait a minute! Most legislators ARE like him! Ch**st on a bicycle! That explains everything!
He should have let everyone believe he would have taken the president's job if he lost the election. That way everyone at MSSU would have been out canvassing and campaigning for him
So now Randolf, what new misinformation are you preparing to peddle?
Just in from Drudge........PRESIDENT LASHES OUT AT MEDIA WORLD; IPADS, XBOXES,THE TURNER REPORT, RUMORS
I'm still going to argue that Nodler would make a much better president than Speck. Nolder would never refuse to speak to the media; rather, he would thrive on the publicity. As slimy as he may be, Nodler knows how to get things accomplished. Everything Speck tries blows up in his face.
But it just occurred to me that Nodler would likely find a job at MSSU for his buddy Dwight Douglas once his term on the board expires in 2012. So, let's forget Nodler too.
We're screwed!
Becky - people will only take you seriously if you use more exclamation points. Try to get a thousand in your next post.
Gary, if you're reading this blog, would you mind answering the following questions?
1. Have you expressed any concerns to the MSSU Board of Governors about their handling of the Speck situation?
2. What do you think the Board of Governors should do about President Speck?
3. Do you think the MSSU faculty are off-base and out of line regarding their vote of no-confidence in President Speck?
4. Have you been involved at all in the medical school project? Do you support it?
5. Two years ago, the state provided MSSU with two million dollars to build a storm shelter near the football stadium. How do you feel that the university tried to convert the project into an indoor practice facility, wasted 400,000 thousand dollars in the process, and still doesn't have anything to show the taxpayers?
6. Are you at all worried about the status of things at MSSU?
Thank you, Senator Nodler for answering these important questions.
The Alumni Association is not the University, that is why it can serve alcohol. The MSSU Foundation until recently was also outside of the university structure. It has been re-structured to now be under the direction of the administration but that is a recent change and I don't know if the Alumni Association has been formally brought into the administration or not, but I don't think so.
The Alumni Director is a position within the university, paid by the university.
Post a Comment