Subplots: Penn State Investigator May Have Some Conflicts of Interest, Victim 4 Knew Penn State Coaches, White Knight Franco Harris
Well, it continues to get weirder.
This week, Penn State hired Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier to leads its investigation into the Jerry Sandusky (and resulting cover-up) scandal. As Deadspin pointed out yesterday, Frazier has a history of, well, covering things up, like he did during his time as the company’s general counsel.
It gets more convenient for Penn State, though. Frazier, who – again – is the current CEO of Merck, will investigate the depth of the cover-up at Penn State. But don’t expect said investigation to be too far-reaching. Current Penn State board member Lloyd Huck served as the chairman of Merck’s board for over 15 years. And his wife, Dorothy, sits on the Second Mile board: [The Patriot News via Deadspin]
Dorothy "Dottie" Huck and her husband, Lloyd, are big Penn State donors. In total, the Hucks have given the university more than $20 million.
Lloyd Huck, a former chairman of the board at Merck, sits on the Penn State board of trustees. Dottie Huck sits on the board of The Second Mile. In the last five years, the Hucks gave more than $21,000 to The Second Mile, and Merck gave at least another $8,000.
So, yeah, the former chair of Merck’s board (Huck) was presumably involved in bringing on the current CEO (Frazier), who was at the helm when his company donated money to the Second Mile, to lead Penn State's investigation. There’s no conflict of interest there, at all. None.
In less speculative but more disgusting news, Victim 4 is speaking out. He told the Patriot News that he knew many of the Penn State coaches and their families. Why? Because he was often Sandusky’s special guest at the coach’s table: [The Patriot News]
Victim Four eventually came to know other assistant Penn State football coaches and their families. He was Sandusky’s guest at the coaches’ table at banquets. During hotel sleepovers, he told the grand jury, Sandusky would begin by wrestling him and end with a sexual assault.
Those assaults began when the two first met. More from The Patriot News:
The day they met, authorities said, Sandusky began to touch him. It happened in a swimming pool, and he remembers Sandusky testing his boundaries, authorities said. Victim Four met Jerry Sandusky when he was 12 or 13 during the boy’s second year with The Second Mile. But Sandusky was kind to the boy, and initially Victim Four thrived on the affection.
Then there were the showers — where authorities allege soap battles that would lead to indecent contact.
Ewy.
Despite the obvious signs (this tidbit and many other previous ones) that Penn State’s coaches knew about Sandusky’s behavior, some one person still believes that Joe Paterno should get his job back.
That person is Franco Harris.
Yesterday, we had Penn State student and OnwardState.com writer Ryan Beckler on Broad Street Radio. He spoke with Franco Harris, who rode his white horse (figurative) to State College with the intention of helping Joe Pa get his job back: [Onward State]
“I called the president yesterday and I left a message asking him if he would rehire Joe Paterno. I’m going to call every member of the Board of Trustees individually and ask them to rehire Joe. We need another vote, a public vote.”
Yeah, good luck with that, Franco.
You can listen to our discussion with Ryan (24 minute mark), as well as our chat with Phillies beat writer Kevin Cooney, after the jump. We were supposed to be joined by Sixers CEO Adam Aron, but scheduling conflicts forced us to reschedule.
