Senator says Goodman should go

Posted Nov 17, 2011 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Nov 17, 2011 at 03:06 PM

State Sen. Mike Fasano said he thinks it’s time for USF Polytechnic Chancellor Marshall Goodman to go.

“When you can’t be transparent and deliver documents that have been requested. When you deny the request of a couple of senators to have an independent audit because of serious questions being asked, then it’s time for you to move on.”

He was referring to a request that he and state Sen. Paula Dockery made recently for an independent audit, in light of questions about spending at Polytechnic. Goodman refused.

The senators came back with another request, this one more pointed.

The next step, Fasano said, will likely be a simple public records request, which Goodman can’t refuse.

Goodman has become something of a political football in a battle over whether USF Polytechnic should be made independent.

The state Board of Governors said yes last week – with a raft of conditions that will delay the process for years.

Goodman pushed for independence. So did state Sen. JD Alexander, head of the Senate Budget Committee, who fired off a letter this week to the state university Board of Governors demanding an investigation of USF and defending Goodman’s honor.

Goodman was lambasted at the board’s meeting last week over the costs of building a new campus for USF Poly. But Alexander contended in his letter that USF was part of that process.

Fasano said: “I think we have a little bit of tit for tat going on here.”

But he predicted that USF would stand strong.

“I have great faith in President Genshaft. She is one of the most honest people I have ever met….USF as a whole in my opinion has one of the finest administrations.”

He also predicted the uproar over Polytechnic is likely to continue until Alexander is out of office, in about four months.