MSU Trustee Owen bankrupt, owes $109K in unpaid taxes

A FINANCE COMMITTEE chairwoman who allowed her monthly expenses to come within $26 of her monthly income???

Shouldn’t people on our finance committees have a little better sense about money? And shouldn’t people with control of that much money be checked to make sure they’re not in financial dire straits?

How about we check out the rest of our trustees and make sure they’re TRUSTworthy…

Bad stuff, but elected officials who lack financial common sense is pretty much par for the course. Of course, the mad development spree, only the latest piece of financial fantasy land, has caused harm to lots of folks and the economy as a whole. Anybody with a sense of the real world knew “if you build it they will come” was an incredibly stupid way of thinking—look at City Center II and other stupidities perpetrated on East Lansing, whose mayor promotes himself as a former banker and bond salesman, who can’t add 2 2. It has been amazing to watch (luckily I had to common sense to watch from the sidelines). There used to be something called a “business plan” and banks would not lend money unless the plan was a good one. Somehow self-styled conservatives decided regulating financial institutions to make sure they only made loans that were likely to be paid back was preventing “risk taking” (a.k.a. recklessness). The result was money laundering (a.k.a. “creative financial instruments”) and projects with fantasy business plans got funded willy nilly (City Center II, the boom near Las Vegas with no water and no jobs except gambling and construction for the boom).

With folks like the Owens, you have to wonder what motivates them? The guy’s got a huge pension. Exactly why would anyone need a million dollar house in Bath? But I haven’t noticed that those who go into politics are exactly bright.

You can owe that much to the IRS and state and not end up in handcuffs? I hope she’s more involved in managing MSU’s finances than she is in managing her own.

Faylene and Larry Owen have been quite generous in their political donations. They’ve given over $35,000 to federal campaigns. The Michigan Secretary of State doesn’t have a direct donor look up, but for state races I’m sure you’d find much more.

Faylene Owen
http://newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=MI&last=owen&first=Faylene

Larry Owen
http://newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=MI&last=owen&first=Larry

How special. Nearly $8000 per month income, and they still can’t manage to pay their bills. Perhaps they should spend some time discussing frugality with the students at MSU, who manage to pay all of their bills with a lot less money.

First step? Move out of East Lansing, into Lansing. Much cheaper cost of living.

People who declare bankruptcy should have the good sense to resign from the Board of Trustees of MSU!

MSU’s financial crisis, independent of the state’s budget deficit, will continue to be greatly detrimental to student’s and their communities. Academic programs, professors and necessary financial aid will continue to be eliminated. The MSU Administration and Trustees should be held accountable and made to pay their debts to society behind bars, shady scumbags!

Time to go…Mrs. Owen

As a recent MSU graduate, I have to say it worries me that the chairperson of the MSU trustee finance committee filed for personal bankruptcy.

Taking a look at her job description below, I think it’s time for Chairman Joel Ferguson to take charge and ask Faylene Owen to step down. If you can’t take care of your personal finances, how can you be expected to chair the finance committee?

“Trustee Owen-Chairperson, Trustee Byrum, Trustee Ferguson, Trustee Nugent

The role of the Finance Committee is to review proposed policies and Board actions which have significant financial impact, to recommend appropriate action to the Board and to monitor results.

The responsibilities of the Finance Committee include review of proposed actions relating to the establishment of budgets; award of construction contracts; monitoring financial performance; investment policy and management; land management;external borrowings; and such other matters as shall be determined by the Board.”

So, it will be interesting to see what Mr. Ferguson does…we will all be watching very closely.

Reality check: virtually all governing bodies of American universities today take marching orders from the Democratic National Commissars…err Committee.

Just start looking up Board of Trustees and you will see a pattern:

Union boss, Democratic fundraiser, Democratic politician, union boss, Democratic toad.

They all take their orders from the corruption at the top: the DNC.

This is why everyone recognizes a bias in the media. No where does this story mention the party affiliation of Ms. Owen.

Had this been a Republican you can bet it would have been mentioned in the very first paragraph.

Boo on you.

Really? The DNC is controlling all American Universities? I think it’s time that everyone stopped taking crazy pills. Vast left wing conspiracies do not exist. Democrats simply do not have that kind of organization. Additionally MSU’s board rarely does anything without a unanimous vote.

That being said, someone who is going through bankruptcy proceedings does not deserve a place on MSU’s finance committee. If she is so knowledgeable about financial proeedings at the university level, how can she not be involved on the home level?

Mr jakeway,

You realize this is an elected position, correct? That the people of Michigan voted for Trustee Owen. That the board has at times been Republican dominated as well?

Political analyst use the board of education races to determine the general partisan breakdown since few people scrutinize the candidates closely and usually vote along their party preference.

It’s the failure of Republicans that has handed the education boards unanimous victories to Democrats since 2006.

That said, the DNC does not care about MSU’s board. The DNC cannot pass a health care bill in Congress. Do you think they are really sitting in their headquarters plotting the debate on tuition raises or which dormitories need to remodelled or Tom Izzo’s benefits package?

The DNC makes abstract guidelines, such as forming diversity initiatives at every, single, American university.

Our false political dichotomy has divided us, and we are but a conquered vassal state now. The infighting occurs as such:

Democrats want the working class and entrepreneurs to forfeit all of their income to promote their vision of social justice for anybody who isn’t white.

Republicans push theocratic tyranny by flagrantly pushing and burning the boundary of church and state time and time again.

At least she’ll get a lovely vacation when the taxpayers again pay to send the MSU Board of Trustees on a luxury “retreat.” (Never mind that they could use facilities available for free, like the Kellogg Center, the Biological Station at Gull Lake, the U Club….)

how in the hell did she get that job in the first place? She is the last person you expect to file for bankruptcy in such position. What the hell did she spend all her money on?

She came in with Perles. What else would you expect? At least she is not using steroids. Lol

Those Green and White pieces of jewelry were a might too expensive for Faylene Owen.

They FAILED to pay their property taxes way back in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Thus, his assertions that their problems were recent and that Trustee Owens was out of the loop seem entirely disingenuous. If HE CANNOT TRUST his OWN WIFE, then WHY should the taxpayers of Michigan?

Would you donate money to an agency whose finance committee chair just declared bankruptcy?

C’mon. You’re not that stupid.

Mrs. Owen, there is still time to do the right thing for MSU students. Step down, and focus on your issues.
1/12/2010 5:08:47 AM

I have added a comment which equates Owens with other of no respect for the university like Perles and Ferguson—they are all deleted—is Fergeson editing the press

In response to all the naïve student bloggers who think they know about sustaining personal wealth, guess what-you have no clue. And to all you professor and university bloggers who think you are experts on financial wealth, guess what-you have no clue either as your money is invested by real experts in your pension system. We have no idea the circumstances behind the Owen?s personal situation and therefore have no business making judgements. We can feel sorry that they are facing this situation in their retirement years. To assume she is incapable of chairing the Finance Committee after having performed this role successfully for the past year is ridiculous. She should absolutely not step down! She has been an outstanding Trustee since her swearing in including her work on all the committees she has served. I remember back in October of 2007 when the infamous YAF student group brought racist Nick Griffin to campus, Trustee Owen was the only Trustee to condemn him and his views. Trustee Owen regularly meets with ASMSU student leaders and listens to their concerns. Why doesn’t someone ask the ASMSU Student Leaders what they think of Trustee Owen’s performance since elected to the Board? She successfully lobbied for the university to retain $65 million in funding for the AG Extension Program. She is a wonderful trustee who deserves our understanding and support, not misguided attacks. We need more dynamic and hardworking trustees like her.

Did Owen graduate from high school? Did she graduate from college? If we are to believe her own husband, that she cannot be trusted in the decision making involving her own personal finances, then why should we trust her at all as a public servant?

If they only make 8k a month, how the heck do they think they can afford a million dollar house? That’s what is wrong with everyone in this world, overspend, overspend, overspend…We make 18k a month and guess what, our mortgage is 2k a month! Living within your means, try it!!!!!!!

Here’s what we know. She and her husband jointly made poor decisions that affected their financial situation. They have decided to file Chapter 7 to remove their responsibility for those decisions and in the process start over. These two points should remove from the role of MSU Trustee.