The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Stapleton clarifies complaints about firm
E-mail sent to Board defends EMU candidate Burnley
By Christine Laughen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 8, 2008
A co-chairman of Eastern Michigan University's Presidential Search Advisory Committee said Tuesday his ties with a presidential candidate would not present a conflict of interest in the final determination process.
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However, James Stapleton sent an e-mail to fellow Board of Regents members April 7 staunchly defending candidate Kenneth Burnley and asserting his outrage with Compass Group, a search firm assisting the university.
"...I write on this occasion to express my outrage (if not surprise) on the presentation made by Compass as it relates to Ken Burnley and, their thinly veiled attempt to discredit his candidacy, as well as my integrity," Stapleton said in the e-mail.
In particular, Stapleton questions the motives of the search firm's president and CEO Paul Czamanske.
Stapleton accused Czamanske of intentionally presenting the Regents with negative, "one-sided" newspaper articles regarding ties between Burnley, a presidential candidate, and Stapleton.
Articles written by The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press and The Michigan Citizen presented to the Board discussed ties between Stapleton and Burnley when Burnley was chief executive officer for Detroit Public Schools.
The Sep. 18, 2004 edition of The Michigan Citizen wrote Burnley ordered a report to be kept secret regarding the award of a $24 million contract to Hiram E. Jackson's company Clover Technologies.
According to the article, DPS's internal investigation showed no evidence of wrongdoing but a letter sent from Stapleton to Jackson in 2001 "shows otherwise."
"Not only does it expose a highly questionable Jackson-Stapleton relationship, but it also implicates a shadowy 'advisory' committee, among them DPS executives, set up to hand out other technology contracts," the article says.
Stapleton said the article had nothing to do with his company, B & R Consultants, Inc. or Burnley personally.
He said the article was presented to the Board to imply that "somehow an improper nexus" existed between his company and Burnley.
"While highly unprofessional on its face, (Czamanske) has gone out of his way to discredit the candidacy of not only Burnley but, Don Shelton and, to a degree, Mike Flanagan as well," Stapleton said in the email.
Czamanske called Stapleton's allegations "ridiculous" Tuesday afternoon.
He said his group hires Kroll, a risk consulting company, to do background checks and he had not seen the news articles in question.
"We don't look at those reports and it would be unethical to tamper with them," Czamanske said.
Stapleton clarified Tuesday he did have some initial apprehensions with the vetting process.
"I wanted to ensure the process was fair for everyone," Stapleton said. "I had a chance to speak with Paul Czamanske and I was concerned at one point but not anymore."
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