NWA EDITORIAL: Give it back
Bible college should return criminal enterprise money
Posted: September 23, 2018 at 1 a.m.
Crime, if about anything at all, is a pursuit of ill-gotten gains. The very point of most crime, nonviolent and violent, is the undeserved and fraudulent acquisition of something valuable, whether it's a free six-pack lifted from the corner convenience store or $20 million scammed from customers by Charles Ponzi.
In proverbial terms, as in the actual book of Proverbs, "The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death."
That sounds awfully serious. Death for a six-pack? At risk of interpreting the Good Book, it might be talking in spiritual terms, along the lines of the wages of sin and such. One could argue that's getting even more serious.
Arkansans have witnessed a more-than-fair share of lying tongues lately among those who sought and accepted the public trust, state lawmakers willing to commit crimes for their economic benefit. The last year and a half has brought indictments, guilty pleas and convictions after trials. Here in Northwest Arkansas, a Springdale Bible college known as Ecclesia has been at the center of a public corruption scandal. Two lawmakers, state Rep. Micah Neal and state Sen. Jon Woods, are now convicted felons because of the discovery they were taking kickbacks for directing taxpayer dollars to Ecclesia.
The two men pocketed tens of thousands in payoffs for using their influence to benefit Ecclesia, a private college several state lawmakers -- including some who have never been accused of any crimes -- eagerly funneled taxpayer dollars to because of its conservative Christian mission. Eleven lawmakers directed more than $717,000 to the 150-student school through the insufficiently monitored (by design) General Improvement Fund.
Woods has been sentenced to 18 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution. Neal, who cooperated with prosecutors, got a year of house arrest.
What about the college itself? Its now-former president, Oren Paris III, admitted his involvement in the scheme and received a three-year prison term. But the beneficiary of all this wheeling and dealing was designed to be Ecclesia College.
Arkansas' political leaders have tip-toed carefully around this public corruption scandal. At times, even those who had no involvement in crimes seemed resistant to addressing it. Was it professional courtesy, as though politicians owe such deference to a crooked colleague? Goodness, we hope not.
It took a series of convictions and sentencings before Gov. Asa Hutchinson's administration finally stepped up and suggested Ecclesia College ought to be relieved of the ill-gotten gains it received through the scheming politicians. The Department of Finance and Administration has asked Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office to sue Ecclesia College to recover at least $600,000 of the grants it received through lawmaker-controlled General Improvement Fund allocations.
Rutledge's office is said to be reviewing the matter.
The college's attorney, Travis Story, said testimony showed the college, other than Paris, didn't know about any kickbacks and used the funding as promised. The receipt of the money happened long enough ago that it's past any statute of limitations for any lawsuit.
But just as public officials ought to have a higher standard of accountability than the average man on the street, shouldn't a Bible college operate beyond a letter-of-the-law interpretation? Does it truly not matter that the money was obtained through fraudulent means?
So far, it doesn't appear that Ecclesia is leaning toward doing what's right.
We'd argue state lawmakers, the crooked ones and the others who directed money to Ecclesia, should have never been devoting taxpayer dollars to a private religious school to begin with. And, before anyone gets their hackles up, just imagine how you'd feel if your tax dollars were diverted to a Muslim school or a Unitarian institution.
We prefer that state government stay out of picking winners and losers in questions of faith.
But certainly, Ecclesia ought to draw the line at benefiting from criminal activity.
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| "We owe our income to your tax funds, but how we used it is our business, because we are a church!" |
