By Frost McGahey
Investigative Journalist
WNMU Regent John Wertheim Photo by Juno Ogle
On July 31, after only 4 months as Regents, the new board decided to deprive Dr. Joseph Shepard, the former president of WNMU, of his agreed upon salary, health insurance, and other benefits. Vice Chair John Wertheim based his actions on the premise that the prior board had violated the Open Meetings Act by agreeing to those terms.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Jarod Hofacket ruled they hadn't.
The judge's ruling came while reviewing the lawsuit filed by the state attorney general. (The Beat has written about the weakness of the lawsuit.)* Six of the nine allegations were dismissed.
With the lawsuit pending, why did the Board of Regents decide to rescind Shepard's salary and benefits?
Shepard's attorney wrote, "Following the vote to disapprove the separation and faculty appointment agreements, the university stopped paying his faculty salary and withdrew health insurance and other benefits, including paying his legal fees for the attorney general's lawsuit and a lawsuit filed against him by the state Ethics Commission."**
Dr. Shepard was contacted by the Beat after the board's actions. He said, "The Regents are trying to deprive me of money to fight these unfair lawsuits."
Vice Chair John Wertheim, an attorney, was the one who made the motion to defund Dr. Shepard. Wertheim later acknowledged that when a "university president leaves employment before the end of a contract, a buyout of the remainder of that contract is negotiated. At the time of his departure, Shepard had a little more than two years left on his "last five-year contract, which had been approved in 2022."***
Apparently the defunding was part of anticipated negotiation with Dr. Shepard. Wertheim continued, "I do want to prepare the public for the fact that Dr. Shepard does deserve some level of compensation. I'm not going to negotiate in the press, but that's the reason why I think we need to hear from a judge to tell us what is reasonable on that."
Judge Hofacket essentially told the regents to pound sand.
People have asked why the continued persecution of Dr. Shepard. One possibility could be from an email Dr. Shepard sent to the State Auditor's office regarding the $1 million the former State Senator Siah Hemphill received for Aldo Leopold. This was instead of the $5 million Dr. Shepard expected to get for WNMU.
January 26, 2024 email from Dr. Shepard to Christopher Hall at the State Auditor's office:
In my opinion the Senator's (Hemphill) pursuit of the $1 million for her children's school without disclosure of the name of the school (the appropriation didn't mention the school's name) or that her children attended there… seems to violate the Government Accountability Act.
Aldo Leopold received the $1 million, and no ethics violation was lodged against Senator Siah Hemphill, who later resigned her position.
* Has the Political Witchhunt against Dr. Shepard Stalled? (grantcountybeat.com)
**Judge axes parts of AG's Shepard suit - Silvercity Daily Press (scdailypress.com) Juno Ogle
***Regents kill Shepard agreements in revote - Silvercity Daily Press (scdailypress.com) Juno Ogle
