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How did Bill Weld get into this mess?  
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN AND HARVEY SILVERGLATE  |  February 15, 2006

THE SMALL SCHOOL at the center of it allBill Weld is loaded. Why did he decide to become an equity investor instead of just writing novels and fishing? Don’t underestimate the appeal of making lots of money, a challenge he had never taken on. His long-time friend C. Kevin Landry says he asked Weld why he was resigning as governor in 1997, and Weld replied, “I’ve never had a big W-2.”

Didn’t he foresee the potential political fallout from that line of work? It would be hard for him to have missed it. He had a front-row seat in 1994 when Ted Kennedy blasted Senate challenger Mitt Romney for layoffs at Bain-invested companies. In 2004, Erskine Bowles’s North Carolina campaign for US Senate was dominated by criticisms of his equity investment firm, Forstmann Little.

How did Weld get involved with Leeds Equity Partners? He began doing business with them while working for law firm McDermott Will in the late 1990s, and switched firms in 2000, creating Leeds Weld Equity Partners. This was the same time he was moving to New York to join soon-to-be second wife Leslie Marshall (and, fortuitously, establishing residency in time to be eligible to run for state office in 2006). The firm was focused on investing in for-profit education companies, which suited Weld’s privatization beliefs, and probably seemed at the time like a potentially good campaign issue. “He has always been interested in education and the role that the private sector could contribute,” says long-time Weld friend Mitchell Adams.

How did he get involved with Decker College? In 2002, Leeds Weld made a very bad business decision, buying a $30 million stake in a chain of truck-driving schools, Franklin Career Services, owned by Louisville brothers Gerard and Jeffrey Woodcox. The company collapsed within months. The Woodcox brothers promptly bought Decker College, and Leeds Weld compounded its mistake by exercising its right to buy a stake in that venture. Weld, the point man on the investment, joined the Decker board of directors and, in 2003, he became acting CEO. In January 2005 he officially took the CEO job and started spending much of his time in Louisville.

Was he still ignoring the potential political fallout? Apparently. In fact, Weld was increasing his involvement in Decker even after his firm started pulling out of education in August 2003, citing “political risks.” In a written statement announcing the shift, Jeffrey Leeds said that “Leeds Weld no longer view companies that pursue privatization of education as likely to generate the long-term growth necessary to offset these risks.”

So why did he keep getting sucked further into Decker? For one thing, he had a lot of his own money at stake, and was responsible for the money his partners had invested as well. He had also reportedly become good friends with the Woodcox brothers, and didn’t suspect that they might not be trustworthy. And, he probably didn’t really understand how serious the problems were. “You would expect if he was a real CEO to get in that level of detail,” Landry says — meaning that equity investors frequently take such positions at several companies, not devoting full attention to any one.

Did he walk away from Decker to avoid legal and political problems? The timing certainly looks bad: he officially resigned as Decker CEO on October 6, one week after the US Department of Education declared Decker ineligible for student loans, and one day after the Kentucky attorney general announced plans for an investigation. But in fact, Weld’s active participation in Decker ended almost immediately after New York governor George Pataki announced, in late July, that he would not seek re-election. Weld quickly turned his full attention to organizing his campaign.

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  Topics: News Features , William Weld , Jeffrey Woodcox , Privatization ,  More more >
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Frequently asked questions
I find it difficult to believe Mr. Wells was not aware of the risk he was taking, with his involvment in Franklin Career Services. For a man as worldly as he, he diplays the attributes of a greedy man. I have read Mr. Wells said he never had that big W-2. That would explain his attraction to Franklin Career services. To understand the mission of Decker College one needs to understand the business model of Franklin Career Services. While meeting with a business broker about a commercial bakery for sale, Jerry and Jeff Woodcox became interested in a Truck Driving School. The office of the broker was located in the office. Both business were owned by the same principals. Soon their intrest in the school was greater than the bakery. In March of 1998 the Woodcox bro. purchased DDH. Inc., the parent company of Franklin College Truck Driving School. A 5 yr. old company 4 sites and 2 million in sales. In a short time the Woodcox boys got a lesson in the private school business. Franklin as most other trucking schools tuition was funded by the students themselves or by loans brokered by the school for the students. These loans where made by lenders with special programs for high risk, vocational school programs. Based on the students credit rating, a school would asume full recourse for all defaults on the loans. Either the Woodcox's had a hard time grasping this concept or they had other plans, but in a short time , they found Franklin in a major cash flow shortage. The lending companies were withholding all funding as a result of the defaults. Franklin needed a new funding source and found one in Student Finance Corp. SFC provied a funding concept never before available to the truck driving school business. Up to 83% funding and no recourse to the school for defaults. Using the former crediters, Franklin would have a 3%-5% approval ratio per aplicant, and recieve about 50% funding of all loans. Net of all loans was about $2,400.00 per student. With the SFC plan, the approval ratio was 15%-20% and the net funding was $5,000-$6,000 or nore and no recourse. So now you could have 5x as many students and 2x or 3x the revenue. Sounds great. One problem SFC was a scam. To not know SFC was a scam, is incomprehensable. To not care is understandable. With SFC as their funding sorce, in 2 years Franklin grew to 30+ campuses and had sales of $100 million +. Around July of 2001 Leeds Welld... get serious with Franklin. Plans are made for Leeds Weld to purchase 20% of Franklin stock and take the company public. Soon after the deal closed so did SFC. Royal Insurance, the company writting credit insurance for all the loans came to the conclusion SFC and the schools conspired to defaud the Royal. THe scam has been exposed, now the courts are haring all parties. Royal is suing Franklin for $100 million +. The reason for this story, is to give you some understanding on Decker College. It is a repeat of the same players, playing the same game. Weld was wittnes to the Franklin /SFC scam. When the cash stoped flowing at Franklin, they did not claim bankruptcy, they stiff some creditors and settled with others. I would think the Woodcox boys couldhave walked away from this mess fairly healthy, they just recieved $30 million for 20% of their company. The boys knew they had a great way to make a fortune, provide vocational training to un skilled men and woman for good paying trades. What they lacked was a funding source. If they claim bankrutcy, their chances of getting a state license in the school business is not likley. Decker College was a great fit, for their plan. Decker College was a small school approved for title IV funding. Goverment student loans and grants. Why would Wells be attracted to such a deal? $20,000-$28,000 tuition for 8 weeks of resident training and 50+ weeks on line. 3,500 + students. You do the math. So Wells and Woodcox involve some respected names as board members and advisors, to garner respect and acceptance for thier concept. In just a short time this deal is also exposed as lacking in any mesureable benefit to their students and the compaints got to be to much for the state and federal agencies to ignore. State and feds decided to stop theses guys before they could do further damage. The intent and integrity of Decker College can be debated. I am sure there is fault on all sides. Ask yourself this question. If your chid came to you and said they wanted to go to a tech. school to learn carpentry. It will cost $25,000 and I only have to go there 8 weeks. The rest I will learn on-line. Or I whant to learn to run a backhoe. Franklin will teach me in just 15 days and I need you to sign my loan for $10,000 @ 22% interest. How many of you would think that was a great deal for your child. Why is it a great deal for a poor kid? Because the government will pay?
By Iamnobimbo on 03/03/2006 at 10:55:38

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