Dr. and Mrs. Holmes Morton, Chair and Vice Chair of PAM respectively, state in an article in the Sunday News: “It is not coincidental that those who are outspoken against our volunteer efforts to save PAM and rebuild the school’s finances are members of a small but vocal network of people who include some who did not pay pledges or honor loan guarantees. They do not want the school to survive and their clamor about pledges is transparently self-serving.”
WATCHDOG: Speaking as an advisor to PAM’s former board, it appeared that way during negotiations with one prominent individual. Two wags of the tail
I would be vocal, too, if I had donated a large sum of money – and pledged more – to support a building which was taken over by the bank! This is a classic case of poor planning and blatant mismanagement. Had people been aware that the Pennsylvania Academy of Music was creating an unsustainable pipe dream, most of these donations and pledges would have never been made.
PAM misrepresented itself to donors, failed to follow standard operating practices, mismanaged funds, and possibly committed fraud. At what point are donors expected to stop giving–?
Surely PAM’s leaders didn’t really believe that suing donors would be greeted with anything but scorn, anger and frustration from most people (not a “small but vocal” group). The letter to the editor indicates otherwise — an unrealistic attitude about public attitudes and PAM’s place in the larger community. No wonder they’re having difficulties.
As to the comment about those who didn’t “honor guarantees” — from the articles in the paper, I figured that those guarantors were similar to friends who co-sign on loans because the debtor either doesn’t have the collateral or the credit history to get the loan on their own. The co-signer isn’t guaranteeing to give the money to the friend should they fall short. They’re guaranteeing to the bank, the lender, that they’ll be good for the money should the friend default. Their signature as a guarantor allows the friend to get the loan. And that’s what happened with PAM, right? With the guarantors’ help, they got the loans but then defaulted, and the guarantors were on the hook to the bank.
By the way, I’ve not pledged to PAM, nor do I know the guarantors, so I hope my comments are not put into what Dr. Morton calls the “transparently self-serving” category.