TODAY in Republic Report: An email newsletter obtained by Republic Report reveals that the political action committee of APSCU, the main lobbying group of for-profit colleges, was headed in 2012 by Jack Massimino, CEO of the now disgraced, bankrupt Corinthian Colleges. The newsletter also highlights the active involvement in APSCUPAC of other for-profit college executives whose companies are now under investigation — or have been penalized or shut down — by law enforcement.
The involvement of these executives and other information exposed in the newsletter add to the long list of reasons to doubt the credibility of APSCU, the prime mover of efforts to rid for-profit colleges of accountability for waste, fraud, and abuse with federal tax dollars.
The newsletter reports that in the first quarter of 2012, APSCUPAC contributed to politicians including Reps. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Rob Andrews (D-NJ), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and John Kline (R-MN), and Senate candidate Scott Brown (R-MA). Federal records confirm these contributions and show that others receiving APSCUPAC money in 2012 included Reps. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Senate candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX), Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY), and dozens more.
The APSCU email dates from May 2012, a time when mounting media exposes had revealed widespread deception and other abuses at for-profit colleges. Yet the for-profit college industry was fighting back aggressively, with big spending to influence the whole of Washington — advocacy groups, journalism outlets, and, especially, politicians. And the industry’s aggressive lobbying, PR work, and cash contributions were paying off; the Obama Administration had dramatically watered down its “gainful employment” rule, which was aimed at cutting off federal aid to career training programs that left its students with insurmountable debt. The dilution of the rule meant that only some of the most egregiously awful career education programs might be affected. But even that weak gainful employment provision was on the verge of being overturned in court in the face of an attack by high-priced lawyers representing APSCU
- See more at: http://www.republicreport.org/2015/corinthian-ceo-led-for-profit-college-industry-pac/#sthash.mxlFEFjy.dpuf