by P.D. Lesko
Records show that Dr. Bellanca’s assistant’s credit card is being used to charge items previously charged to the president’s college-issued credit card, including charges for limousine services and $2,000 worth of stays at Hyatt hotels.
WCC PRESIDENT DR. Rose Bellanca’s 4th quarter 2014 credit card records indicate that the two-year college president has dramatically curbed spending on meals out, eliminated the purchase of alcohol at local liquor stores and other controversial expenses charged to Washtenaw county taxpayers. However, records indicate that the credit card of Dr. Bellanca’s assistant was used to pay for limousine services and Chicago Hyatt hotel charges totaling $2,003.
Dr. Bellanca used her college’s credit card to pay for a $757 stay at the Ritz Carlton, in Arlington, VA, in November 2014. In October of 2014, Dr. Bellanca used her college issued credit card to make $508.94 worth of purchases, including just two meals out. That same month, Dr. Bellanca published an op-ed in The Ann Arbor News in which she defended herself against allegations made first by The Ann Arbor Independent that she was abusing her college-issued credit card. The A2 Indy, using the Freedom of Information Act, obtained Bellanca’s credit card records.
A resulting article revealed a June 2014 $2,876 “farewell” party at Vinology charged to President Bellanca’s college credit card. The party was attended by Bellanca and staff of the nonprofit WCC Foundation. A public records request for the names of those who’d attended the June 2014 party was rejected by WCC because no such records existed.
WCC’s officials noted on Bellanca’s credit card records turned over to the newspaper that the WCC Foundation had “reimbursed” Dr. Bellanca for the cost of the event. Officials, when asked why the WCC Foundation was paying the cost of a “farewell” party for the Foundation’s former director, then alleged a donor had reimbursed the WCC Foundation for the cost.
Records subsequently showed that a donor paid $500 of the $2,876 event, leaving the WCC Foundation to pay $2,376 for a meal described as a “goodbye party,” by the donor who contributed $500 to defray costs.
The $2,876 included the purchase of several hundred dollars worth of alcohol, which is forbidden by WCC’s P-Card policy. Another article revealed that Dr. Bellanca had charged to her college credit card a catered $1,146 “celebration” for WCC Trustee Diana McKnight Morton in March 2014.
Ann Arbor News reporter Matt Durr followed up with an article that documented a variety of charges, including meals costing hundreds of dollars, which called into question Bellanca’s expenditure of public money.
After the publication of his investigative piece into Bellanca’s spending, Durr’s follow-up articles about Bellanca’s spending were killed by his editors, according to a source familiar with the situation. In addition, Durr was told by Ann Arbor News higher ups that, as a graduate of WCC, he was too close to the subject to write about the college objectively.
After articles published in The A2 Indy and Durr’s article, credit card records show that Dr. Bellanca’s spending on meals out fell significantly when compared to 2012 credit card records.
In Sept. 2012, according to records released in response to a FOIA by Matt Durr and The Ann Arbor Independent, Bellanca charged eight meals out to her college credit card, twice charging taxpayers for more than one meal out in a single day:
9/6/12: Paesano’s, $57.12
9/11/12: Paesano’s: $78.56
9/12/12: Paesano’s: $50.77
9/13/12: Giovanni’s: $245.11
9/13/12: Paesano’s: $27.74
9/17/12: The Earl: $258.47
9/19/12: Gratzi: $80.52
9/19/12: Old Town Tavern: $22.27
In Sept. 2014, according to records released in response to a FOIA by The Ann Arbor Independent, Bellanca charged two meals out to her college credit card:
9/3/14: Paesano’s, $33.56
9/24/14: Troppo: $104.98
In Oct. 2014, on the WCC website, the community college’s president posted a piece titled “Setting the Record Straight.” In that piece she writes: As President of Washtenaw Community College, I am charged by our Board of Trustees to be a visionary leader committed to advocate on behalf of the College to a wide variety of constituencies.
It comes with the territory that the decisions and activities of a college president are scrutinized – and they should be. Recently, stories in the local media questioned purchases on my college-issued credit card. These stories failed to provide perspective or details that clearly justify the expenditures and the wisdom of making such investments in WCC’s future. Moreover, the stories neglected to cite that my expenditures are in line with my predecessors.
“Let me set the record straight. Every expenditure must answer a question: Does the money spent serve as an investment to benefit our students, faculty/staff, taxpayers and community-at-large? The answer is yes.
In Nov. of 2014, in an editorial published in The Ann Arbor News, Dr. Bellanca was rebuked for attempting to justify the spending for which she had been criticized by the media.
Between Sept.-Dec. 2014, Bellanca charged a low of $482.45 (Sept. 2014 total charges) to a high of $713.30 in total charges. Between Sept.-Dec. 2012, Dr. Bellanca charged a low of $1,577 (Sept. 2012 total charges) to a high of $2,504 in total charges.
In an examination of the credit card records of both Dr. Bellanca and her assistant, it is clear that charges previously made by Bellanca using her college-issued credit card have been shifted to the credit card of her assistant, a credit card also issued by the two-year college.
The charges shifted to the assistant’s credit card included the purchases of food, flowers, hotel charges, plane tickets, and almost $600 worth of limousine rides in the month of Dec. 2014. There were also donations to charitable and professional organizations, including a $760 charge from Washtenaw Literacy.
In Oct. 2014, as Dr. Bellanca was arguing her spending was reasonable and appropriate, there was a $68.50 charge on the assistant’s credit card for First Choice Coffee Service, a Troy, Michigan beverage provider. WCC has a culinary arts program and a cafeteria.
Records show that, overall, Dr. Bellanca’s use of her college credit card between Sept-Dec. 2014 to purchase meals in excess of $150 stopped. In addition, her credit card was not used to pay for catered parties for WCC employees or trustees, such as the $1,146 Mar. 2014 birthday “celebration” for Trustee Diana McKnight Morton. Records also indicate that when staying at the Ritz Carlton, Dr. Bellanca did not charge meals to her WCC credit card.
