The NCAA president said in a letter to the delegation that a task force will allocate at least 25 percent of fine money to programs in Pennsylvania.
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Congressman Charlie Dent, R-Lehigh Valley, said the NCAA president's response to a request to use the fines levied against Penn State over the Sandusky scandal in Pennsylvania as "unaccepatable."
Pennsylvania Congressman Charlie Dent voiced displeasure today with how the NCAA president responded to a request from the state’s U.S. House delegation that all of the $60 million in Penn State fines in the Sandusky child molestation scandal be distributed to causes within the state.
Dent said in a statement that Mark Emmert’s response was “unacceptable and unsatisfactory.”
The NCAA president said in a Dec. 12 letter to the delegation, released by Dent’s office, that the task force charged with developing guidelines for the endowment and with hiring an administrator to distribute the funds is to allocate at least 25 percent of the fine money to programs in Pennsylvania.
“By outlining comprehensive plans to address child sexual abuse, of course, agencies within Pennsylvania have an opportunity to significantly increase the initial allocation to the Commonwealth,” Emmert added.
The first of five annual installments of $12 million was due Thursday, to be held in a money market account while the task force works on recommendations due to the NCAA’s executive committee in early 2013.
Dent said Emmert’s reply didn’t address the delegation’s concerns but “instead chose to hide behind the procedural mechanisms of the NCAA-created Task Force in order to deflect any sort of actual accountability for the disbursement of these funds.”
“Directing Commonwealth-generated funds to entities outside of the Commonwealth runs contrary to the Pennsylvania taxpayers’ interests,” Dent said. “I am greatly disappointed by Dr. Emmert’s response and will continue to press for greater accountability and oversight of the NCAA on this and other matters.”
Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted this summer of 45 counts involving boys on and off campus, and is serving a 30-to-60 year prison term.
Three former school administrators also face trial on charges of perjury, obstruction and other offenses. They deny the allegations. The scandal led to the dismissal of former head coach Joe Paterno and elicited landmark NCAA sanctions that include a four-year postseason ban and significant scholarship cuts.
In their Nov. 30 letter, delegation members noted that Sandusky’s accusers were all Pennsylvania residents and that all the “substantiated reports of abuse took place within the Commonwealth.” They urged that all fine money be dedicated to prevention and assistance programs in Pennsylvania.
The NCAA, the governing body for college athletics, issued the fine against the athletic department, as part of sanctions over the school’s handling of the Sandusky matter.