Rutgers To Examine AD Mulcahy's Ties With Marketing Group
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Rutgers Examining Mulcahy's
Ties To Marketing Group |
When Rutgers Univ. (RU) AD Robert E. Mulcahy in '00 approved a "lucrative, no-bid contract" for the school with Nelligan Sports Marketing (NSM), his son Robert J. Mulcahy served as the company's VP, and New Jersey state ethics rules "prohibit employees from negotiating or overseeing contracts involving family members or their employers," according to Margolin & Sherman of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. Robert J. Mulcahy was hired by NSM "as the university was negotiating the final points of its contract" in '00, and he was still employed at NSM when the contract was amended in '02. He left NSM in November of '02. RU athletics officials yesterday said that "their attorneys cleared the deal and it did not violate the state's conflicts law," though the officials added that the lawyers "did raise questions about how it might appear to others." RU President Richard McCormick yesterday said that he "'had no knowledge' of Mulcahy's family ties" to NSM. McCormick's office yesterday announced that the school was "setting up a committee to conduct a 'complete and candid' review of the athletic department." The review will "include an examination of the 'contracts and relationships' with [NSM] as well as the internal controls within the athletic department." NSM Chair & CEO T.J. Nelligan said that RU's Mulcahy had "no role in the hiring of his son, who did not work on the Rutgers account," and Nelligan said that he "asked if there was a conflict and was told by the university there was none." RU athletic department officials yesterday confirmed that a letter of agreement with NSM was signed on February 21, 2000, but before the contract was finalized in April '01, NSM hired the younger Mulcahy. But Nelligan said that his company "did nothing wrong." Nelligan said that he hired Mulcahy on the "advice of his accountant, who also did the younger Mulcahy's taxes, and then went to [Mulcahy's father] to clear it with him." Nelligan: "I wanted to make sure it was appropriate and there was no conflict of interest." After the initial contract was put into effect, RU "signed further contract extensions without competitive bidding, giving [NSM] the exclusive sports marketing rights through 2017" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 7/30).
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