Shumaker presses claim for $423,000 severance pay

Dan Warlick, a Nashville attorney representing Shumaker, told WTVF-TV of Nashville that an oral agreement for the money between his client and Gov. Phil Bredesen should still be in force.

Shumaker resigned in August 2003 amid a controversy over his lavish spending and his use of a state airplane. He spent 14 months as UT president.

Auditors said Shumaker paid credit card bills with public money, spent nearly $500,000 remodeling the president’s house and gave a $300,000 no-bid contract to a friend. Also among the findings, the audit said Shumaker altered records to cover up otherwise legal, if questionable, spending and travel.

The UT Board of Trustees, on the recommendation of Bredesen, rescinded the severance pay because of the alterations.

Shumaker’s claim names Bredesen, the university and the UT board.

Warlick said he plans to take the matter before a judge.

State Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, chairman of the Senate Education Committee at the time of the dispute, is angry that Shumaker is going ahead with the claim.

“It’s my opinion that he owes the state and the university money, not the other way around,” he told the station.