viagra levitra cialis
February 23, 2010 by
Filed under ,
Most people expect schools to focus on education, but in South Carolina institutions of higher education, the money goes to lobbying.
A recent report has exposed taxpayer-funded lobbying in South Carolina school, with than any other public or private institution in the state at $1.7 million in the last decade. It’s easy to see how it got to that point when the school has a full-time lobbyist in D.C., a separate contract with a lobbying firm, and it pays its top lobbyist over $180,000.
Has it paid off for the university? Lobbying helped the university:
*Land a $45 million Energy Department grant for wind research in November
*$3 million in federal funding for the International Center for Automotive Research
*Get Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Energy Secretary Steven Chu to visit Clemson.
Clemson may be the biggest spender, but it is not the only one. Claflin University, a private institution in Orangeburg was the second-highest spender, spending $970,000 from 2000 to 2009. And University of South Carolina had a contract valued at more than $200,000 a year over the past five years with a lobbying firm, and currently employs two full-time state lobbyists each making more than $100,000 a year.
One criticism of taxpayer-funded lobbying is that members of Congress who represent the institutions already work to get federal funds for them. This is true for Clemson University:
*Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., successfully requested $1 million for Clemson’s veterinary institute this year
*Representatives Bob Inglis and John Spratt got $1.4 million for a Clemson cyber-institute last year.
Since it seems that lobbying isn’t necessary to a school’s financial wellness, lobbying expenditures are especially noteworthy when universities continue raising prices and tuition.
It’s unclear how this information will influence future school spending. But is obvious that, from now on, schools will have an greater sense of accountability to taxpayers: journalists have let them know that they can find out information, and citizens have let them know that want it.