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Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Playing Politics: Schools Do It, Too
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Think lobbyists for such high-powered companies as AT&T and Coca-Cola are the biggest spenders at the state Capitol? Think again.
According to today’s story by AJC government reporter James Salzer, the top-spending lobbyist during the past two years has been Tom Daniel at the University System of Georgia.
In the first month of the 2007 session, reports to the State Ethics Commission show that the university system spent more than $22,000 on meals for lawmakers alone.
Free tickets to University of Georgia football games, Georgia Tech basketball games and the Chick-fil-A college football bowl are popular handouts, too.
In recent years, Georgia’s network of public colleges and universities has spent around $139,000 to schmooze lawmakers, who oversee the system’s more than $2 billion annual budget.
If you find it curious that a taxpayer-funded education institution is using donations to provide perks for legislators, you’re not alone. Joe McCutchen, an Ellijay retiree who publishes a newsletter for fiscal conservatives, told James: “It’s ridiculous. I think it ought to be stopped.”
