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DEL.ICIO.USWhy Georgia State University needs a football team
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My AJC colleague James Salzer took a look at disclosure reports for the final five months of 2008, and one thing is clear: lobbyists at the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech didn’t have much trouble giving away free football tickets to state lawmakers last fall.
That could come in handy for the two institutions down the road.
Chris Cummiskey, who left House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s employ last year to become top Capitol lobbyist for UGA, reported spending about $20,000 on lawmakers during the final five months of 2008, mostly on football tickets and other football-related events.
Almost $12,000 of that was for a Legislative Appreciation Day that included more than $3,000 in football tickets.
Dene Sheheane, Cummisky’s counterpart at Tech, reported spending about $16,000 on lawmakers, mostly on football tickets. That’s double what he spent the year before.
Part of the reason: Tech’s Chick-fil-A Bowl appearance against LSU was very popular with the state powers that be.
Gov. Sonny Perdue, House Speaker Glenn Richardson, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and other lawmakers received tickets and a dinner. The cost for entertaining Perdue alone was put at more than $1,000.
All of this pigskin schmoozing could become useful during the 2009 legislative session that starts Monday, when UGA and Tech face the prospect of major budget cuts because of the national recession.
Legislators must cut about $2.2 billion this year. Lawmakers have already put K-12 schools and health care largely out-of-bounds for major cuts, Salzer notes. The next big budget on the chopping block: the University System of Georgia.
Comments
By Nurse Netroots
January 7, 2009 9:29 AM | Link to this
Yeah, then we can have a Broke Atlanta Bowl.
By wsj
January 12, 2009 11:56 PM | Link to this
k-12 is exempt? Sounds like it is due to the Teacher’s Union. I think the state appropriates about $2 billion to the university system so I don’t see how the USG can shoulder that much.