The Whistle of a Distant Train

As of today I have yet to recieved a response from state Sen. Charlie Dannelly, but I would assume from the amount of unfavorable coverage on the topic from various news organizations (N&O, AP) that its perhaps not in his best interest. I did recieve a response on the original blog, although it seems the reader had not gotten the message from the article that I intended. So I decided to post the response here, rather than have it get buried away where no one would really find it. Although the issue does deal in part with HBCU's, that point is ancillary to the overall argument of education funding.

I also recieved a response from Rep. Paul Stam (R), who is the House minority party chair and was quoted in a subsequent N&O article opposing the inclusion of The McLendon Fund in the final budget. He provided a copy of his press release on the provision, for which I am grateful. In his release, he states that this is one of "dozens and dozens" of measures that were inserted into the budget and accounted for over $400 million in additional spending in violation of House Rule 44(b).

 In the end, $500,000 is small potatoes when considering the entire state budget, but the precedent that the McLendon Fund establishes is much more troubling in my opinion. And contrary to the historical record, political reform does not mean that we simply replace their special interests with ours.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

My blog response:

I appreciate your comments on the blog A.W.F. although I do disagree with your assertion as to the motivations 
of this provision. Let me be the first to say that I am all for measures to increase public investment in education, 
including special prograns to assist low income and minority students attend college. I cannot speak as to the 
motivations of Rep. Dannelly, I think that the program was proposed with good intentions, but I have never been 
one of the "the ends justify the means" type of persons. If the intention was to increase funding to minority students, 
there are certainly much more effective and honorable ways to accomplish this. The measure as represented in the 
media insinuates the program is "free money" for athletes, and probably constitutes little more than a payoff for 
athletic recruiting purposes at colleges within the CIAA and MEAC athletic conferences.

 I think that there are a lot of student athletes in need at all of our state universities, but I do not support taxpayer 
dollars to subsidize athletic scholarships at any school, particularly private schools. A proper measure would have been
to propose a program in which two minority students at each UNC system university would have been awarded 
need-based or merit-based grants. And in proposing such a measure, our legislative bodies should be allowed to 
consider the motion in their respective chambers. The state has never supported athletic grants in the past, and to 
begin doing so should have been approved under democratic circumstances.

Unfortunately the underhanded nature in which this measure was passed seems to undercut both the democratic 
process and long established state policies. I'm sure that many state legislators would have brought up the same 
concerns I have addressed in the blog had they had the oppurtunity. I am afraid that athletic departments will seize 
upon this precedent to seek funding for athletic programs, which has the potential to divert funds from our academic 
programs. I would hate to see a small program be deemed "expendable" because someone wants an upgraded field 
house for their football team.

An AP article I found says that McLendon Fund is part of an incentive package to help keep the MEAC and CIAA 
conference tournaments in NC. The tournaments do bring in significant revenues for the state, but one should ask 
how far we are willing to open the doors to provide incentives for private organizations. I assure you that once you 
open the door financially to the athletic and private college juggernauts, it is not a door that easily (or ever) closed. 

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Rep. Paul Stam wrote:

Mr. Kleinschmit,

Thank you for your email about the McLendon Fund provision in the
2007-2008 budget.  I have attached my press release on this provision
below.  I hope it will be informative.

Sincerely,
Representative Paul Stam


> New Athletic Scholarships and the Budget Rules
> 
> The press has reported on the private athletic scholarships that were
> slipped into the conference report on the budget at the request of
> Senator Dannelly.  The News and Observer has editorialized against it
> (August 17, 2007).                                   
> 
> Now the News and Observer reports (Under The Dome, August 17, 2007)
> that the Speaker believes the scholarship provision should have
> received a full airing instead of being dropped in the final budget.
> "He doesn't like the process" says his spokesman, Bill Holmes.
> 
> But the Speaker was not an observer of the process.  He was in charge.
> 
> 
> I advised the Speaker and the House Democratic Leadership that if they
> tried to slip things into the budget in violation of House Rule 44(b)
> that I would raise that as a point of order.  Forewarned that I would
> do that, they slipped in dozens and dozens of items like this, some of
> much more importance, including an extra $400 million dollars of
> spending. 
> 
> The audio of the point of order and the Speaker's ruling is attached
> and a list of many of the special provisions involved appears beneath
> my signature below.
> 
> Previously under the reign of Speaker Black the rules were generally
> ignored.  In 2007 the Rules of the House were generally followed,
> except with respect to the final budget in which the most important
> rule was obliterated, at great cost to the taxpayers. 
> 
> Representative Paul Stam
> Republican Leader
> North Carolina House of Representatives
> Pauls@ncleg.net

PS- I apologize to having edited this more than once, I have had to correct several formatting errors.