Mar 11 2008
While Agencies Cut, House Speaker Protects Pet Projects
While state agencies face across-the-board cuts, a handful of projects supported by House Speaker Bobby Harrell are fully funded in the $7 billion state budget plan that the full House will begin debating today.
One Harrell favorite, $30 million for research university endowed chairs, has been criticized by Gov. Mark Sanford. However, supporters say the program has jump-started automotive research in the Upstate, alternative fuels research ambition in Columbia and medical research at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Another project, an ad campaign promoting S.C. manufacturers, has featured Harrell in its commercials. A third gives tax credits for hydrogen research.
Harrell says the programs are key investments in overhauling the state’s economy that should not be cut despite flat state revenues.
“We will miss the opportunity to be on the cutting edge,†Harrell said. “South Carolina has to focus on its future.â€
The House budget proposal would spend 4.5 percent less than last year, mainly due to far less one-time money available for next year.
I will preface this by saying the fact that the state budget is decreasing by four and a half percent is pretty damn remarkable because you almost never hear about a state’s budget decreasing from the prior year. They are always going up.
Having bestowed that flattery upon our ordinarily paltry politicians, the money that is left in the budget should be prioritized better. Where is the audit that shows unequivocally that the research resulting from the endowed chairs is producing a result that outweighs the investment? Where is the proof that running ads with Harrell’s face is actually increasing the revenue to our state’s manufacturers, thus producing additional state tax revenue that out paces the tax dollars that first went out to promote the businesses in the first place? What are the results of the hydrogen research and how has it benefited South Carolina economically? These are the questions that need to be answered and it does not appear that Harrell is prepared to do so.
Governor Sanford is in the right to be asking these questions.
