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Among the 212 Pioneers, the top overall contributors to Bush�s gubernatorial campaigns are: Charles J. Wyly, Jr., $210,273; Dennis R. Berman, $175,000; Louis A. Beecherl, Jr., $154,000; Tom Loeffler, $141,000; and, Richard Heath, $124,449. [view the biggest donors to Bush's gubernatorial campaigns]
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+++++++The Bush campaigns� $1.4 million appointee windfall came from large contributions from just 30 percent (122 people) of the 413 appointees studied (the other appointees contributed less than $1,000 apiece). These large appointee contributions ranged from $1,000 to $141,000 and averaged $11,259 per appointed donor.
Half of this $1.4 million in appointee money came from the state�s vast higher education patronage system. Bush�s gubernatorial campaigns raked in a $679,106 jackpot from 76 regents whom Bush appointed to the boards of the eight public universities analyzed here.Governor Bush�s single biggest cash cows were the UT System Board of Regents (contributing a total of $432,606) and the Parks and Wildlife Commission ($201,877).
UT Regent Vice Chair Tom Loeffler is Bush�s biggest-contributing appointee ($141,000). This lobbyist has been linked to repeated ethical flaps. Loeffler: sat on the board of the scandal-ridden UT Investment Management Co; he and his lobby firm were the hired guns who stopped the Texas Department of Health from cracking down on makers of ephedrine diet remedies (linked to eight Texas deaths); and Loeffler voted to license a UT cancer treatment to a private company that later gave him stock options worth tens of thousands of dollars.http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/tuesday/news_2.htmlUT faces hard sell in adding student feeSome students and lawmakers skeptical of need for largest-ever feeTuesday, January 15, 2002With a vote next month on the highest-ever mandatory fee for all students, University of Texas officials will be making their pitch to the public as much as to their governing board.
Already, students and some lawmakers who keep a close watch on the state's flagship institutions say they can't understand why UT-Austin is proposing a fee that would add almost $500 a year to most college bills when some areas of the university budget seem particularly healthy.
UT-Austin -- with a total budget approaching $1.3 billion -- has raised nearly $1 billion in contributions for specific programs and endowments, is preparing to build about $15 million in new athletic practice facilities and just announced a $250,000 salary increase for UT football coach Mack Brown.
With that in mind, state Sen. Steve Ogden, R-College Station, said "it seems bizarre to talk about how broke you are."
Both UT-Austin and Texas A&M University in College Station say new student fees are needed in part to avoid mounting deficits, largely created over years of declining appropriations from the state.
The flagship universities were disappointed in the amount of financial support they received in the 2001 legislative session and in the failures of several pet initiatives. Both campuses are recommending large student fees for next fall, which could set the stage for another legislative session of demands and few dollars.
"The general rule at universities is, they never cut anything. They just blame us for not giving them a lot of money," Ogden said. "They spend an enormous amount of time trying to convince us there's no other solution, but I'm not convinced."
However, state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, said a briefing from UT-Austin President Larry Faulkner last week convinced him the needs are real.
"The University of Texas and its leadership is doing what it has to do to keep its nose above water in terms of being a first-class university," Barrientos said.
Although Barrientos says he has a reputation for "fighting vehemently against tuition increases," he said reductions in state appropriations mean "they have to get money from somewhere."
The Barrientos briefing, just before the unveiling of the proposal to the system board last Thursday, was part of Faulkner's strategy to give state leaders, as well as Travis County lawmakers, advance notice. At the same time, Faulkner took the unusual step of outlining campus priorities for the 2003 legislative session -- earlier than usual for such discussions.
Although UT System Regents Chairman Charles Miller of Houston said the fee proposals aren't meant as a tactic to increase legislative support next session, it may have that effect.
"I expect them to have to pay attention to the fact that Austin and College Station have been underfunded for a decade or two, and we can't continue to underfund the top institutions," Miller said.
Last session, some legislators criticized the state's universities for squabbling over a fund designed to send more research money to more of the state's schools. That fight promptedstate leaders to create two panels to examine higher education funding. Ogden co-chairs one of the panels, and Barrientos is a member of that committee.
Also on that interim panel is state Rep. Irma Rangel, D-Kingsville, who chairs the House Higher Education Committee. Rangel opposes UT's proposed student fee and thinks it's time the state looked seriously at an income tax.
"The state of Texas is just not providing the funding that our universities need," she said.
UT-Austin and A&M would have gotten some financial relief if lawmakers had passed a measure they've wanted for years -- the elimination of a requirement that research institutions only recover half of the indirect costs associated with research grants, such as electricity, office space and administration. The money now goes to state coffers. If lawmakers approve the change next session, UT-Austin estimates it would bring in an additional $19 million during 2003-04.
But for now, the focus is on UT's proposed infrastructure fee. Collection would start next fall if UT System regents approve it at their meeting Feb. 14. It would cost $230 per student per semester for those taking at least seven hours. Students taking fewer hours would be charged $115 per semester. The semester fee would increase by $50 annually and would not be charged during summer school. Within five years, most students would pay almost $1,000 a year for the fee.
UT officials say the new money is needed for renovations, repairs and construction on a campus where such maintenance is long overdue. The fee would raise $21.4 million the first year and grow to almost $40 million within five years. Fifteen percent of the amount raised each year would go toward student scholarships.
But Faulkner said Monday that the fee over the next five years solves only about one-third of an estimated $150 million in needs during the same period.
Officials say the price tag for repairs and renovations for its aging buildings is growing at the same time the university must find about $53.5 million through 2006-07 to improve fire safety in its academic and other buildings. Several buildings also have water and environmental problems, including the Experimental Science Building, said Pat Clubb, UT vice president for employee and campus services.
"If we let it accumulate to the point we've got such a massive problem, that would be a huge deferred maintenance hole to ever get ourselves out of," she said.
And as for suggestions that UT athletics might bail out the university, Faulkner said the athletics department's $54 million budget is "trivially small compared to the size of the problem we have to deal with." Plus, the athletics department raises its own money -- mostly through donations, television revenue and ticket sales.
"The total budget for all of athletics is 4 percent of the university's budget," he said. "The problems we're dealing with cannot be addressed by all of the money in athletics. And, if we used all the money in athletics, none of it would be there next year."
While UT System Chancellor Dan Burck said he embraces the fee proposal to maintain services and stay competitive, student leaders are already rallying forces for an all-out fight against the fee, including an en masse appearance at the regents' board meeting in San Antonio. Although UT is planning campus meetings to air student opinions, students have no veto power, and the decision is solely up to the board.
Texas A&M University System regents in March will consider a new mandatory student fee that would cost students $30 per credit hour each semester and raise about $31 million over five years, with approximately 12 percent of the money raised each year going to student financial aid.
However, A&M President Ray Bowen is recommending that the fee apply only to incoming students for the fall and not those already enrolled to allow students to prepare for additional costs. A student taking 15 hours would pay $450 per semester for the new fee, which would benefit library and technology services.
"It occurred to us that it would soften the impact if it would only apply to incoming students," Bowen said. Since only some students will pay, "we've got to charge more to capture the same amount of dollars."
So why doesn't UT-Austin take the same approach with its proposed fee?
"It's legally a little messy," Faulkner said Monday. "We were actually very attracted to the way A&M was looking at it, and maybe it's worth looking at again."
Bowen said Texas universities, along with many others nationwide, face similar financial challenges.
"Our state is not alone," he said.
You may contact Sharon Jayson at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 445-3620.
