4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SENATE FINANCE
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2005
Pork
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But Senate's budget speaks for itself, groups with senators in them tend to get funded.
During Student Senate's line-item process last April, KU Mock Trial reaped $12,070 in funding — the largest chunk of the nearly $98,000 given to student groups in the line-item process.
Mock Trial's president, Angela Carlson, is a student senator and a member of the finance committee — and one of the members who uses the money to travel to tournaments throughout the country.
Although Student Senate has rules that prohibit groups getting money for travel, Senate allows groups to apply for exemptions. Mock Trial was granted an exemption.
The group is traveling to seven tournaments this year, and the group could also travel to the National Mock Trial tournament if it qualifies. Carlon, a Shawnee senior who has studied law, said the group drives to most tournaments but flies to tournaments in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. Carlon said the funding paid for gas expenses, plane tickets and hotel reservations, and members paid for their own food.
office.
Carlson said Senate paid for less than half of Mock Trial's expenses. Generally, Senate follows a guideline of paying the first $1,000 and half of the rest of the costs for the events or conferences it helps fund.
"I can certainly understand why you could have the misconception that crossover between student groups and Student Senate is a bad thing." Carlon said. "The reality is just the opposite."
To avoid a conflict of interest, she didn't vote when the finance committee voted on Mock Trial's funding. She said that any appearance of a conflict of interest was false.
Mock Trial also gets money from the School of Law, the Office of the Chancellor, the Office of Student Success, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a Kansas City law firm and a Coca-Cola contract, Carlson said.
Said Carlon, "It's a sign of good students being involved in multiple groups. Those groups do not come to Senate for frivolous funding; rather, their bills are often the most well-written. They also often spend their money in the most judicious manner."
Donald Haider-Markel, associate professor in actions like science, said actions like Carlon's were a part of politics, and so was defending those actions.
"One can always make an argument," Haider-Markel said about justifying more money going to groups with senators. "Who's going to buy it?"
Senators getting money for special interests isn't necessarily unethical in politics, it's convenient, Haider-Markel said.
Traditionally, money that goes to projects or groups who are constituents of politicians is considered government pork, Haider-Markel said. For example, money that goes to roads or airports in the politician's district can be called pork.
"Individuals with access to power basically make agreements, 'You fund my group, I'll fund yours,'" Haider-Markel said. "That kind of log rolling is pretty standard."
the school that elected them. For instance, the Black Student Union's senator, C'Nea Hatches, has sponsored bills to get $12,000 to help fund the Black Student Union and groups associated with its events and speakers.
In Student Senate's case, more than $61,000 of the funding is going to entities that elect a senator to represent them in Senate or have connections with
Another kind of pork, perhaps more questionable, is the money given to a company or interest with personal financial ties to the politician, such as
Also, the group gets money to send 50 members to the annual Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government.
vice president Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, getting lucrative government contracts.
Haider-Markel said that when groups with ties to senators got the majority of funding, it had the appearance of favoritism.
He said if Senate wanted to get rid of the appearance of bias, it would need to come up with a process for funding that took into account both the importance of the group to all students and rules concerning conflicts of interest.
One such rule: forbidding senators to debate or vote on money for groups they are in.
Besides giving most of the group funding to groups with student senators as members, Senate also allocates $143,000 from student fees to itself to pay for supplies, salaries, rent, speakers and travel for senators.
The largest chunk of this money goes for salaries, to a full-time secretary in the senate office and ten students. The ten students get paid a total of $61,280 to work in the student
Student body president Nick Sterner, vice president Marynell Jones, treasurer Bryan Young and Student Legislative Awareness Board director Josh Bender each earn $8,320 a year. Their salaries are based on working 20 hours per week at $8 per hour for 52 weeks per year.
Six other executive staff members are paid hourly with salaries between $2,100 and $6,300. Their pay is based on $7 per hour for 50 weeks per year, with each working a different amount of hours.
Students for these positions are picked from applicants by the student body president. This year Sterner, who ran with KUnited's coalition, filled six of the eight staff positions with students who also ran with KUnited in last spring's election.
Senate allotted itself $3,000 for travel this year. Like Mock Trial, Senate voted itself an exemption to allow funding for travel.
Last semester, four senators and executive staff used some of the money for a trip to Washington, D.C., for a United States Student Association conference. Senate paid a total of $740 for conference registration and $663 to fly there.
Sterner said the most qualified applicants were chosen, and Senate got the final vote on approving the executive staff.
Although Senate will not provide funding for other student groups to pay for food, each traveler was allotted $104 for meals, based on state guidelines for meals not provided at the conference.
Because Senate's own money comes from block allocated funds, a section of the budget with different rules for funding, they got money for food.
Senators say their own funding and the funding of student groups they are members of should raise no concern.
"Because student senators are some of the most active, driven and successful people at KU, it's no coincidence that they also happen to be involved with the most successful student groups," Carlon said.
Another reason could be that senators know the somewhat confusing process and rules that student groups must follow when getting money from student funds.
Student groups face a daunting list of 39 rules and regulations that govern getting funding from Senate.
Bogdan Pathak, a senator, senate finance committee member and member and former president of the KU Ballroom Dance Club, wrote a bill that got the club $6,600 to fund a ballroom instructor and events for the club this semester.
Pathak, Albuquerque graduate student, said he knew how much to ask for, what to expect and how to succeed because he knew the ins and outs of the finance committee from serving on it for three years.
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