Blip In The Matrix
Efforts by South Carolina’s research universities and their legislative sycophants to scam additional money from entrepreneurs and small businesses hit a roadblock last week thanks to a key appointment by S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford.
In a ballsy move, Sanford tapped Bill Masters – former Chairman of a state-run venture capital fund – to oversee the S.C. Research Authority, which is the very agency Masters has spent the better part of the last two years blowing the whistle on.
In other words, a reformer now sits atop one of the most corrupt agencies in all of state government – a clear shot across the status quo’s bow.
Why does this matter?
Last year, we broke the story of how the S.C. Research Authority – working in conjunction with House Speaker Bobby Harrell – ripped off $8 million from Masters’ venture capital fund, SC Launch.
Created to provide funding for Palmetto-based entrepreneurs and small business start-ups, SC Launch instead found itself being raided by representatives of the University of South Carolina, Clemson and MUSC – all of whom had designs on the dollar-for-dollar tax credits donated by businesses and individuals who had an interest in growing the state’s economy.
What did they want to spend the money on instead?
Well, USC’s failed “Innovista” project, among other things.
Oh, and a $200,000 grant to a company run by one of Speaker Harrell’s top political allies.
It’s all part of a broader “pillars and pyramids” scam being pushed by Harrell and his higher ed cronies – an organized effort to put government in total control over South Carolina’s economy so that they can hand out cash to the research universities and contracts to favored companies.
In fact, in one of numerous e-mails Masters’ wrote trying to stop the scam, he said “this money needs to be kept clean and not … be used for political and business favors.”
Of course it was used for precisely those “political and business favors,” and now Harrell, Dan Cooper and Harry Cato are trying put more money into the fund so they can pay more favors.
Will Masters’ appointment be enough to stop the scam?
We’ll see.
Incidentally, we tried to get a response from the status quo crowd to all this, but their high-priced PR firm in Greenville wasn’t talking.
Comments
By defender on April 30th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Another travesty. There is no excuse. The media is asleep on this scam too. That is the worst part.
By Defensive on May 20th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
So…..you’re complaining because the money went to state universities? Master is not going to be able to make a difference, when the public can easily see this is not a scam. And also “ripped off $8 million.” Masters company isnt worth enough to where they would not see 8 million going out the door. He is just as responsible as those others, and all they are responsible is helping to fund our state universities.