Sources: Audit Uncovers Illegal Innovista Matches

An audit of the Palmetto State’s controversial “endowed chairs” program – which is nothing but a glorified higher ed slush fund when you get right down to it – has reportedly found that the University of South Carolina illegally matched private funds for its hydrogen fuel cell research efforts.

“Material findings involve the illegal match of private funds in the hydrogen area,” said a source familiar with the audit.

Illegal.  That’s a strong word, people.

Additional findings are on the way which allegedly expose even more illegalities, sources tell FITS, developments which could mean major problems down the road for S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell and S.C. Lottery Chairwoman Paula Harper Bethea – who ran the endowed chairs program when the alleged illegalities were said to have occurred.

Another source who serves on the state’s Commission on Higher Education (CHE) disputed that contention, however, saying that anyone looking to find evidence of illegal activity with respect to the endowed chairs program would be “disappointed.”

Fueling conspiracy theories, though, is the fact the agency responsible for the endowed chairs program has yet to publicly release the findings of the audit, which were discussed by the CHE board at a meeting on November 9.

The CHE also hasn’t released the minutes of that meeting – or a transcript.

So what happened here, exactly?

The accusation is that the University – in its lust to pump more public money into a failed government-run economic development project – failed to find matching private funding as required by law.

Under the state legislation authorizing the endowed chairs program, every dollar that state government spends on the program (which is funded with lottery revenue) must be matched by non-state dollars.

Originally, this was intended to mean private sector matching funds, but the lion’s share of the “matching” money has actually come from other taxpayer-funded sources.

Government “matching” government, in other words.

Innovista is a perfect example of the bastardization of the term “private match.”

Over $155 million has been spent on the Innovista project to date – although only $5 million of that money has come from private investment.  The rest has come from state, federal and local governments – and the University, of course.

Innovista – a colossal failure by any definition of the term – is nonetheless set to receive an additional $153.9 million in government funding from a new City of Columbia “Tax Increment Financing” district.

Questions  how USC was funding its endowed chairs received significant airplay earlier this year when the school successfully funneled $800,000 from its football program’s TV contract into the “nonstate match for research endowments.”

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