Spin-O-Vista: Just As We Predicted

For those of you who are new to FITS, we’re never wrong … ever.

Remember that …

Back in April of this year, we published an exclusive report on the new PR strategy that retired executive Don Herriott (a.k.a. the “heavy hitter”) would employ in spinning the abject failure of the University of South Carolina’s spectacularly-wasteful Innovista project – which has squandered tens of millions of tax dollars on an ill-conceived speculative economic development deal.

Unable to lure private investment (or create the “tens of thousands of high-paying jobs”) that it originally promised, Innovista now sits as an empty monument to the failure of government-run economic development schemes.

The brainchild of S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell and USC President Harris Pastides, Innovista has already cost taxpayers at least $150 million (including over $40 million in state funds). The project was supposed to usher in the “hydrogen economy of the future” and bring “thousands of high-paying jobs” to downtown Columbia, S.C., but it has failed spectacularly on all counts.

Amazingly, it is still being funded by state and local taxpayers to the tune of millions of dollars a year – and that’s just its direct appropriations.

Obviously these empty buildings (seriously … somebody just needs to throw a big damn tarp over them) have dealt the University a major public relations blow, which Herriott has sought to cushion by – as we predicted- touting incremental “private sector” gains.

“Herriott will claim these small companies as early ‘wins’ for Innovista using his ‘small ball’ strategy,” we wrote in our exclusive report back in April. “He will then claim success with a big public relations (and legislative) push …”

Well, five months later (courtesy of The State newspaper) …

The University of South Carolina touted the prospects of a small technology development company Wednesday as an example of what its beleaguered Innovista research campus can bring to the Midlands …

“This is quintessential Innovista,” said Don Herriott, director of Innovista Partnerships. “It’s business people teaming with technical people to build innovative companies.”

Despite years of planning and millions in public money, Innovista has not come to fruition as originally planned. The developers of research facilities have been hired and fired, as was a USC official designated to oversee those projects. USC has now scaled down its vision of a research campus that can lure large-scale companies and hundreds of high-paying jobs.

Instead of those “home runs,” Herriott said Innovista is now aimed at hitting “singles and doubles.”

Wait … “scaled down?” Maybe the expectations … but certainly not the taxpayer tab. After all, Columbia, S.C. taxpayers recently approved a $154 million bailout for Innovista while state taxpayers are continuing to shell out millions annually on the campus in the state budget.

Interestingly enough, Herriott’s so-called economic development “win” – a 10-person start-up firm that will develop a “virtual test bed for electronic transportation vehicles” – is being funded entirely from a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Navy ($1.1 million of which goes directly to the University).

Translation?

It’s all tax dollars … once again.

At the federal, state and local level Innovista is continuing to rely on public funds to sustain itself – which means we’re continuing to invest (albeit non-voluntarily) in more of the same foolhardy speculation that has led us to this point.

That’s irresponsible in any economic climate – but totally unforgivable in this one.

Not only is it past time for S.C. leaders to pull the plug on this boondoggle, but they must also begin the process of refocusing our state’s colleges and universities on their core mission of educating students.