USC drops some serious cash in Washington
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Ask a lawyer about ‘lobbying’ and ‘courts’ and he’ll help you file an amicus curiae brief.
Ask a basketball fan, and he’ll make a bracket.
OpenSecrets.org, a website that tracks federal campaign contributions, put together a mock bracket for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and advanced teams based on which school spent more money on lobbying in Washington. It wouldn’t have been a good way to win your office pool, but at least there was somebody who predicted Cleveland State over Wake Forrest.
Turns out coaching compensation isn’t the only place USC spends heavily (Pete Carroll is thought to be at or near the top of all college football coaches, and don’t be surprised to see Tim Floyd get a hefty raise after turning down the basketball job at Arizona). Open Secrets had the Trojans falling to SUNY Binghamton in the national championship game of their ‘K Street College Classic.’
USC reportedly spent $880,000 ‘in their pursuit of research funding, financial aid for students and other federal money’ in 2008. Overall, institutions of higher learning spent about $75 million.
SUNY Binghamton has a heavily inflated total of $1,820,000 because the figure includes all spending by the State University of New York system, which comprises over 60 different schools and is considered the world’s largest system of higher education institutions.
The only individual institution which spent more than USC was Texas, with a whopping $1,160,000 in 2008.
The University of California system, including UCLA and Cal, spent $810,000. Several schools in the tournament spent nothing on lobbying in 2008.
Basketball seems to have played a bigger role in Washington the past few months with President Barack Obama serving as first fan. Now that March Madness is over, let’s hope things don’t get mixed up. Otherwise we might find that the possession arrow is nine-tenths of the law.
-- Adam Rose