In light of criticism from state officials, the founders of LSU’s new lobbying group are shifting the committee’s focus from supporting pro-LSU political candidates to urging the state Legislature to support higher education by supporting its flagship university.
Engineering company executive Lane Grigsby and Baton Rouge lawyer Jerry McKernan, both graduates of LSU, formed the Tiger Political Action Committee last year to help elect candidates who support the University and increase funding.
“We came together because we both love LSU and thought we could give LSU more clout,” Grigsby said. “We wanted to give LSU equal footing with other special interest groups in front of the Legislature.”
Yet the PAC came under fire from state officials who felt the group did not support higher education in general but only looked to the University’s interests.
“I’m concerned about any of our institutions becoming just another lobbying constituency. It diminishes higher education’s standing as a state obligation,” Joseph Savoie, the state’s higher education commissioner, told The Advocate in October.
Grigsby said the board of directors has decided to change the bylaws to prohibit donations to elected officials.
“None of us have a stomach for controversy,” he said. “It’s disappointing that people look for the evil in something first instead of the potential good it can do.”
McKernan agreed the shift in focus for the committee is in the best interest of the University.
“We don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the status of LSU,” he said.
Tiger PAC now will focus on helping state legislators realize how supporting the state’s flagship university will only benefit other state universities.
“LSU should be the catalyst of change in this state,” McKernan said.
Student Government President Darrell Broussard said he thinks people jumped to a lot of false conclusions about the committee. Broussard said they thought Tiger PAC was all for the University at the expense of others.
“The truth is more that if LSU becomes stronger, everyone else will become stronger,” he said.
Savoie said he was not necessarily against the idea of a political action committee but was against the strategies it intended to use. However, he said after talking to Chancellor Mark Emmert, he thinks the committee’s “refined focus” more parallels the overall goal of higher education.
“The Board of Regents fully supports the development of LSU as the flagship university of the state,” he said. “It has a special and important role in the future success of Louisiana.”