In their recent editorial on the back-room deals within the Government of the Student Body Senate, the editorial board was very astute. GSB should not be the place for back-room deals and “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” scenarios, which do not serve students.

The Editorial Board left one question unanswered: “What is Iowa State’s loss from not having a full-time public interest researcher?” My answer? Nothing.

Do a Google search for “Nader PIRG,” and you will find some interesting material. The nationwide system of PIRGs was set up by Ralph Nader as a network of liberal lobbying groups. On other campuses, students automatically donate to the local PIRG, which the local chapter spends without restrictions or line-itemed budgets like we have through GSB.

On other campuses, part of that money leaves the campus altogether, being paid to state or national PIRGs, even to be used as seed money for more fund-raising campaigns. The original budget request for Iowa State’s PIRG chapter (a whopping $66,000) even included some of these line items which, if granted, would have shipped student fees directly outside of Ames.

GSB law prohibits partisan political groups from receiving funding, which is why the ISU Democrats and ISU College Republicans are not funded by GSB. PIRGs all claim to be non-partisan, but what issues do they tackle?

The Iowa PIRG Web site denounces George Bush’s (Republican) “short-sighted national energy plan” and proclaims Tom Harkin (Democrat) as a “Public Interest Champion.” In fact, of the 30 “Public Interest Champions” recognized by PIRG, 26 of them are Democrats. The four Republicans are consistently ranked as the most liberal Republicans in Congress by the non-partisan National Journal. If this is not partisan, then what is?

While the Iowa State PIRG chapter may not be exactly equal to other PIRG chapters, if they are similar enough to share a name, then they should not be eligible for GSB funding, ever.

There is currently a lawsuit in New York regarding New York PIRG. The lawsuit has been filed by a right-leaning research group that has been denied funding twice because it is a conservative group. New York PIRG is understood to be a liberal-leaning organization and receives more than $100,000 per year from students of the University of Albany. To avoid disasters such as this, it has long been GSB’s policy to fund no partisan political organizations, regardless of its practices.

The only redeemable portion of PIRG is the New Voters Project, which did a commendable job, with the help of GSB, in registering many new voters for the election last fall. This organization is not in jeopardy, and I have been assured it will continue with funding from other sources next year.

Coincidentally, NVP has been registered with the Student Activities Center as an independent student organization. What does this mean? Simply put, if NVP would like GSB funding, it should apply for it directly from GSB, not through PIRG.

While the previous senate may have looked a bit foolish after voting against its previous recommendation, I must commend those senators for putting a stop to a highly questionable use of a large amount of student funding.

David J. Boike

Former Finance Director

Government of the Student Body