The behind-the-scenes voting mysteriousness that led to Iowa State’s chapter of the Public Interest Research Group being zero-funded last week was a fitting end to an active year in the Government of the Student Body.

It’s a shame the result was a $31,000 blow to one of the most potential-laden student organizations on campus … but we’ll get to that in a moment.

We could bemoan GSB business being conducted behind the collective back of its constituents and condemn the “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” votemongering that took place among supporters of PIRG and Team PrISUm.

Taking this stance means, first, wagging our index finger at the naughty senators who tried to undermine any meaningful discussion of whether either group really deserves any funding and, second, laughing out loud at the comical conclusion of last week’s GSB meeting: The senate voted against itself. The incredulous reaction of PIRG campus organizer Chelsea Lepley made a lot of sense: “What just happened?”

It’d be appallingly na‹ve to say this kind of vote-trading is uncommon in any government, from GSB to the U.S. Congress. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be disappointed by secret deals and private negotiations.

Off-campus senator Drew Miller, who supported funding a full-time PIRG organizer, said he told engineering senator Sara Walter after the funding bill failed to try to get it back on the GSB docket. His bargaining chip: Taking the PrISUm funding issue to the GSB Supreme Court.

“I’m not ashamed to pull out the playbook to get [PIRG] passed,” Miller told the Daily.

We appreciate Miller’s refreshing candor and forthrightness, just as we did during his presidential campaign.

But, if these student organizations can’t win funding on their own merits, why should they get it through senators’ mutually beneficial handshakes (beneficial to everyone except the GSB finance committee)? Just because the national governing body passes pork in omnibus spending bills, should GSB adopt similar practices?

PIRG’s supporters obviously didn’t think (and they were right) there was enough senate support to get the full-time organizer funded. What’s Iowa State’s loss from not having a full-time public interest researcher?

Well … that’s not entirely clear. “Students are not well-represented in the state Legislature,” Lepley told the Daily. True. Just look at GSB’s lobby day, when the senators trot out their three-piece suits for a short burst of self-important, pointless proclamations.

Because PIRG’s work is based in research, it faces an uphill battle in materially proving its worth. If the New Voters Project is any indication, though, it shouldn’t take too long.