roanoke.com Real Politics / Preston Bryant

Preston Bryant is a Republican who has represented Lynchburg and part of Amherst County in the Virginia House of Delgates since 1996.

When Mark Warner ran for governor, he said that he wanted to take the politics out of higher education, and especially out of our public institutions' governing boards, known as boards of visitors.

In saying this, he was feeding on complaints that previous governors - especially his predecessor, Jim Gilmore - had simply named to these boards their political toadies and big-dollar supporters, folks who had little or no regard for an institution's welfare and whose missions it would be to continue gigging left-leaning college and university presidents who'd never had much love for right-leaning Republican governors.

So in February 2002, just a month after being sworn into office, Warner created the Governor's Advisory Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments. Its charge was to establish a process by which potential college and university board members could be reviewed and evaluated, with appointment recommendations then being made to the governor at least a month before a spot would have to be filled. The governor, of course, would have the final say, and he'd be under no obligation to follow the commission's recommendations.

This would be a seven-member advisory commission, with the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of the Commonwealth serving in an ex-officio capacity. In addition to making recommendations for boards of visitors, the commission also would consider potential appointees to the Virginia Community College System board and the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia. SCHEV is the policy coordinating body for all 15 four-year and 24 two-year state-controlled institutions.

Whether or not one agrees with the hyperbole aimed at Warner's Republican predecessors - and a lot of it was just that, hyperbole - there's nothing inherently wrong with a governor wanting a somewhat independent body making recommendations to him for appointments of such magnitude. After all, those serving on higher education governing boards have fiduciary responsibility for billions of dollars running annually through their fingers. You necessarily want good, responsible people in those positions.

But can we really say that under this new commission Warner is no longer appointing his close political kin and check-writers? No, not at all.

A few days ago, Warner announced more than 50 appointments to higher education governing boards, with about a fifth being reappointments.

Certainly, it always should be a governor's prerogative to reward his supporters with patronage posts. And Warner certainly has done so here.

The governor appointed Alan Wurtzel to the SCHEV board. Wurtzel, a former head of the electronics retail giant Circuit City, is a longtime Democratic bagman. A few years ago, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, he shoveled some $65,000 to Don Beyer's hapless bid for governor. Perhaps feeling singed on that one, Wurtzel gave Warner only $30,000 in his run for the top job, though he did plop down another $5,000 for the new governor's 2002 inaugural bash. Evidently, though, Wurtzel is like a lot of other Democrats who are scratching their heads on Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine's viability as their party's standard bearer in 2005 - so far, he's funneled only $6,000 to Kaine's PAC.

But with more than $100,000 sent to big Democrats over the last handful of years, why shouldn't Warner take a cue from, say, Gilmore and put a reliable partisan on a plum board?

Outpacing Wurtzel's Democratic support is that of real estate developer Mark Fried, a new appointee to the community college system's board. Over just the past few years, Fried has invested nearly $200,000 in the party's statewide candidates and PACs. He put $125,000 into Warner's campaign three years ago, and he's put another $25,000 into the governor's One Virginia PAC, the purpose of which is to support Warner-backed Democrats for the General Assembly. Fried also has given $25,000 to Kaine's gubernatorial ambitions, and he's backed a host of other Democrats along the way.

However, it's not necessary that a Democrat have really deep pockets to get the attention of Warner's advisory commission. Also eligible for higher ed patronage jobs are good foot soldiers for the Democratic cause who don't have Warner-sized wallets. No harm here, either - after all, Gilmore had similarly rewarded rank-and-file Republicans who'd toiled in the vineyards.

Take, for example, Democrat Mimi Elrod. She's joins Wurtzel as a new member of the SCHEV board. Yes, it's true that Elrod runs a small summer school program at Washington & Lee University, but equally important was her willingness to run for the House of Delegates last year in the Rockbridge- and Amherst-dominated district that was won by Del. Ben Cline, a Republican.

Also from over in the Rockbridge area, you'll find Nanalou Sauder. Who's Nanalou? Why, she's the Democrat who more than 20 years ago came within about 20 or so votes of beating a young delegate named Vance Wilkins, the man who would go on to be the architect of the two-to-one GOP majority now seen in the House of Delegates. Since nearly beating Wilkins way back when, Sauder has been a public school teacher, member of the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors, and legislative aide to then-Del. and now Sen. Creigh Deeds, a Democrat. Today, this Warner soldier is a new member of the Mary Washington College board of visitors, the Fredericksburg school from which she graduated in 1956.

So, it really can't be said that - even with this new so-called non-partisan higher ed advisory commission - attention isn't being given loyal Democrats who've earned their party stripes and are standing in line for their just rewards. Warner is rightly throwing big bones to the party faithful, some rich, some not-so-rich.

But it also can't be said that the governor and his commission are ignoring some of the GOP's big backers.

Just to prove he's a big-hearted guy, Warner named to the Radford University board of visitors a man who heavily supported his rival for the governor's mansion. R.J. Kirk, a Radford-area businessman, gave Mark Earley a whopping $150,000. Kirk's also a big supporter of Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, having invested some $75,000 over the past few years in the man who many believe is likely to be Warner's successor.

Other apparent Republican supporters also found their way to higher ed boards last week. There's John Gerdelman, a McLean businessman who's new to the William and Mary board. Gerdelman, it seems, has given more than $20,000 in recent years to Republicans. He also heavily supported Earley's effort against Warner, and he's given lots to different PACs controlled by Republican U.S. Sen. George Allen and Kilgore. Michael Anzilotti is a new Warner appointee to the Virginia Tech board. While Anzilotti did give a nominal $1,000 to Warner's campaign, he's given thousands more to GOP legislative candidates and causes.

And, interestingly, there were a few appointees who seemingly haven't given a single penny to any Old Dominion politician. Go figure.

Virginia governors should always retain the right to make appointments to the boards that rule our higher education institutions. These are plum patronage spots. Republican governors will mostly appoint Republicans and Democrats will mostly appoint Democrats. The victors should always get the spoils of political battle.

Occasionally, however, you will see governors cozy up to folks who often root for the other team. Warner certainly isn't the first to do it. Sometimes these seemingly odd appointments are truly merit-based, and sometimes they're little more than ivy-covered efforts to co-opt a guy from the other side.

It's all politics, for good or bad. And you'll never remove it from higher education. Nor should you.

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