But program meant to boost research still has support in Legislature

By JOHN O’CONNOR
joconnor@thestate.com

Gov. Mark Sanford wants lawmakers not to extend a program designed to boost high-tech research at state universities.

In a letter to lawmakers, Sanford said the program — officially called the Centers of Economic Excellence but more commonly known as endowed chairs — has “very consistently broken” with lawmakers’ original intent.

Sanford said the program — which has helped pay for hydrogen fuel and medical research at USC — has failed to raise promised private investment, among other complaints.

But lawmakers and business leaders said the program is working and is a key to transforming the state’s economy.

“This is one of the few things South Carolina is doing, thinking 10, 20 years out,” said House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. “We’re trying to replicate what they’ve done in North Carolina with the Research Triangle, and we’re trying to do it faster.”

Since its start in 2002, the endowed chairs program has received $180 million from lottery profits — $30 million a year. However, the legislation that created the program set limits, saying it should get no more than $200 million by 2010.

A Harrell-sponsored bill before the House would lift the limits on the program, and allow the General Assembly to approve or deny additional money annually.

The money typically is doled out in $2 million to $5 million endowments, which the school getting the money must match with private gifts or federal grants. The research programs and salaries are paid for with interest earned on the endowments.

In his letter, Sanford said the endowed chairs program is relying more and more on public money instead of attracting private investment. In a tight budget year, Sanford said the state could use the money on a host of other things, including paying for the health care of state retirees.

Joel Sawyer, Sanford’s spokesman, cited a North Charleston campus housing the H.L. Hunley submarine as an example of questionable use of the program.

The land was owned by a state agency but transferred to the city of North Charleston. North Charleston then gave the land to Clemson, which counted the land as a private contribution to tap state money in the endowed chairs program to start the Clemson University research campus housing the Hunley.

However, Harrell disagreed the program was being misused. Those receiving money, he said, have 18 months to track down matching funds; most recipients have done so.

Some state business leaders also support the program.

Ed Sellers, chairman of New Carolina, South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness, described Sanford’s position on the endowed chairs program as “unfortunate, too bad.”

“He’s wrong,” Sellers said of the governor’s opposition to the program. “He’s a friend of a lot of us, but he’s just wrong. We don’t think that position will stand because it’s not in the best long-term interest of South Carolina.”

Jay Moskowitz, president of Health Sciences South Carolina in Columbia, a collaboration of the research universities and four hospitals, said the program is creating a “cascade of people” recruited to do scientific research in South Carolina by the 15 endowed chair researchers who have moved to the state.

Moskowitz, a former National Institutes of Health executive who specializes in improving health care delivery, is one of the 15 endowed chair holders.

“The (program) is a magnet for South Carolina to attract great scientific minds,” Moskowitz said.

By the end of 2006, the board that oversees the Centers of Economic Excellence had approved programs valued at $119 million. The institutions had received pledges of $102 million in that period, the board said.

Clemson University officials say the $18 million in endowed chair money their school has received for Greenville’s International Center for Automotive Research has attracted $200 million in additional investment in research facilities and programs.

“We’ve had a pretty good success story,” said Clemson spokeswoman Robin Denny.

Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358. Staff writer James T. Hammond contributed to this report.

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