Lobbyists reap money for colleges

At USU, some of the $11 million has been used on a poisonous plant research lab, which is still under construction. For that project, Lee leaned on Sen. Bennett, who currently chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture.

In recent years, USU's lobbyist has consistently landed between $8 million and $11 million in federal funds for the school, according to Miller. At the U., the numbers are less immediately "tangible," with federal funding sources that are "dynamic and in flux," Lyon said. "We've got a lot of things going on."

For example, the Utah Museum of Natural History on the U. campus acts as the state's repository for any artifacts found on federal lands in Utah, which accounts for about 34.8 million acres of the total 54.2 million acres of land and water in this state.

Because of the museum's role in Utah, U. lobbyists make it a priority, Lyon said. The U. may also use lobbyists to help find funds for a new brain institute, which will cost somewhere between $100 million and $200 million to build. Lobbyist-generated funds in the range of $1 million to $4 million go toward a variety of research projects at the U.

On the state level, Lyon and Utah Valley State College legislative liaison, Val Peterson, do the lobbying for their schools. Capital projects are the subjects of meetings that start well before the 45-day session begins in January.

One such project involves a state request of $37.7 million to help fund a digital learning center on UVSC's Orem campus. That project is not yet on the to-do list for UVSC's lobbyist, Elaine Englehardt, who is on sabbatical but normally serves as the school's vice president for academic affairs.

In the early going, Englehardt-the-lobbyist has secured $1 million for a scientific field station, which is supposed to break ground on an old dude ranch inside Capital Reef National Park in the spring. Students will use the "environmentally friendly" site as a base for studying geology, astronomy and botany.

So far, Englehardt spends only a small amount of time lobbying for UVSC, with about three visits a year to Washington. Another person helps her with lobbying two days a month.

Hatch and Bennett get high praise from Englehardt.

"They're always so encouraging and supportive of higher education," she said. "If there is a way they can help us out, they do."

Along with the UVSC learning center, the U.'s Marriott Library is again on the state's list of projects that require large sums of limited state funding.

The U. is knocking on state lawmaker doors for $48.4 million — it may help this year that the State Building Board ranked the project one of its highest priorities among a list of 20 state projects that need funding for 2006.

While U. officials worry their library will crumble in an earthquake and wait for the state to help fund major seismic upgrades to the building, Washington lobbyists have already helped secure some money, $2.9 million, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "They played a very significant role in that," Lyon said.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com