UT President Flying High At Taxpayers' Expense

July 9, 2003

The arrogance of some state officials is mind boggling.   Thanks to another wonderful investigative report by Phil Williams at NewsChannel5, we learned that UT president John Shumaker had used the state aircraft to pay a visit to a ,uh hum, lady friend in Birmingham.   The lady friend is University of Alabama at Birmingham president Carol Garrison.   The state plane logged some 20 flights to and from Birmingham over a six-month period.   The fee runs $650 per flight hour.   That amounts to around $25,000 for the Birmingham trips.

Shumaker claims these trips were for the purpose of seeking an athletic director.   However, many of the trips were taken prior to February, when the AD search firm was formed.   Hmmm.   Williams notes in his report that Shumaker and Garrison “ have been linked romantically in Louisville talk-radio circles.”   On one of the dates Shumaker was supposedly in Birmingham searching for an AD, a local Birmingham society newspaper column noted that he and Garrison were seen together at a black-tie event.

Athletic director search trips on Shumaker’s schedule are listed as HOLD-SEC.   The black-tie trip was listed as HOLD-SEC.   When Williams confronted Shumaker about the discrepancy, Shumaker explained, “The SEC mark on a calendar is hold for a possible meeting.”   Oh, I see.   That happens all the time in the corporate world.   Yes, Mr. CEO, may I take the company plane to Chicago tomorrow?   Well, sir, I don’t really have a meeting but I have a possible meeting.

In light of the questions surrounding the use of state aircraft, Shumaker has requested an audit of his own use of the plane.   This should be fun.   I’m sure we picked up the tab for the tux.   I wonder if he billed the state for the bottle of Aqua Velva, too.

The irony in all of this is Shumaker has requested the state cough up $2.5 million for a new airplane for his use.   I priced some 8-seaters on the web and they certainly do cost a pretty penny.   The $2.5 Shumaker wants is not an unreasonable price to pay.   The questions are a) Do we need to make that kind of expenditure when we’re in a so-called budget crisis and Shumaker has been crying that we’re damaging the university with so-called budget cuts?   And b) Why can’t they go to the private sector to raise money for a new airplane?   Maybe they can sell a sponsorship - The Viagra UT-UAB Love Connection.

Here’s the bottom line: If the UT plane is a safety hazard and is in such need of replacement, as President Shumaker contends, why does he keep putting so many hours on it for what are, apparently, personal trips?   He complained that on a recent scheduled maintenance one of the props fell apart.   If it’s as dangerous as all that, why would you risk taking it to some black-tie event?  

And it’s not like he can’t afford a plane ticket on a commercial airline.   John Shumaker is the second-highest paid public university president in the country with a salary of $750,000.   Not to mention perks like a car, a house, an airplane and who knows what else.   Shumaker’s not alone in this abuse.   Who can forget the many golf junkets taken by Speaker Naifeh and the boys.   It is a bit unseemly, don’t you think, that while Shumaker cries to the taxpayers for more money for “the children” he’s flying high at taxpayer expense.

God bless Governor Bredesen for wanting to clean up government waste but he has a hard row to hoe with the likes of President Shumaker standing in the way.