McDonnell's BOV: Who gets their donations?
Since what's now called "UVA June," the question has arisen: Why should the governor, whose budget funds just seven percent of the University of Virginia's operations, get to make 100 percent of the appointments to its Board of Visitors?
Also in this issue:
• Prospective presidents: How they might appeal to McDonnell's BOV
• UVA June: Dragas just a tool in right-wing 'reform' - essay
McDonnell is far from the first to elevate cronies to the prestigious governing board of the state's flagship University. It was Doug Wilder who put the undiplomaed Patricia Kluge on the Board back in 1990. And as for the woman who has received thousands of requests for her resignation, Rector Helen Dragas, it was Democrat Tim Kaine who first put her on the board– though, as pundit Larry Sabato indicated via crisis-time Tweets, the UVA debacle would become Republican Governor Bob McDonnell's problem if he reappointed Dragas.
According to figures compiled below, five members of the Board have made no gubernatorial donations but have instead made extensive contributions to UVA and/or to higher education in the state.
Two individuals stand out as having limited connections to UVA but rather strong political connections: political operative/would-be politician Bobbie Kilberg and longtime Republican insider/lobbyist Frank Atkinson. Another, Randal Kirk, having directed over $1.2 million to the two governors who named him to the board, has the dubious distinction of having the highest ratio of political to UVA contributions, a ratio of about 21:1. However, Bobbie Kilberg, having given UVA just $100 over the years, is a close second with a ratio of about 17:1.
While a relatively recent arrival to UVA and not a member of its board, President Teresa Sullivan has made financial contributions to the University that surpass those of most board members. Since she became president in August of 2010, Sullivan has, according to the UVA news office, contributed $322,216.
In late June of this year, the governor unilaterally named a UVA donor and a longtime administrator as special advisors. The two have no votes; but, as we recently learned when one of them denounced the idea of talking about "UVA June," plenty of voice.
Governor McDonnell has now put his stamp of approval on 13 of the 17 voting members of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors. Next July, he will have appointed or reappointed all 17. Unless the General Assembly intervenes in January, UVA will then have an exclusively McDonnell-chosen board.
A. Macdonald Caputo (age 59 approx.) A longtime investment banker with Morgan Stanley, Greenwich resident Caputo attended UVA where he captained the soccer and lacrosse teams, and earned an All-American designation in lacrosse. Before joining the BOV, Caputo served on a preschool and a prep school board as well as the board of Pace University and several UVA foundation boards including the Jefferson Scholars program and the University's investment organization, UVIMCO.
Appointed: 2005 by Mark Warner; reappointed 2009 by Kaine. Must leave in 2013.
Donations to governors: none
Donations to UVA: $1,517,605
Vincent J. Mastracco, Jr. (age 73) A partner in the Norfolk office of Kaufman & Canoles, Mastracco works as a business attorney with expertise in tax-exempt financing and public-private partnerships. He earned his B.A. from UVA in 1961 and law degrees from the University of Richmond and New York University. Although ex-member Heywood Fralin talked of not being "clever" enough to call for a full vote, Mastracco is the only current member of the Board to publicly explain the member-by-member procedure Dragas pursued to push President Teresa Sullivan to resignation.
Appointed: 2005 by Mark Warner; reappointed 2009 by Tim Kaine. Must leave in 2013.
Donations to governors: $25,391 to Warner, $43,300 to Kaine, $22,000 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $698,092
Alan A. Diamonstein (age 81 approx.) A senior partner at the Newport News law firm of Patten Wornom Hatten & Diamonstein, he served as a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates for over 30 years. Diamonstein earned his B.S. in commerce at UVA before going on to also receive his law degree at UVA Law.
Appointed: 2005 by Mark Warner; reappointed 2009 by Kaine. Must leave in 2013.
Donations to governors: $2,000 to Warner, $13,450 to Kaine
Donations to UVA: $64,772
Helen E. Dragas (age 50 approx.) The president of The Dragas Companies, the real estate firm that she took over from her father. In 1984, Dragas earned an undergraduate UVA degree in foreign affairs and economics before earning her MBA from UVA's Darden School. Along with former Board member Mark Kington, Dragas gets paid approximately $200,000 for attending up to 11 meetings of the board of directors of Dominion Resources Inc. Her husband is an attorney in the same practice as Board member Vincent Mastracco, who criticized the Sullivan ouster. She lives in Virginia Beach, though she has taken steps to buy Featheridge, an Albemarle farm owned by Tussi Kluge, the widow of the late John Kluge.
Appointed: 2008 by Tim Kaine; 2012 reappointed by Bob McDonnell.
Donations to governors: $6,000 to Kaine; nothing to McDonnell.
Donations to UVA: $153,046
Randal J. Kirk (age 58) He earned his undergraduate degree from Radford University, an institution he would later serve as a board member and rector. He received his law degree from UVA. Since 1999, he has run Third Security, LLC, a Radford-based venture capital firm. He also founded New River Pharmaceuticals Inc., the company that he took public in 2007, which in turn took him from multi-millionaire to billionaire. While Kirk has just one UVA degree, a recent email indicates that one of his nannies has two degrees from UVA. Despite missing the last two board meetings, Kirk tells the Hook he remains on the UVA board.
Appointed: 2009 by Tim Kaine; 2013 eligible for reappointment by Bob McDonnell.
Donations to governors: $940,000 to Kaine, $300,000 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $60,000
Hunter E. Craig (age 51) No stranger to Hook readers, Craig is the embattled Virginia National Bank founder and Albemarle County land speculator whose biggest deal, the state's late 2009 purchase of his tract called Biscuit Run, has ensnared the administrations of at least two governors. And his civil litigation against the state is said to be going to trial early next year in his quest for about $20 million in tax credits to rescue his finances. If Craig has been the poster child for the attempted socialization of failure, his BOV role has been considerably more complex. It started June 10 when, as the sole Charlottesville member of the Board's Executive Committee, he cast a vote accepting the resignation of Sullivan. At the close of the marathon BOV meeting that ended June 19, he voiced support for Sullivan and offered to quit the board to make room for faculty. Those statements– combined with his push, along with Caputo and Robertson, for a reinstatement vote– have put him squarely in the pro-Sullivan camp. In 1984, he graduated from Hampden-Sydney College and thereafter went to work in the family real estate business in Charlottesville.
Appointed: 2010 by Bob McDonnell; 2014 eligible for reappointment by next governor.
Donations to governors: $63,501 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $474,658
Stephen P. Long (age 52 approx.) An associate anesthesiology professor at his med school alma mater, VCU, Richmond-area dweller Long has a private practice called Commonwealth Pain Specialists in Richmond. A former member of the VCU board of visitors, he currently serves on the board of Randolph-Macon College, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1982.
Appointed: 2011 by Bob McDonnell
Donations to governors: $19,465 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $63,000
Marvin W. Gilliam Jr. (age 60 approx.). One of five children raised in the tiny town of Wise, Gilliam became the vice-president of the family-owned underground coal mining company, Cumberland Resources. Two years ago, in a deal valued at $960 million, the company was bought by Massey Energy Company (which, in turn, was bought last year by publicly-held Alpha Natural Resources). Presumably, Gilliam benefited handsomely. After all, he assisted the family contributions which led to an arts center in honor of their mother, who was the first art teacher at what was then called Clinch Valley College; and last year, brother Richard and his wife, Leslie, were able to give over $75 million to the Keswick-based foundation in their names. The UVA-educated Gilliam, who still lives in southwest Virginia and now operates a firm called MAM Development LLC, serves on the board of the Virginia Athletics Foundation, and his wife chairs the board of the UVA College at Wise.
Appointed: 2011 by Bob McDonnell
Donations to governors: $180,000 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $4,817,541
Timothy B. Robertson (age 56 approx.) As one of the four children of near-billionaire televangelist Pat Robertson, Tim Robertson launched his trusteeship career at Regent University, the Virginia Beach institution his father founded in 1978 as Christian Broadcasting Network University. Later serving on the board of Virginia Commonwealth University, Robertson has been president of the company that formerly operated The Family Channel and now manages Bay Shore Enterprises LLC, a holding company. In 1999, he gave his alma mater (class of '77) UVA $1.2 million to endow the Robertson Chair in Media Studies and launch UVA's media studies program.
Appointed: 2011 by Bob McDonnell; 2014 eligible for reappointment by new governor; 2018 eligible once more (because he holds the 2010 seat prematurely vacated by Sheila Johnson)
Donations to governors: $84,000 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $1,656,445
Allison Cryor DiNardo (age 51) Like Helen Dragas and presidential ouster cohort Mark Kington, DiNardo graduated from UVA's Darden School in 1988. This 1982 graduate of UVA's College worked in the George H.W. Bush White House as Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel. Later, she worked at the Virginia Athletics Foundation and served briefly as interim executive director. Today, based in Alexandria, she leads four companies that hold and develop wireless phone spectrum across the nation including King Street Wireless Inc, of which she's the president.
Appointed: 2011 by Bob McDonnell
Donations to governors: $9,000 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $37,348
John L. Nau, III (age 65 approx.) He's president and CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors, L.P., the nation's largest distributor of Anheuser-Busch beers and snacks. An $8.5 million gift from this Houston resident launched the development of the new history building, a key component of the $160 million South Lawn Project, which carried UVA south over Jefferson Park Avenue. He's also been credited for the launch of UVA's Gordie Center, which combats alcohol abuse. He graduated from UVA with a degree in history in 1968. He reportedly paid the $207,000 public relations bill Rector Dragas incurred after ousting the president.
Appointed: 2011 by Bob McDonnell; 2015 eligible for reappointment by new governor.
Donations to governors: $148,678 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $11,723,762
Frank B. Atkinson (age 55) The Chairman of McGuireWoods Consulting, the lobbying arm of the powerful law firm, Atkinson represents such clients as Virginia Uranium, Smithfield Foods, and the Washington Redskins. This graduate of UVA Law school, where he wrote for the law review, is an Ashland resident who has written two books, including The Dynamic Dominion, a college text about the post-War rise of the Virginia Republican Party, to whom he's no stranger. He was a political appointee in the Reagan Justice Department, served as Governor George Allen's policy director, and was tapped to Governor McDonnell's Higher Education Commission and the Grow By Degrees initiative, which helped propel McDonnell's Top Jobs Act. Along with Charles Koch and Edwin Meese, two of the more controversial members of the American right-wing, Atkinson serves on the board of the Mercatus Center, a non-profit based at George Mason University that links academic research to market opportunities.
Appointed: 2012 by McDonnell; 2016 eligible for reappointment by next governor.
Donations to governors: $3,250 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $11,085
Victoria Dux Harker (age 48) Recently named the CFO for Gannett Company Inc., the Fortune 500 media company, this McLean resident formerly held leading executive positions with AES Corp., a Northern Virginia-based public company that distributes electricity in 27 countries. Perhaps the greatest item on Harker's resumé was getting tapped to lead the finance team at MCI/Worldcom in the wake of the $11 billion accounting scandal that put the company in bankruptcy and founder Bernie Ebbers in jail. Harker serves on the corporate board of directors for publicly held Darden Restaurants, which holds the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains. Harker, who earned her bachelor's degree from UVA in 1986 and her MBA from American University, recently chaired the UVA Alumni Association.
Appointed: 2012 by McDonnell; 2016 eligible for reappointment by next governor.
Donations to governors: none
Donations to UVA: $34,430
Bobbie G. Kilberg (age 66) This McLean-based lawyer and longtime president of the Northern Virginia Technology Council introduced herself to the UVA community in September by telling President Sullivan to stop answering questions about what happened in June. Starting with Nixon's, Kilberg has been a player in three Republican White Houses and served Governor McDonnell on his transition team. In 2004, she controversially saw her 24-year-old daughter win a paid position helming a federally-funded program under Technology Council control. A two-time would-be candidate for statewide office, she made her last attempt as a bid for the Lieutenant Governorship in 1993. She served on the boards of the U.S. Naval Academy and George Washington University. She has degrees from Vassar College, Columbia University, and Yale Law School. One son is a current student at UVA Law.
Appointed: 2012 by Bob McDonnell; 2016 eligible for reappointment by the next governor.
Donations to governors: $17,133 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $100
Edward D. Miller (age 69) The Baltimore-based Miller was Helen Dragas' initial pick as interim president; but amid the crisis he told his hometown daily newspaper that a UVA faculty member would be a better choice. In late June, he stepped down after 16 years as the CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, a post where he remained popular for expanding services and raising funds. An eminent anesthesiologist who has written or co-written more than 150 papers, abstracts, and chapters, he helped that institution weather a painful crisis when medical testing killed a healthy patient. Originally appointed to the BOV in a non-voting capacity by McDonnell last year, Miller fully joined the board after the the most recent session of the Virginia General Assembly added a 17th seat to ensure the presence of someone with a medical background.
Appointed: 2012 by Bob McDonnell; 2016 eligible for reappointment by the next governor.
Donations to governors: none
Donations to UVA: $12,500
Linwood H. Rose (age 61 approx.) Just a day before formally ending his 14 years as president of James Madison University, Rose was tapped to the UVA Board. Having served as executive assistant to Ronald Carrier, the man widely credited with transforming JMU from a sleepy school in the Piedmont to a national powerhouse, Rose kept the expansions going by overseeing enrollment growth of 37 percent. Having recently served on the Governor's Higher Education Commission, he lauds the proposed expansion of state schools as good for degree-eager Virginians. He got his bachelor's degree in economics from Virginia Tech, his education master's from the University of Tennessee, and his doctorate in higher education administration from UVA.
Appointed: 2012 by Bob McDonnell; 2014 eligible for reappointment by the next governor. 2018 eligible again (because he's filling the 2010 seat prematurely vacated by Mark Kington).
Donations to governors: none
Donations to UVA: $2,300
George Keith Martin (age 57 approx.) This 1975 UVA grad earned his law degree from Howard University where he was managing editor of the Law Journal. Now a Hanover County resident, he is the managing partner at McGuireWoods' Richmond office, which he serves by practicing construction and development law. He is a past member of the JMU board and currently serves on the board of Regent University's law school.
Appointed: 2011 by Bob McDonnell
Donations to governors: $2,750 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $40,065
Three non-voting members:
William H. Goodwin, Jr. (age 71) As Richmond's only billionaire, this former voting member of the BOV has the distinction of rejoining the board that recently had his son-in-law and employee, Robert Hardie, as a voting member. The chair of a firm called CCA Industries Inc, Goodwin holds several well-known resorts including The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina, and The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Sea Pines Resort in Hilton Head and– most recently– Keswick Hall right here in Central Virginia. He was the man who claimed at the September BOV meeting that Faculty Senate Chair George Cohen was harming the University when Cohen requested answers from the board about what happened in June. Goodwin graduated in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech and earned an MBA from Darden.
Appointed: 2011 by Bob McDonnell (a one-year appointment with no voting or statutory authority)
Donations to governors: $149,500 to McDonnell
Donations to UVA: $50,508,352
Leonard W. Sandridge, Jr. (age 70) Last June, this guy probably thought his leadership days at UVA had ended, when, after 44 years on the UVA payroll, he retired as executive vice president and chief operating officer. A Crozet-area native, Sandridge maintains extensive ties in the Charlottesville area and seems to have been brought in to complement heavy donor Goodwin.
Appointed: 2011 by Bob McDonnell (a one-year appointment with no voting or statutory authority)
Donations to governors: none
Donations to UVA: $95,805
Hillary A. Hurd (age 21) The non-voting student member of the Board is chosen annually for a single one-year term, not by the governor, but by the board's executive committee from a slate of three individuals provided by the office of the vice-president for student affairs.
Source notes: Donations to governors includes gifts to their political action committees, inaugurals, and to the state party while they're serving or running with all information from vpap.org, the Virginia Public Access Project. Donations information released by UVA in response to a request from the Daily Progress. Ages determined by calling each member, many of whom refused to disclose their age.
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17 comments
On June 14th the Washington Post reported that :
"At least three members of the 16-person Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia were not privy to the campaign to remove President Teresa Sullivan and learned of it, as she did, in conversations with the board’s leader late last week."
How does this fit with Mastracco's explanation of how Dragas forced Sullivan to resign?
http://m.washingtonpost.com/local/education/three-members-of-u-va-board-...
It appears that the board is now busy re-writing history to cover-up their June behaviors that have put UVa's accreditation in jeopardy.
Jena Johnson at the Post writes :
* The board refutes assertions that a small number of board members acted without the consent of the entire board. To this, the board states that “the factual account of the process leading to the President’s resignation does not support this view.” The board describes its members as “independent decision makers of considerable achievement and experience who listen well and often, but then make up their own minds on the issues of the day.”
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/campus-overload/post/u-va-board-to-acc...
Ms. Kilberg is of grave concern to the UVA community. She is clearly against first amendment rights. An attorney should know better! This woman and her daughter avoid all functions where President Sullivan is in attendance. This woman has restricted President Sullivan's right to free speech. Kilberg must resign with Dragas. She is an obstructionist!
Remembering the 1st Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. "
I believe "establishment" includes a public university. We are not living in communist China.
Ms. Kilberg has openly participated in the prevention of free speech at UVA. This is not leadership. She needs to go immediately!
"Bobbie Kilberg ... is a Republican operative who has worked for Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.
Bobbie Kilberg is President and CEO of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a position she has held since September 1998.[1]
As a White House Fellow, she served on the staff of President Nixon's Domestic Policy Council. From 1971 to 1973, she was an attorney with the Washington law firm of Arnold & Porter then Vice President for Academic Affairs at Mount Vernon College. In 1975 she return to the White House as Associate Counsel to the President under Gerald Ford.[2][3]
Kilberg directed a project on the future of private philanthropy at the Aspen Institute beginning in 1978 then she moved to the Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies in 1982 as Vice President and General Counsel.[3]
She held two consecutive positions for President George H.W. Bush, as Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaison and as Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.[2]
In December 2001, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology during his term in office.[3]
In Virginia, Bobbie Kilberg has served on the Speaker's Citizens Advisory Committee on Legislative Compensation, on the Joint Judicial Advisory Committee for the merit selection of judges, on the Attorney General's Task Forces on Identity Theft, Regulatory Reform and Economic Development, and Youth Internet Safety, and on the Governor's Northern Virginia BRAC Working Group. In November 2009, Governor Bob McDonnell named her as one of the five Co-Chairs of his Transition Team. In May 2010, she was named to the Governor's Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring and, in August 2010, she was named to the Governor's Commission on Military and National Security Facilities.[1][4]'
wikipedia 2012
Education, Section 23-70
Submitted by jeffersonian1 on Fri, 06/29/2012 at 6:15 pm.
B. All appointments on or after July 1, 2008, shall be for terms of four years and commence July 1 of the first year of appointment, except that appointments to fill vacancies shall be made for the unexpired terms. Members shall complete their service on June 30 of the year in which their respective terms expire, including appointments made prior to July 1, 2008. All appointments for full terms, as well as to fill vacancies, shall be made by the Governor subject to confirmation by the Senate and the House of Delegates."
Please Senate and House - do not confirm BoV at UVA - Dragas is a disgrace and Kilberg does not believe in the first amendment. Dragas and Kilberg OUT!
The connections between the Koch brothers and the UVa board need to be investigated .
Can anyone shed further light on this ?
Who does receive their donations?
Well, we know where the Jones' donations went. Basketball Court and Yoga Studio. Then he complains about the ranking of UVA! Cause for concerned parents...
My opinion is that there is no way a "contemplative sciences" building would sway my daughter to attend UVA. She is one of your top graduate applicants. She is interested in the Research opportunities. She wanted to work side-by-side with your esteemed faculty/researchers and other students.
There is no way the yoga building yields a better ranking for UVA. What fools the Jones' have perpetrated upon the UVA BoV. Then again, Dragas is at the helm. No leadership at all. UVA will lose its' accreditation, and deservedly so.
A contemplative sciences Yoga studio is absurd. Where in the ranking reports does a Yoga Studio, designed to promote Mrs. Jones' private investments, pay off for the students and faculty at UVA? Right, no where! I have a PhD and there is not one top 25 University (private or public) that has improved their standing due to a "contemplative science/yoga studio" nor lack of leadership in a governing board.
I do know that Christians & Jews have a difficult time bridging the gap with meditation & yoga - apparently, UVA knows better. I don't see how a yoga center at UVA promotes the value of a Research University. Anybody suggest otherwise, please give your sources?
UVA must realize that the American family wants their child to succeed. The American family wants to assist in their child's dreams. We are not willing to mortgage our futures for poor management of resources at the UVA due to such poor leadership as Dragas. Not now, and not ever. We want to see Dr. Sullivan succeed. We want to get rid of the dead weight on the UVA BoV, ie. Dragas and Kilberg.
Our daughter has earned her way academically; however she can attend UVa only if we support her financially. We won't support such ill guided governance your board has thrust upon the faculty, staff and Dr. Sullivan. You are grossly mistaken.
She will not be attending UVA due to Dragas and Kilberg. Why? Because we won't financially support such dysfunction. Dragas and Kilberg are obstructing Dr. Sullivan's vision, and our daughter believes in President Sullivan.
Nancy Drew wrote: "The connections between the Koch brothers and the UVa board need to be investigated . Can anyone shed further light on this ?"
Yes, agreed that we should have the details of the BOV members. BUT, we also should have the full details of Teresa Sullivan's relationship with MA Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, aka Fauxcahontas. can anyone shed further light on that?
'...there is not one top 25 University (private or public) that has improved their standing due to a "contemplative science/yoga studio..." '
And University standings aren't improved by a 300 level course in Sullivan's ouster, either. Or a lot of other 'fluff" courses that are taught, but no one complains much about those as long as the students bring up their grade points with an easy A.
Get the corporate hands off of public higher education. It's a nonpartisan issue really as both dems and rep governors created the current mess we are in. The Leg. should nullify all appointments, wipe the BOV clean ad start over with appointments of non-wealthy, non corporate faculty, staff, student, alums, community members who have not given to campaigns or have conflicts of interest,
Why is it that a lot of money or corporate connections makes you qualified to govern a public institution of higher education. Money does not make you smart, or right, or an authority on anything but mastering the dog-eat of world of survival of the fittest, Spencerian, Hobbsian, Orwellian nightmare of a market crazed society. Universities are not businesses or corporations.
See University of British Columbia Governing Board process.We can do it here. No more business as usual.
On the Koch Brothers connection: Go online to the Virginia State Council on Higher Education. Dig around until you find how ACTA was used to brief BOVs, look at the detailed discussion between the Industrial policy of he Common Wealth and the role of the Universities in serving that agenda. Dig around you will find the connections.
Waal, at least it is good to see who they all are.
I find it interesting that some listed here have not given donations to governors but I wonder about their donations to other politicians both at the state level and the national level and to what extent that influences their appointment. It certainly makes it clear that there should be guidelines for appointments that restrict campaign contributors and those who are being placed on the BOV for ideological reasons like they want to promote business-like management or privatization. So it seems you need to have some ideological balance. Just appointments more faculty or students or alums won't solve that problem. There are some faculty and deans who have swallowed the academia as business model. Maybe the Presidents and faculty and staff and students of all the UVA publics should be represented on a candidate vetting panel on which they can vet candidates not directly for their own schools but for the other schools. That list of potential candidates then would most likely be more ideologically representative of the Commonwealth.
And how do these people get so much wealth ?
One way is to avoid paying taxes by gaming the tax system the way Romney has done. Let'd examine their tax returns and see how many pay the 20+ % that you and I pay.
I vote to have the Governor appoint at least half the board from people who pay at least 20% of their income in taxes.
These people gain so much wealth because the middle class subsidizes them!
Romney can tithe his 5% to the Mormon Church and then reduce his taxed income by his donations. Where is the division of church and state in contributions to religious faith. Romney can donate to his own political campaign and reduce his tax burden. Also, there are so many loopholes that benefit the rich. Only the rich have the CPA's, accountants and attorneys that can bless this mess.
Political donations are tax right-offs too. This means we are subsidizing political parties we don't even agree with..
I love the idea of a flat rate tax because then no one has the ability to swindle another out of their tax dollars paid.
The Jones' donations of buildings (Yoga) were tax right-offs that benefit them. No one will use the "contemplative sciences" as a ranking report indicator. Nor will a student enroll at UVA due to the "contemplative sciences" building. It will only cost the UVA in terms of upkeep.
Jones is able to capitalize on their donation of the "Contemplative Science" Building (UVA will pay for maintenance, teachers, and all other costs) because it promotes her Yoga business and apparel wear. This is capitalism that supports elitism at UVA.
The Jones' can only sell their goods if UVA ranking is higher and that is why Paul Tudor Jones was screaming at the top of his lungs to get UVA ranking moving up. Mrs. Jones waited until now to promote this type of yoga because the Yogi Master died and then Mrs. Jones moved in...
Well, President Sullivan has stabilized the 25 year downward trend. Dr. Sullivan has the faculty in her corner. The Jones' should be so grateful. Jones represent the 1% and they do not represent the best interests of UVA. They represent their own narcissistic lives. This is not leadership.
I am going to a Yoga mat class at my public park tomorrow morning. Cost is $5 donation. Not $13 million plus upkeep. Thank Jones!
If Dragas remains, I am out.
Apparently, the BoV has more money than they know what to do with...so, I will be vacationing in Hawaii with my measly donation.