About time: Bipartisan anger over political use of public funds

“Two state senators — one Democrat and one Republican — demanded Thursday that the California State University system’s trustees tell them who authorized spending for a ‘legislative report card’ that rated lawmakers on how well they supported the system’s political goals.

“Sens. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, and Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, both received low marks in the CSU compilation of votes and other actions affecting the system’s political agenda this year.

“The report card was apparently a parting gesture by Chancellor Charles Reed, who has announced his retirement. No legislator earned an “A” grade in the report.

“‘The scorecard is to inform the public on lawmakers’ support of the CSU and public higher education,’ CSU said in a statement when it released the report on Oct. 17. ‘Just as California has charged the university with educating and graduating well-prepared students, the university holds state elected officials accountable for supporting that mission.’

“Yee and Anderson said was ‘a gross misuse’ of taxpayer funds and in a letter to Robert Linscheid, chairman of the CSU Board of Trustees, demanded to know how much was spent and who authorized the spending.”

What’s particularly nauseating here is that Reed’s main beef appears to be legislative griping over $400,000-plus salaries for CSU chancellors — not overall system funding. This makes his petulant exit gesture seem more elitist and self-serving — we educrats get no respect — than a populist salvo for students.

Full disclosure: I’m not related to Charles Reed. And am glad of it!