Flickr photo by Russell RenoOutside Sarah Palin's speech at CSU Stanislaus in June
Fundraising foundations at public universities would have to open their books to public scrutiny under a bill passed last week by the state Legislature, though donors would still be able to request anonymity in most cases.
It was the second time in the last two years that the bill, carried by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, has been sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. He vetoed it last year, citing a chilling effect on donors if their names were to be disclosed.
Though they perform vital fundraising functions for universities, private auxiliaries have also been used to shield questionable deals from scrutiny.
In July, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat revealed that the Sonoma State University Academic Foundation loaned $1.25 million to a former board member who later went bankrupt, costing the foundation hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have gone toward student scholarships.
In another case, broken by California Watch's Lance Williams, officials at the Foundation of City College of San Francisco steered tens of thousands of dollars into a secret slush fund that was used to pay for things such as parties and parking tickets for wealthy alumni.
The Los Angeles Times laid out more examples in an editorial earlier this year.
Yee's push for foundation transparency has become a hot topic this year, as a public flap over the cost of having Sarah Palin speak at CSU Stanislaus erupted into a scandal involving destroyed documents and eventually an investigation by Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Republicans who opposed the legislation last week accused Yee of playing politics, arguing that he had waged a partisan crusade against Palin.
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