THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 18, 1995 TAG: 9502180473
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
In one obscure corner of the legislative brawl between Republican advocates of minimal government and Democratic state-government defenders quietly sits an unlikely winner: Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology.
The Old Dominion's only taxpayer-supported agency promoting commercialization of research in science and technology, CIT was on the ropes this fall after a commission appointed by Gov. George Allen advised a cutoff of all state money. Allen then proposed paring the technology center's budget roughly in half, from $8.2 million to $4.2 million.
As the current General Assembly session ends, the legislature appears likely to restore to CIT as much as $2.5 million more, bringing the total allocation to $6.7 million. In this one instance, combative Democrats and Republicans seem to have declared something of a truce.
``I wondered where they (the task force) were coming from,'' said delegate Vincent F. Callahan Jr., R-34th District. ``I think the governor was getting bad advice. CIT is absolutely essential to the state. We're putting the money back in.''
As part of the deal, oversight of CIT would move from the Department of Education to the Department of Commerce and Trade.
Outside of a relatively small circle of high-tech habitues, university professors and business professionals, the center is largely unknown. Critics have blasted CIT for being bloated and bureaucratic, while boosters have argued that, over its 10-year-plus existence, the center has brought millions of dollars and hundreds of high-tech jobs to the commonwealth.
``The businesses that have contacted me are here in Virginia because of CIT,'' said supporter and delegate Alan A. Diamonstein, D-Newport News. ``People have testified time and again of the value of CIT to small businesses and the state.''
CIT was conceived in the 1980's heyday of state government expansion, brainchild of former Gov. Charles S. Robb, who saw it as Virginia's answer to North Carolina's highly successful Research Triangle project.
Since the technology center's birth, in 1984, the state has funneled roughly $100 million to CIT, which in turn made grants to support basic and applied research in everything from fiber optics to biotechnology. Most CIT-underwritten projects have occurred at Virginia colleges and universities.
The legislative detente leaves critics unbowed. One, Walter Curt, is the owner of a Harrisonburg electronics and software development firm. As a member of the Allen government reform commission, Curt was a fervid fan of the CIT money shutoff.
``You can't have government bureaucrats running high-tech research,'' Curt insisted. ``For them to restore funding to CIT is throwing good money after bad. The concept that state government can foster new business is the height of stupidity. The idea that government can spend money better than we (in the private sector) can is ridiculous.''
Despite the restoration, CIT president Robert G. Templin says the agency he oversees will be hard-pressed to meet all its prior program commitments, based on the original $8.2 million allocation. He and his staff, Templin said, have ``prepared for the worst'' if the bill fails to win approval.
Templin also says the technology center's work and role have been misunderstood by detractors.
``Defining us merely as middlemen in the research and development process is a misdefinition of the role we play,'' he asserted. ``The goal is creating new products and new companies in Virginia. We've been doing that.''
The final legislation authorizing the CIT increase and administrative transfer has yet to be voted on. If it is approved, Allen could still exercise a line-item veto in early April.
Overriding an Allen veto would require a two-thirds vote in both houses of the General Assembly. by CNB