ASG readies grading pencils

Due to a reporting error this story incorrectly states that Student Body President-elect James Allred served as treasurer last year. He was student body secretary. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

WINSTON-SALEM - In an effort to make student lobbying a more high-profile affair, the UNC-system Association of Student Governments has set aside $2,500 to advertise the release of its legislative report cards, set to be unveiled in April.

The state legislature returns for a short session in early May, and ASG leaders said they want to have the report card project launched before lawmakers reconvene. Grading every legislator - 120 House members and 50 Senators - has been a major initiative of the ASG this year and the primary focus for the association's legislative affairs committee.

Backing the project with a sizable advertising campaign would gel with the association's goal of becoming more effective at state-level advocacy.

"We're talking about putting ads in The (Raleigh) News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer," said Laura DeCastro, ASG senior vice president. "It's not just going to be in student newspapers."

DeCastro said the advertisements would direct students and parents to a Web site, which is still in development, where they could see how strongly each lawmaker has backed ASG's legislative priorities. The group is grading legislators based solely on voting histories, focusing on legislation related to higher education.

"We don't want to bash legislators," said Patrick Kelly, ASG vice president for legislative affairs. "I don't want to get a name as a bad lobbying group. We're working for a good cause."

James Allred, student body president-elect at UNC-Chapel Hill, was on hand at the association's Saturday meeting to lend his support to the project. Allred has worked with ASG before in his capacity as student body treasurer for former UNC-CH Student Body President Matt Calabria.

He said that promoting legislative report cards would strengthen the organization's role as an advocate for student interests.

"I think the strongest way ASG can help out Chapel Hill is with lobbying efforts," Allred said. "If we can get several schools to share the burden of lobbying and help take up the same causes we're already fighting for, then there's that much more strength in numbers."

That view closely echoes the Calabria administration's policy, which consistently pushed the ASG to conduct a more professional lobbying operation and often shunned the association's other priorities. Allred's comments Saturday suggested that his administration's relationship with the ASG could involve a similar focus.

"I think ASG does a lot with helping out individual student governments at different schools learn how to do their jobs," he said. "I think at Chapel Hill, we already have a lot of those systems in place. The primary benefit that we enjoy from ASG is the advocacy."

On top of the advertising budget, ASG is looking to spend about $4,200 on an April legislative conference to coincide with the launch of the report cards. That includes money for guest speakers and catering at a ceremony to be held either at the association's Raleigh office or at the legislature.

"It would be a gala-type event," said Marcia Smith Fisher, chairwoman of the legislative affairs committee.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.