Lining their own pockets with government largess is nothing new to Republicans. But GOP House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden has gone too far.

Bearden, the number two Republican in the Missouri House, is proposing to take millions of dollars in state funding from public higher education and ship it to private universities through a voucher program [1]. Already starved by GOP budgeteers, public higher education institutions are critical of his plan. But fear of retribution has prevented them from talking about Bearden’s real motivation--- to line the pockets of his employer.

Unreported by the mainstream media, Bearden is a “development official” or fundraiser [2] with Lindenwood University in St. Charles. And he has been a creative fundraiser. Drawing on his GOP roots, he once concocted a pork for tuition program [3] where the University would literally trade pigs for tuition.

But now Lindenwood is Missouri's fastest growing university and apparently the pork for tuition program isn’t fat enough to sustain their growth.

So Bearden is now dipping into the public trough. Through Bearden’s legislation, millions of dollars of public money would be diverted to Lindenwood, all at the expense of our state and community colleges.

Bearden’s plan to defund public higher education is bad public policy. But Bearden’s motivations are even worse.