Southern Methodist University to House Bush Presidential Library

Southern Methodist University in Dallas will be the home of President Bush's future presidential library and public policy institute, officials announced today, launching a project that could require hundreds of millions of dollars in private donations.

The location of the project has not exactly been a state secret -- representatives of Bush's library foundation have been negotiating with the university for months -- but the announcement means Bush's friends and associates will soon begin raising the money necessary to bring the project to fruitions.

In a letter today to the SMU president released by his foundation, Bush said he looks "forward to the day when both the general public and scholars come and explore the important and challenging issues our Nation has faced during my presidency -- from economic and homeland security to fighting terrorism and promoting freedom and democracy."

The formal announcement of plans for the library is one of the first concrete signs that Bush, who has famously promised he would sprint to the finish of his term, is beginning to look beyond his administration. Bush was recently quoted greeting the mayor of Dallas as "my mayor," fueling speculation that he will be moving to that city after he leaves the Oval Office next year.

SMU, the alma mater of first lady Laura Bush, was chosen over several other institutions to house the library, including Baylor University, the West Texas Coalition, the City of Arlington, Texas A&M, the University of Texas and the University of Dallas. As with other presidential libraries, the Bush library and his presidential records themselves will be controlled by the National Archives, while the accompanying institute will be run by the Bush foundation.

At a news conference in Dallas, Bush's friend Donald L. Evans, the former Commerce secretary who led the site selection for the Bush library foundation, said SMU was chosen because of its central location in Texas, the strong leadership of the university and "the legacy this city and this school has with this family."

Foundation spokesman Taylor Griffin offered few details of how the foundation plans to raise the money for a project that could cost anywhere, according to published estimates, from $200 million to $500 million. The group did name an organizing committee that includes several of Bush's biggest political fundraisers, such as Mercer Reynolds, Brad Freeman and Mark Langdale, who is running the foundation on a day-to-day basis.

Griffin would not say whether the plan to identify the names and amounts of the donations, a source of considerable controversy with previous presidential libraries. None of the other libraries have offered detailed accounting of how they raised their money, according to Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. Krumholz said the libraries are yet another way for special interests to curry favor with a president.

"The mind-boggling amount of money being secretly raised for the library creates at least a terrible appearance problem for the President," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "All the donors should be identified and the library should operate in an open and transparent way."

Waxman was one of the sponsors of a bill that was approved in the House last year requiring disclosure of presidential library donations of $200 or more. The bill is still pending in the Senate.

Griffin said the foundation has been focused on the site selection and will now turn to the rules and approach for fundraising. "These are important questions . . . they will have to consider as we move forward," he said.

There has been other controversy over the presidential project in Dallas, with some Methodist leaders opposing the project and some faculty members complaining about the university identifying itself too closely with the Bush presidency.

"I am not at all a supporter of Bush -- I think he is possibly the worst president this country has ever seen," said Rhonda Blair, a theater professor and past president of the Faculty Senate. Yet she said she thought the project could have a long-term benefit for the university and "create a vital environment for conversations across the whole political spectrum."