Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer thinks the state should consider selling naming rights to public buildings, roads and bridges to plug part of its projected multi-million budget shortage.

Bauer said the state could pocket money made selling ads and use it for maintenance or to pay back debt.

The state needs to raise taxes, cut spending or find up to $500 million to provide services at the same level next year.

“We ought to try to be innovative,” Bauer said. “Colleges and universities have been doing it for years.”

Schools have made millions selling the naming rights on stadiums. Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co. agreed in October to pay USC $5.5 million over 12 years to name the Gamecocks’ new basketball arena the Colonial Center.

Bauer got the idea when the state announced it would name the new Cooper River Bridge in Charleston for state Sen. Arthur Ravenel, R-Charleston, said Bauer’s chief of staff Randy Page.

Bauer’s staff is still researching whether other states also sell naming rights and how South Carolina could sign on corporate sponsors.

A spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford said the governor wants to consider all kinds of ideas to save money.

But the Legislature will decide whether Bauer’s concept becomes reality. To get the proposal before the General Assembly, Bauer would need to find a legislator willing to sponsor a bill on his behalf.

Lawmakers said they would be willing to listen to any proposal Bauer brings, but they were skeptical about the idea of selling ads on buildings or anything else.

“I have great respect for our lieutenant governor,” House Speaker David Wilkins said. “At first blush ... I don’t think we want to get into selling the names of buildings.”

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, an Orangeburg Democrat, was more blunt.

“Oh God, are you serious?” she asked when told of Bauer’s plan. “Rather than raise taxes, we’re going totally corporate and selling buildings? I don’t think much of that.”

Watchdog groups have complained for years that government is for sale. Now, cash-strapped states and municipalities are looking at ways to make money selling advertising rights for all kinds of government activities:

• The Chicago Tribune reported recently that Illinois’ governor is working on a plan to find corporate sponsors for state programs, events and initiatives.

• Indiana has offered corporate sponsorships for state parks.

• Wisconsin has considered selling naming rights on state highways.

• Mecklenburg County, N.C., is seeking corporate sponsors for televised meetings.

• And the towns of Chapin and Prosperity considered a deal in which they would buy logo-covered police cars from a Charlotte company for $1.

Gary Ruskin, who heads the Oregon-based non-profit Commercial Alert, says such ideas “are a slap in the face of the taxpayers,” who paid for the buildings, roads and bridges.

It also opens all kinds of ethical and logistical questions, he said:• Would state legislators feel beholden to advertisers? Would state residents believe the government is endorsing the product?

And then there is the question of taste.

“It’s within the scope of (Bauer’s) idea to name the capitol after Preparation H,” Ruskin said. “And why not hang a 100-foot Coke bottle in front of the capitol building? It’s ugly when your state is up for sale.”

State Sen. Tommy Moore, D-Aiken, said ideas such as Bauer’s do not acknowledge how serious the budget problem really is. Sanford and several lawmakers have proposed complex tax plans to reorganize how the state pays for expensive programs, such as Medicaid.

“It’s going to take a complete overhaul of the tax structure,” Moore said.

But Bauer said he is trying to think of creative ways the state can make extra money. He said everyone should search for ways to cut costs.

“There are a ton of opportunities to save taxpayers money and provide goods and services more efficiently,” he said.

Reach Talhelm at (803) 771-8339 or jtalhelm@thestate.com