Hammes' ham fisted attempts to curry favor with frats

So does this strike anyone else as just a tad suspicious?

In the latest community lobbying attempt from both sides of the Edgewater debate to garner University of Wisconsin Greek house support, the hotel developer Hammes Co. bused members of fraternities to a luxury box at Lambeau Field Sunday for the Packer game.

While at Lambeau, Bob Dunn, president of Hammes Co., gave a presentation on the Edgewater plans, detailing some of the neighborhood concerns with the original proposed plans and offering some insight into potential redesigns.

Dunn also said he did not expect the free trip to jeopardize any objectivity from the fraternity members in their view of the Edgewater project. All he could do, Dunn said, was present the facts of the project and listen to the creative ideas generated.

Oh no, a free trip to Lambeau Field with luxury boxes and free spirits won't do anything to jeopardize objectivity.

If it weren't for the fact that I question just how much influence those fraternities will ultimately have on any final decisions regarding the Edgewater redevelopment project, this would be sending up quite a few more red flags than it already is.

The "we're just showing them another of our projects as an example" line of reasoning seems flimsy at best, especially when that other project of theirs just so happens to be the home stadium of Wisconsin's beloved Packers. How that sort of trip wouldn't be expected to impress college students (or anyone, really), I'm not sure.

Of course, there's probably nothing illegal about this. It just seems awfully...untoward.