By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It almost defies reality that the downfall since 2012 of the state’s number two and number three elected officials hasn’t yet led to major ethics reform. The once bright promise of more transparency in government is becoming dimmer every passing day.
Welcome to Statehouse politics, courtesy of the South Carolina Senate.
George Washington once remarked that the U.S. Senate was created to be a more deliberative body than its colleague, the House, where two-year terms inspire legislators to act passionately and quickly. Likening the House to a cup of hot tea, Washington asked fellow Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, who was in France when the Senate was created, “Why did you pour that tea into your saucer?” Jefferson replied, “To cool it,” reflecting a custom of the time. (I remember my grandfather sipping his coffee from a saucer for the same reason.) Washington then said, “We pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it.”
But failing to act after corruption scandals that brought down Lt. Gov. Ken Ard of Florence and House Speaker Bobby Harrell of Charleston is going a bit beyond being deliberative. It’s just plain wrong.
So here’s the back story: Legislative leaders worked hard a couple of years ago to pass comprehensive ethics reform that included elimination of leadership political action committees, better reporting of income earned by public officials and a lot more transparency, particularly with independent expenditures to influence elections.
In 2014, the House voted 101-12 to approve a 37-page conference report. But the Senate couldn’t get the job done, which kicked the can to the 2015 session. That was a new two-year legislative session, which meant everybody had to start over. The House, again, passed a bill, but when it got to the Senate, it bogged down again over two main issues — whether groups that want to influence elections must disclose donors and whether legislators should be policed by themselves or an independent group that includes legislators.
With the start of the 2016 session approaching quickly, it looks like ethics reform may be put off again.
“It’s very much an issue I want to see us act upon this session,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Larry Martin, R-Pickens. “ However, I’m a realist. Unless there is a change of heart about independent investigations and third-party expenditures, I don’t see much passing except possibly income disclosure.”
State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, said he wasn’t optimistic that an ethics bill would get done in the coming year.
“I voted for the [GOP Sen. Luke] Rankin plan, [but] the Republicans blocked it,” Kimpson said. “We really need a total do-over as the plans being discussed don’t get to the heart of the matter.”
State Sen. Paul Campbell, a Berkeley County Republican who also supported a bill to allow an independent panel to look into ethics allegations instead of the House or Senate Ethics committees, said the bill got filibustered last year because of “special interest” opponents who didn’t want disclosure of donors.
“We’re letting too much of special interests interfere with Senate business, in my opinion,” he said.
But it is constitutional concerns, said state Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, that led to him to oppose the proposal as now drafted.
“The ethics bill contains language that requires issue advocacy groups to disclose their contributors,” he said. “As long as that is still in there, I will do all I can to defeat it.
“This is an extreme violation of our First Amendment rights. There are several court cases that have set a precedent that contributions to issue advocacy groups should be allowed to be anonymous as it is a free speech issue. We may as well call it the incumbent protection bill.”
When asked about whether he could support ethics reform if the language regarding third-party groups were to be removed, Bryant said the bill wouldn’t pass.
“Many want this part more than anything else in the bill.”
Bottom line: It doesn’t look good again for ethics reform, despite scandals that tarred the General Assembly in a big way. But in the odd world inhabited by politicians, never say never. Get ‘er done
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. Send feedback to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
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