By Andy Brack | It’s already been an odd March in South Carolina. Recent decisions and actions are exacerbating long, deep fissures. Some worry government and the rule of law are broken. Other more conservative voices are wondering why the hell what’s happening took so long.
Just look at these four developments:
First, consider how the five-member state Supreme Court will be all-White and all-male later this summer when Chief Justice Don Beatty retires after the General Assembly elected Justice John Kittredge, who is White, to succeed Beatty, who is Black.
“And it’s 2024, not 1924,” state Sen. Mia McLeod, I-Richland, wrote on X. “Let that sink in for a minute.”
Second is the rabid patting-on-the-back among conservatives in the legislature who passed a law allowing gun owners to carry their weapons in public without a permit. Gov. Henry McMaster, normally not the fastest moving of septuagenarians, signed the bill quicker than he can blink, sending the gun lobby into an orgasmic thrall that’s not fit to describe in a family newspaper.
With the measure that has been pushed for more than a decade, South Carolina became the nation’s 29th state to allow open carry of guns without a permit, a move that many moderates believe will ratchet up violence in a state that already has one of the highest rates of gun deaths. Some law enforcement officers believe the open carry law will make it tougher to keep streets safe, as Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott noted after the legislature approved the proposal: “I said a prayer last night that Richland County does not turn into the wild, wild west,” he said. “This is a win for the criminals, who can now walk around with a gun and law enforcement cannot do anything about it.”
Third is the blustery effort by Republicans to rocket more state tax dollars into a small, year-old private school voucher program that rips off money from public schools even before the same Supreme Court has decided whether it’s constitutional. A new bill that headed this week to the House floor calls for removal of program caps and could send a $90 million a year program to soar to as much as $1.4 billion.
“They’re asking you to buy a pig in a poke because you have no idea how much this is going to cost taxpayers in the future,” state Rep. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun, said at a March 5 press conference. “It is an open check.”
Sheesh. Like that’s a good thing for public education.
And speaking of money, here’s the fourth thing – the $1.8 billion “accounting error” that stemmed from an earlier $3.5 billion accounting error.
You read that right. After South Carolina found a $3.5 billion error in the way it reported its revenue balances, which forced the resignation of Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, a related $1.8 billion reporting error now has been discovered.
The good news is the tax money hasn’t been lost and has, in fact, generated almost $200 million in interest. But the bad news is it has reportedly stayed in a locked transfer account and wasn’t assigned to accounts of state agencies. And because of an apparent change in the way that State Treasurer Curtis Loftis keeps up with the money (or, rather, doesn’t keep up with it), there’s no accurate ledger to show where the money and the interest need to go to.
“In layman’s terms, the issue is equivalent to a private bank being unable to reconcile its customers’ bank accounts to ensure each customer’s account and bank statement have the correct balances,” new Comptroller General Brian Gaines told reporters.
What a mess. Two things need to happen. The state auditor, who reported the new problem, needs to be independent. And the legislature needs to put a constitutional referendum on the November ballot to remove the offices of State Treasurer and Comptroller General from being elected constitutional positions. Instead their functions need to be consolidated, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate so someone can be fired when they screw up.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!