14.15: Legislature stalled, North Charleston, more

STATEHOUSE REPORT | ISSUE 14.15 | APRIL 10, 2015

NEWS

Legislature stalled on big issues

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher

APRIL 10, 2015 | Some of the biggest issues for the legislature this year look like they could come back as big issues next year, according to veteran Statehouse observers.

With less than two months left in the 2015 legislative session, it’s not clear whether state lawmakers will pass significant legislation on matters they stressed were important at the beginning of the year: toughening domestic violence laws, providing more money for road maintenance and repairs, and reforming state ethics laws.

“They haven’t really been able to get it together,” notes College of Charleston political science professor Gibbs Knotts.

To be fair, the tough often only get going when it gets tougher in South Carolina politics. In other words, lawmakers hunker down at the end of the session to rush to finish things as the political heat starts rising. It happens every year.

But the legislative record so far this year is think. After three months of work, lawmakers have ratified 19 bills into law. Two major measures — to make the state adjutant general’s office appointed instead of elected, and to authorize raffles by charities — were perfunctory as voters approved them in the 2014 election. Other bills that became law require mandatory furloughs at embattled S.C. State University to save some money and to allow the state grand jury to take up human trafficking cases. And if you were wondering, lawmakers also approved a measure that makes October become “Italian-American Heritage Month.”

Here’s a quick look at the status of three major policy areas that are unresolved:

Ethics reform

The Senate spent a lot of time last year grappling with ways to make campaign finance and reporting laws tougher as an ethics scandal embroiled then-House Speaker Bobby Harrell. In the end, they didn’t reach a compromise over whether legislators should sit on a reformed state ethics commission. And Harrell got dumped as speaker after resigning, admitting misconduct and pleading to six misdemeanor charges of illegally using campaign funds.

In January, it looked like ethics reform was on the fast-track to passage. The House passed a handful of independent bills on various changes, which caused the Senate to complain that it would be tough to handle lots of different bills. So the House combined its measures into one bill, which now sits with the Senate, again is bogged down on the issue of lawmakers serving on the ethics commission.

At present, Sen. Kent Williams, D-Marion, has a block on the House bill, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Larry Martin, R-Pickens. And until it’s removed, little can be done unless senators get the bill put up as a special order, which is tough in the waning days of a session, particularly with domestic violence, road funding and the budget on the agenda.

“My view of it is that legislators can’t be on the panel that reviews serious ethics complaints,” Martin said. “But there’s a difference of opinion about that still.”

Road funding

With South Carolina having more than $40 billion in road maintenance and repair needs over the next 15 years, lawmakers know they have to do something to steer more money to roads. To fail, they understand, might make the state less competitive economically because businesses don’t want to move goods on poor roads.

Three plans have emerged. Gov. Nikki Haley’s $350 million-a-year plan includes a gas tax hike of up to 10 cents per gallon along with a big income tax rate cut. House leaders have pushed a $427 million-a-year plan that raises the gas tax and boosts a sales tax cap on vehicles to $500, but has limited income tax cuts. And an $800 million-a-year Senate plan calls for a 12-cent per gallon gas tax hike, other hikes and no cuts.

The House is expected to take up its plan on the floor in the next two weeks. The Senate continues to grapple with its plan, making it likely that nothing will be ready in time for the end of the session.

Still, more money for roads is doable, Martin says, but Haley, who seems to have drawn a line in the sand about offsets for tax increases, may be a key.

“You’ve got the governor out there with a pretty huge stake in the debate insofar as what she’s willing to accept,” he said. “It doesn’t appear there’s a consensus at all that’s been reached about that.”

Domestic violence

There’s a tug-a-war between the House and Senate over strengthening domestic violence laws.

Earlier in the session, the Senate passed a measure that would toughen domestic violence laws, including keeping guns out of the hands of folks accused of the crime. The House isn’t as sure such a move is necessary and is working on its own bill.

From a procedural standpoint, the House, which should debate domestic violence on the floor in the coming week, has two options. It can strip the Senate bill it has received of Senate language and replace it with House-approved language. That would mean the Senate would receive the same actual bill number — even though language was different — and allow it to take up the measure quickly, which likely would lead to it being sent to a House-Senate compromise committee to work out a deal.

Or, the House can send its own bill to the Senate for consideration. But that would cause the Senate to send the whole thing through its committee structure, which may be enough of a delay to keep anything from happening this session.

A House staffer was mum on which option the House is expected to take. If it sends a House bill, look for real firestorms of criticism and a lot of finger-pointing between chambers.

What’s next?

Knotts says there may be two reasons that Columbia’s leaders haven’t been able to get it together this year.

First, House Speaker Jay Lucas and the top Senate officer, Senate Pro Tem Hugh Leatherman, are new to their roles. While they’re experienced in dealing with legislation in their respective chambers, their new roles also focus on getting the chambers to work together, he said.

Second, the S.C. General Assembly is starting to be affected by the same gridlock that has paralyzed Congress on the federal level. Republicans in South Carolina may control the House, Senate and governor’s office, but they’re not cohesive, Knotts said. And opposition Democrats are acting more like an opposition party instead of working together to get things done.

COMMENTARY

What was done right and what still needs to be done

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher

APRIL 10, 2015 | North Charleston, the state’s third largest city, has never been an easy place in which to live. With large pockets of poverty and schools that face inner-city conflicts not found in suburbs, daily life — even today — can be a struggle.

Back in the late 1980s as a police reporter, I headed to North Charleston often to find out what was happening. The police culture was insular, tough and tight-lipped. There was a particular way of doing things in North Charleston and often, it seemed, it involved knocking heads.

In 2006 and 2007, a total of 54 people were murdered or killed in North Charleston, which led to the city being named one of the nation’s most dangerous.

The city, which has roots as a working man’s offshoot of tonier Charleston, responded by cracking down even more on crime. Within years, violent crime and murder dropped to half of what it had been. And while many say the city was safer and more open because of police outreach throughout the community, a lingering question is whether vigorous traffic stops of a lot of black residents for broken tail lights or expired registration ran roughshod over civil liberties.

Maintaining safety while protecting liberties is delicate. The balance is rightfully getting more airtime these days in North Charleston and across the country after the shooting of Walter Scott last week made global headlines. An officer, who first maintained he feared for his life in a struggle with Scott, found himself in jail Tuesday on a murder charge after a video surfaced showing him shooting eight times at Scott, who was apparently fleeing after being zapped with a taser. Scott’s death was ruled a homicide by the county coroner, who said an autopsy revealed he “sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the back of his body.”

The video could have created a powder keg that turned North Charleston into a place like Ferguson, Mo., Cleveland or New York City where high-profile deaths of blacks by white officers led to protests or violence. But fortunately, that hasn’t happened so far in North Charleston — probably for two good reasons.

First, Scott’s family called for calm and change. They displayed an unfathomable amount of grace in what is an unimaginable circumstance.

Second, North Charleston officials acted decisively and quickly. Even before the video bounced across the world on traditional and social media, authorities charged the officer involved in the shooting with murder and put him in jail. The law, Mayor Keith Summey essentially said, is the law — for police officers and everyday citizens. And if you make a bad decision, you have to live with it, he said. The day after the murder arrest, Summey announced patrol officers on the city’s force would be outfitted with body cameras, which advocates say may help defuse situations involving confrontations.

But while the city is to be commended for handling things well so far, there’s a long way to go still. Body cams may help, but technology will not solve the root at what’s eating at police departments across the state, which has had other highly-publicized officer-involved shootings in recent months.

“Requiring officers to wear body cameras to record stops can – can – help document what goes on, but they aren’t a panacea,” notes the ACLU’s Victoria Middleton. “It’s possible that they could de-escalate interactions with citizens, but cameras alone won’t solve problems of institutional bias, conscious or unconscious.”

Communities and police across the state need to build more bridges. City council members and state legislators have to determine whether more resources are needed to pay police better and get better-quality recruits. Officials should work on ways to thwart racial profiling. They need to involve citizens to determine whether police need more and better training. Citizens need more confidence in police, who can earn it by taking complaints seriously.

And more than anything, South Carolinians need to confront decades of silence, ill will and tension involving race and prejudice. If Walter Scott’s tragic death teaches us anything, it should teach us to work together so any man stopped for a broken tail light doesn’t die from being shot in the back.

Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report.

SPOTLIGHT

Time Warner Cable

MY TURN

Give the president a chance

By retired U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings

APRIL 7, 2015 | In 1971, when Bernie Kline and I visited the Founding Father of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, I remember two things he told us at his apartment in Tel Aviv. First, was that “the United States ought to recognize China” and secondly, “Egypt didn’t want to destroy Israel.” Menachem Begin, Golda Meir and other leaders in Israel were whining that “Egypt wanted to destroy Israel.” But Prime Minister Ben-Gurion thought Israel could make peace with Egypt.

Today, we are hearing the same thing about Iran. Prime Minister Netanyahu whines “that Iran wants to destroy Israel” but I think that President Obama is on the right course with Iran. It’s reported that Iran could have enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in two years and this framework gives us verifiable notice in one year or longer that Iran has set aside much of its enriched uranium and stops going for a nuclear weapon.

This framework is not built on trust. Secretary of State John Kerry has been working tirelessly to make sure we have all the inspections necessary to verify the framework and final agreement. Russia and China have agreed to the framework and we’ve given President Putin of Russia every reason to not continue with the sanctions. Increase or continue with the sanctions and abandon the framework as many in Congress suggest and Russia and China could lift sanctions and the United States would be all alone. We ought to be thanking Secretary of State Kerry for his persistent work.

What if Russia delivers a nuclear weapon to Iran? We’ve given Putin every reason to do so. We started the trouble in Ukraine. The U.S. went thousands of miles to the Russian border, to a Russian country, Ukraine, to inject fifty five units of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to “spread democracy” in Ukraine.

First, we thought it best for Ukraine to join the European Union. Russia countered to have Ukraine join the Russian Eurasian Union. This contest between the United States and Russia continued for months but when Putin offered Ukraine $15 billion in economic assistance, Ukraine opted for Russia. This caused the overthrow of Ukraine’s President which I’m sure NED and the CIA supported. The Russian Navy is stationed in Crimea and Crimea voted to join Russia. Civil war broke out in Ukraine between the Russian adherents in Ukraine and Kiev.

If Russia had traveled thousands of miles for Mexico and Canada to abandon NAFTA, and join the Russian Eurasian Union, we would be all over President Obama to protect the United States’ interest. But when Putin moves to protect Russia’s interest in Ukraine, we object to Putin’s aggression. We have given Putin every reason to abandon sanctions against Iran and to deliver a nuclear weapon to Iran. Members of Congress who are opposing this framework with Iran are thinking only about contributions for their reelection and not the United States policy to secure Israel.

The important thing is to realize that the sanctions have worked. The advent of the nuclear weapon has checkmated our military in foreign policy. Today, the economic, like sanctions, and our Good Neighbor Policy have taken over foreign policy. China learned this in 1989 after Tiananmen Square. The U.S. had obtained a resolution in the United Nations to investigate human rights in China. China went to its economic friends in Africa and the Pacific and there has never been a hearing on the resolution.

Members in Congress who oppose this framework, or want more sanctions, ought to realize that the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China have all gone along with the sanctions and framework. Now, if we dump the framework as Prime Minister Netanyahu and many in Congress want us to do, and go back to sanctions, this doesn’t stop Iran’s research for a nuclear weapon and it doesn’t stop Iran’s production of enough uranium for a nuclear weapon. It doesn’t continue Russia and China’s agreeing to the framework and their joining in the sanctions. I would suspect Russia and China, who already have a nuclear weapon, to discontinue the sanctions.

Let’s give President Obama a chance to reduce the framework into a formal agreement with Iran.

Retired U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings of South Carolina served 38 years in the United States Senate, and for many years was Chairman of the Commerce, Space, Science & Transportation Committee. He is the author of Making Government Work (University of South Carolina Press, 2008).  More:  FritzHollings.com

FEEDBACK

Shared parenting is best approach

To the editor:

The stats linking single parenting to prison, suicide, school dropout (and, in turn, poverty) and substance abuse are staggering! Wouldn’t be surprised if you could add teen pregnancy to that mix.

Shared parenting is, hands down, the best approach and I hope they’re successful in changing our antiquated system.

– Joy Campbell, Columbia, S.C.

Send us a letter. We love hearing from our readers and encourage you to share your opinions. Letters to the editor are published weekly. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. We generally publish all comments about South Carolina politics or policy issues, unless they are libelous or unnecessarily inflammatory. One submission is allowed per month. Submission of a comment grants permission to us to reprint. Comments are limited to 250 words or less. Please include your name and contact information. Send your letters to: feedback@statehousereport.com

AGENDA

Committees active next week

PHOTO

Pastoral scene

Kingstree, S.C., photographer Linda W. Brown observes there are still plenty of working farms in rural South Carolina. These barns are part of a farm in Clarendon County.

• More:  Center for a Better South

SCORECARD

From Bob Jones U to S.C. State U

Thumbs up

Spring break. Next year for the first time, Bob Jones University students will get spring break. Advice: Stay away from the Florida panhandle. More.

In the middle

North Charleston. The city did a good job responding quickly and decisively after a video showed a white officer shooting and killing an unarmed black man, but questions remain about the police department’s culture and the balance of safety, aggressive law enforcement and people’s liberties.

Thumbs down

Police shootings. More than 200 South Carolina police shootings of suspects in the last five years? Really? Let’s have a statewide discussion about the proper use of lethal force.

Kincannon. The arrest of former S.C. GOP executive director Todd Kincannon on a charge of criminal domestic violence is his latest run in with the law. More.

Edisto. The beautiful, black river that stretches through the state is on the national list of endangered waterways following withdrawals from megafarms. Studies are ongoing about the impact of withdrawals from the state’s river basins. More.

S.C. State lawsuit. Current students and alumni have filed a lawsuit against the state for treating S.C. State University differently than other land grant colleges. U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the school’s most prominent alumnus, said state lawmakers were partly to blame for the school’s financial woes. More.

NUMBER

8; 209

Eight

Number of shots fired at the back of Walter Scott, the 50-year-old man gunned down by a North Charleston police officer last Saturday. The officer was charged with murder after a video surfaced that contradicted his story about the events. Scott died. More: See publisher Andy Brack’s commentary.

209

Number of suspects shot at by South Carolina police over the last five years. A few have been accused of pulling the trigger illegally, but none has been convicted, according to an analysis by The State newspaper. More. Another story showed S.C. police fired at 43 suspects in 2014, killing 18 and injuring 20. One officer lost his life and another is being prosecuted for misuse of force, The State reported. More.

MEGAPHONE

Video justice

“I knew this family would never get justice, and this guy just hands us justice. He handed us justice.”

– L. Chris Stewart, attorney for the family of Walter L. Scott, commenting on a cell phone video taken by bystander Feidin Santana of a North Charleston officer shooting Scott, who later died. More.

S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA

End of the Civil War

NOTE: April 9 (Thursday) marked the 150^th anniversary of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Union General U.S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. While skirmishes continued after this date, it generally is considered the end of the Civil War. More.

In January 1865 Sherman began shifting his army’s right wing through Beaufort to Pocotaligo. Then on February 1 the soldiers at Pocotaligo moved inland while Sherman’s left wing crossed the Savannah River and marched through Robertsville and Lawtonville. The only engagement of any consequence before he approached Columbia occurred on February 2 and 3 at Rivers Bridge on the Salkehatchie River.

Some 8,000 Federals attempting to cross there were delayed briefly by nine hundred Confederates, who were quickly outflanked and forced to withdraw, clearing the way for Sherman’s advance through the state. Though Sherman feinted as if he were headed for Charleston, his force reached the outskirts of Columbia by February 16. Charleston was quietly evacuated the next day, at the same time that the major Confederate force defending the two Carolinas evacuated Columbia.

In the capital city, Sherman’s soldiers ransacked both the existing State House and the new unfinished one, and many of them roamed the streets drinking, frightening citizens, and looting at will. High winds throughout the night of February 17–18 helped spread multiple fires, and about a third of the city burned, although numerous Union officers and men tried to reestablish order and help Columbians save their homes and churches. Sherman continued toward North Carolina, occasionally skirmishing along the way and burning or ransacking portions of Winnsboro, Camden, Chester, and Cheraw during the next two weeks.

A limited Federal raid by troops under General Edward E. Potter in April made its way through Georgetown, Manning, Sumter, and Camden and was the last significant military operation in the state during the war.

One of the more painful costs of Confederate defeat was that 18,000 to 21,000 men, or one of every fourteen white South Carolinians, had been killed or mortally wounded or had died from disease. The most significant consequence of Union victory was the emancipation of 400,000 slaves and their subsequent attempt to adjust to their new place in South Carolina society.

Whether bitter amid defeat, devastation, and memories of the past or optimistic amid victory, freedom, and expectations for the future, South Carolinians would struggle with the results—and the legacy—of the war for generations to come.

– Excerpted from the entry by J. Tracy Power. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)

CREDITS

Editor and Publisher: Andy Brack
Senior Editor: Bill Davis
Contributing Photographer: Michael Kaynard

Phone: 843.670.3996

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Excerpts from The South Carolina Encyclopedia are published with permission and copyrighted 2006 by the Humanities Council SC. Excerpts were edited by Walter Edgar and published by the University of South Carolina Press. Statehouse Report has partnered with USC Press to provide readers with this interesting weekly historical excerpt about the state. Republication is not allowed. For additional information about Statehouse Report, including information on underwriting, go to https://www.statehousereport.com/.