Some Love For Pippi
WRONGSTOCKINGS GETS IT RIGHT … FOR A CHANGE
FITSNews – July 8, 2008 – Let’s face it, you don’t earn the nickname “Pippi Wrongstockings” by consistently getting it right. Sure it happens every once in awhile, but by-and-large the editorial musings of La Socialista ’s Cindi Ross Scoppe come about as close to hitting the bulls-eye of truth as South Carolina’s government comes to hitting the bulls-eye of effectiveness.
Having said that, Pippi deserves a loving tug on the pigtails for her brilliant critique of our state’s thoroughly-corrupt tradition of allowing lawmakers to exercise hiring and firing prerogative over local magistrates. Using two stories we broke (this one and this one) as her examples, Pippi breaks it down like this in her remarkable column from earlier today:
Officially, magistrates are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, for four-year terms. In reality, the senators who represent a given county select someone, the governor appoints that person, and the entire Senate goes along with the pick. That’s problematic, particularly since our requirements for magistrates are not very stringent. (We do require them to graduate from high school these days.)
It gets worse. As The State’s Rick Brundrett reported over the weekend, when a magistrate’s term expires, senators can sit on their hands rather than asking the governor to reappoint or replace him. If the governor acts anyhow, the Senate can just ignore him. So the magistrate serves in holdover position — sometimes for years.
This is not laziness. This maneuver magically transforms the magistrate from someone who serves a fixed term to someone who can be fired at a whim.
In large counties such as Richland, there are several senators, with differing political viewpoints, to check the worst abuses of this system. In small counties, the local Senate delegation might consist of a single senator or, in the case of Dorchester County, of one senator who represents such a large portion of the county that the other senators don’t get a say.
Pippi goes on to point out that a full third of this state’s magistrates are basically under the thumb of their legislative overlords, which is sadly yet another example of why this state’s lawmakers should have absolutely nothing to do with the appointment of judges … at any level.
Scoppe didn’t offer much in the way of a solution, of course (liberals never do), but we’re hearing rumblings that a comprehensive judicial reform bill is being worked on by several good conservative lawmakers in anticipation of the 2009 legislative session. Frankly, it couldn’t come soon enough …
Comments
By Believe It Not (a.k.a. Sic Willie's Stalker) on July 8th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
“Using two stories we broke…”
sic(k) willie, the only thing you’ve ever “broke” is wind.
You picked up those stories from main stream press from the Low Country. sic(k) willie is just a pimp.
By rick on July 9th, 2008 at 6:01 am
All politics is local….we started with elimenating some of the most “in your face”, now lets continue to drive the message home to the rest of the power brokers. Only by starting at the local level will we ever clean up Columbia.
By fitsnews on July 9th, 2008 at 6:42 am
BIN-
We beat the “main stream press from the Lowcountry” in breaking news of the Sen. Randy Scott DUI arrest by over an hour, and we were the only news outlet in the state to post the Scott jailhouse tapes in defiance of a judge’s ill-conceived injunction.
-FITSNews
By Toyota Kawesaki on July 9th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Cindi has written 2 good articles this one and her article about the Trojan Horse.Of course yall wont admit that because of all the farts you suck up from SCrahG.BTW is that Pippi or daves daughter Wendy?
By CL on July 9th, 2008 at 7:15 am
You obviously don’t like how judges are selected in SC, but what is your solution? Popular elections? I have worked under such a system in NC, and the “quality” of judges is even worse than SC. In many counties, a lawyer’s only qualification for the office is being friends with the party boss. The judges rotate in and out of office so frequently that there is absolutely no consistency in the opinions they hand down. As a result, the Court of Appeals has contradicted itself on virtually every legal issue.
There is no perfect way to pick judges (or politicians), but I think ours is the least flawed. At least there is some sort of meritocracy in place where you tend to only advance up to the next court by being seen as competent.
By rick on July 9th, 2008 at 7:26 am
How can being owned by the local politician equate to competency? Politicians are not elected due to their sterling educational qualities. Time has shown that their ability to think through problems and refine solutions that address the issue in a real honest way that is good for their given state has been disproved on a regular basis. The average politician is elected not for any quality other than their ability to B/S the largest group of voters.
By fitsnews on July 9th, 2008 at 7:31 am
CL-
We’re not recommending public election. In fact, we think SC should follow the federal model and allow the chief executive to make these appointments subject to the advice and consent of the State Senate.
-FITSNews
By StupidShouldHurtMore (SSHM) on July 9th, 2008 at 7:55 am
#4 . . .
Please,
The only thing right about wrongstockings is her poor choice in socks. Reminds me of The Cat In The Hat . . .
- SSHM
By CL on July 9th, 2008 at 8:58 am
FITS,
Don’t confuse the method for choosing SC magistrates with the method for choosing SC judges. The magistrate process you describe is more like the federal system than SC’s system for choosing judges. The president defers to a state’s senators on most federal judge nominations. Strom Thurmond and Fritz Hollings, depending on which party had the presidency, picked SC’s federal judges for years.
In SC, anyone wishing to be a judge declares their own candidacy is screened by the merit selection committee (”MSC”), which evaluates the candidates and recommends up to three qualified candidates for every opening. Then the legislature picks from those three.
I don’t necessarily oppose the federal system, but it is likely to make the process at least somewhat more political. The governor would have the power to make purely political nominations, and the senate can only vote yes or no. Under the current system, no politician can limit the candidate pool to just their friends, and the MSC can, in theory, only put through the three most qualified candidates. This is something of a check on cronyism.
By Jane Jones on July 9th, 2008 at 9:25 am
There has to be a better method of acquiring a magistrate. Ours lays in his office on his couch, watching television, while smoking……nice appearance for a county office, good ole boy. But guess what….he doesn’t answer to county officials….only our local senator who just appointed a new assistant magistrate….a fine fellow who was thrown out of the country club for peeing in public! It doesn’t get any better
By Believe It Not (a.k.a. Sic Willie's Stalker) on July 9th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
sic(k) willie claims he beat the mainstream press by over an hour.
Wow! Yawn!
All that means is a politically motivated low country pimp called some politically motivated midlands pimp before the papers could print the story. sic(k) willie, readers know what you’re doing. You pimp stories and claim to break news. All you really break is wind.
Then you violated the man’s Constitutional rights and a Court order by posting the audio of his phone calls. Maybe we need to do an FOI for the tapes of your phone calls from your last few arrests.
Fair. Balance.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balance
By Dixie on July 10th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Why is it that liberals are always expected to come up with solutions to problems that Republicans create? Republicans love to preach personal responsibility. That should probably start at home instead of expecting others to clean up the mess. I’m jsut sayin.
By rick on July 10th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
What problem has the liberal masses ever fixed? I know they’ve reached deep into my pockets to come up with funding to pay for failed policies for the past 56 years. Lets examine a few, welfare, AFDC, medicare, social security, do we need to continue? And since we’re pulling scabs….Somalia(cut and run), Bosnia(change sides), Iran(Jimmy’s moment in the Sun)….All the liberals have ever accomplished is to cut and run when faced with adversity. Continue to whine and snivel, someday you’ll figure out that we’re a republic based on personal freedom and owe others what we as individuals feel we owe. Thats why when disasters like Iowa and Katrina occur, while the Governor and Mayor sacrificed their populace to the storm, the rest of America dug deep in their pockets, climbed into their trucks and helped out. All the while the Liberal Governor and Mayor sat on the sidewalk crying its all the Feds fault. Go ahead and whine….Ya ain’t say’n shit of value.