Employment Insecurity
Like most government agencies in this ass backward state, the S.C. Employment Security Commission is by all accounts a joke – a wasteful, inefficient bureaucracy that produces inconsistent data and frighteningly simplistic analysis of the data it produces.
Plus it doesn’t share information with the one agency responsible for creating jobs in this state … well, the agency responsible for creating jobs until S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell erects his Supreme Soviet Pyramid within the framework of our research universities.
Emblematic of South Carolina’s failed status quo, the Employment Security Commission is one of many executive branch entities that’s controlled exclusively by the State Legislature, and not surprisingly lawmakers recently placed a former State Representative, Becky Richardson, at the head of its board – along with a nice $108,942 annual taxpayer-funded salary.
Long story short, S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford (who in any other state wouldn’t have to fight for control over his own branch of government) has every right to go after these legislatively-ensconsed morons.
There’s just one problem – he picked the worst possible way to try and accomplish what is otherwise a worthy objective.
By threatening to effectively withhold nearly $150 million worth of unemployment benefit payments to an estimated 77,000 unemployed South Carolinians, the governor is hoping to draw a line in the sand and force long-overdue reforms at this inept, irresponsible agency.
That’s a great desired outcome, and one that would no doubt result in more consistent employment data, a better understanding of why our rates are so consistently high and, most importantly, better service to our state’s swelling ranks of unemployed workers.
But he’s already lost the argument …
Seriously, we’re all for holding guns to people’s heads (figuratively speaking), but you probably shouldn’t announce a week before Christmas that you’re going to cut off relief to people who need it because you’re involved in an inter-governmental pissing contest.
Obviously, not all 77,000 of those people we mentioned earlier represent legitimate unemployment claims.
In fact, one of the biggest problems at the Employment Security Commission (like our state’s multiple health care agencies) is a rash of fraudulent claims that the agency leadership has proven utterly incompetent at weeding out.
And frankly, it’s ridiculous that we pay individuals $1300 a month to be unemployed.
But guess what – a lot of those people represent legitimate claims, which is why the governor’s game of chicken is well-intentioned, but inappropriate.
The irony in all of this, of course, is that if South Carolina’s bone-headed lawmakers had listened to Sanford six years ago and enacted his economic, education, spending and structural reform proposals, our state would be in fine shape right now on all fronts – in spite of the global recession.
But they didn’t listen, choosing instead to move taxes from one pocket to another while jacking spending at record levels, perpetuating educational oblivion in our public schools and preserving a failed, unaccountable and corrupt government culture that is epitomized by the Employment Security Commission.
Still, from a PR standpoint, Sanford’s threat is the equivalent of handing his legislative adversaries a hammer along with a note that reads “please beat me about the head with this.”
He’s threatening to hold up money for people who need it most … at Christmas time? Yeah he’s got a point as to why, but again … he’s already lost the argument.
You gotta pick your battles, people, and much like the dude at the end of the third Indiana Jones flick, Sanford has “chosen poorly” on this one.
Nonetheless, legislation should be filed this session which reforms this joke of an agency from top to bottom and places it squarely under the governors’ Department of Commerce, where it belongs.
Oh, and lawmakers should be forced to go on the record either in support or opposition to that proposal, just with all of the common sense proposals we’re advocating to get us to the heart of the matter – which is actually securing these people jobs, not giving them government handouts.
Comments
By From Chucktown on December 19th, 2008 at 4:09 am
Will,
He may have chosen poorly but the Governor is right on the money and should win the war. The employment security commission for years has fraudulenty reported the “true” unemployment statistics in South Carolina. Currently, the state is reporting that unemployment is hovering at 8%. Which, I believe is among the highest in the nation.
The employment security commission only bases their unemployment percentage on those currently recieving benefits. Currently that number is at 8%. Once someone ceases to recieve benefits, it is assumed that they have found a job that is either temporary or permenant. In many cases that is not the case.
Look at the current statistics of still unemployed textile workers in Greenwood County, Greenville County, Laurens County, Lancaster County as just one example. These are counties in our state that have not benefited by any major economic development boom (housing, warehouses, etc) Jobs aren’t coming to those counties and state sponsored job-retraining programs, in many cases do not benefit these citizens for viable employment opportunities in their communities.
What I am trying to say is that the employment security commission has no method in place to truly track the actual unemployment in our state and I believe that it is much higher than the 8% that the commission tells the general assembly and the media.
I think that the governor is wise to not take a bailout simply because it is imprudent to give millions upon millions of dollars to an agency that cannot track unemployment in this state even if these monies are going to unemployed workers who desperately need these funds to support their families.
Bailouts are not what we need. What we need is to make the employment security commission a cabinet agency where it will have real accountability, to both the people who recieve benefits and the the citizens of South Carolina.
By Joseph Reynolds on December 19th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I wouldnt go giving too many kudos to sanfords picks..
Joe Taylor is quoted in todays paper as saying he had no idea Caterpiller had come down to a decision for a $150,000,000 new plant between SC and Texas..
and Texas got it, costing us jobs that will be moved there from Greenville.
His limp wristed excuse that we were being used as a negotiating ploy is sadly lacking. How do we NOT know we are in the running for something like that?
talk about incompetant…
By Not Sayin', Just Sayin' ... on December 19th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Taylor is a total failure at Commerce. Morale is in the shitter, economic deveopment directors around the state hate him for his lack of interest in being anything more than the Lord of Commerce, exhilarated by having a position, if not a college degree.
By rick not Quinn on December 19th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Sanford picks for Commerce have been a disaster. First it was Bob Faith, who nobody in business had ever had of, and now Taylor, who nobody has ever heard of. Through in Chad Prosser, who nobody ever sees. Sanford would not pick someone who knows how to do the job. Look at HHS and other agencies. Granted, he did have a pick at HHS who could have done the job but would not take it cause they couldn’t work for him. Still, his cabinet picks are the leading reason restructuring will never happen while he is in office.
By Extra Point on December 19th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I think every unemployed person in the State of South Carolina should march on the Governor’s Mansion. Sadly, I think the Governor would still either be too dumb, or too out of touch, to get the message. What an insensitive prick. I think the Legislature should move to impeach his ass over this. What an asshole.
By Counter Point on December 19th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
EP — Sounds like you NEED an A-hole to govern you.
By Beeza on December 19th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Maybe Sanford could raise money for the state by giving us a chance to buy some of those hammers with a note to beat him about the head. There would be lots of takers.
By Catherine on December 19th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
This is another excellent, outstanding example of the lack of transparency in our government. Good luck getting data out of ANY agency that could actually help make a decision. Department of Ed data vanishes off of the site, the Comm. on Higher Education posts anything they see fit in pdf form (so you can analyze it), and there aren’t even basic stats for the Department of Corrections. No one has to — no one can force them to share — so we operate in a vacuum. But yes, Sanford is operating as usual. He makes good points then screws up the implementation.
By Agree on December 19th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Yes, Lawmakers should go on the record
By Three Pointer on December 19th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I’m with EP. At least censure him for this dumb move and derail his presidential ambitions. He’ll get the Ron Paul supporters after that.
He pulls up a three…And it’s gooooooood. Da Bulls!
By Gene E. Nowak on December 21st, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Why should the Governor bail out the legislature? The legislature did not need his input to allocate or spend the money, but wants him to bail them out when the pyramid scheme runs out of cash.
Suddenly only the governor is the only one who can save the unemployed. Suddenly it is his fault that legislature failed to fund and control the Commission properly.
By Draven on December 21st, 2008 at 10:22 pm
So much hyperbole, so little understanding.
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