S.C. Needs This
Last year, government transparency was all the rage.
After the S.C. Policy Council researched and exposed South Carolina’s pathetic record on the issue, S.C. Rep. Nikki Haley picked up the ball and ran with it.
The result?
Everybody – well, everybody except House Speaker Bobby Harrell – jumped on board the “transparency bandwagon,” and eventually changes to the rules of the House and Senate were approved that expanded on-the-record voting.
Of course, if we’ve learned one thing this session, it’s that those rule changes did not go far enough. Nor were they permanent enough.
Millions of dollars continued to be moved around with no record of how lawmakers voted, and on top of that, the shocking mutability of the official record also eroded confidence in the actions of our elected officials.
Needless to say, the notion of requiring lawmakers to sign a “transparency pledge” sounds pretty good right about now.
We recently read about one of these pledges in Nevada, and while we would obviously need to tweak it based on our state’s specific needs, it’s hard to argue how this wouldn’t be a beneficial influence on what has clearly become a dysfunctional legislative process – one that remains far too secretive.
It is incumbent upon transparency leaders – including our crack staff here at FITS – to come up with an ironclad transparency pledge for South Carolina elected officials to sign prior to the beginning of the next legislative session.
And every bit as importantly, we must then hold them accountable for following through on it.
Comments
By Liberty on May 21st, 2009 at 3:01 pm
last I checked….Landess and the SC Policy Council played second chair to Rep. Haley on roll call…..
By FITSNews on May 21st, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Liberty,
Last time you checked you were wrong. The issue originated with the Policy Council’s research and advocacy, although Rep. Haley deserves tremendous credit for being willing to take on the leadership of her party on the issue.
Of course, our point is there is a tremendous opportunity now for EVERYONE who cares about transparency to step up and force some real change.
-FITS
By Fact Check on May 21st, 2009 at 4:47 pm
A quick check of the Policy Council website — their roll call study came out August 5, well before Nikki said anything about this issue. Nikki’s fatal flaw in this race will likely be her penchant for shameless self promotion. This is sad because she is the best hope fiscal conservatives have in this race. Lets hope she learns quickly the scrutiny she is in for and takes extra care not to shoot herself in the foot by padding reality.
By jennifer on May 21st, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Amen, Will! You are right on, and I agree with you more and more. The conservative movement is a team effort. A group like SCPC puts out information, which they have done for years. The press then writes about it and the debate starts. But that isn’t enough and it would not make any difference if courageous conservatives like Mark Sanford, Tom Davis and Nikki Haley didn’t turn ideas into reforms and fight for change in the Statehouse.
Why is there a fight on this blog, or anywhere else, about which of the good guys deserves credit? They have different roles to play and when they get together then we see results. But they can’t do anything without us at the grassroots level. Some of us have been in the SC Republican Party (and members of the Policy Council) for many, many years. We built our successes, and we need to get back to work and help those who are fighting for us.
By Stephen on May 21st, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Whooaaah, each of you is wrong. Rep Haley inroduced the transparency bill in 2008 after the retirement pay increase to legislators. The policy councils report then came out and Rep Haley re introduced the spending accountability act. Harrell just can’t stand that Haley showed him up on this.
By BIN News Editorial Staff on May 21st, 2009 at 10:24 pm
The correct name is S.C. Policy Scam Council.
Transparency is just Policy Scam buzz word. And like most scams, buzz words fade. They fizzle. Sometimes they blow up.
Like Andre’s Senior Shield scam.
He’s been riding Rod’s exploitation of elderly voters too long.
It’s about time that scam blew back like a stopped up sewer line.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced
By Toyota Kawaski on May 22nd, 2009 at 8:39 am
“the rule change did not go far enough” great half ass effort Rep.Haley