SC BIPEC Sells Out

In the past, we’ve always given the S.C. Business & Industry Political Education Committee (SC BIPEC) the benefit of the doubt with respect to its annual legislative scorecards, which ostensibly rank each member of the S.C. General Assembly according to their level of “business friendliness.”

For the most part, SC BIPEC seemed to be doing a decent job (until recently, at least) of holding lawmakers accountable for their “business-friendly” votes – which is why we covered the release of their annual rankings accordingly.

Sadly, this no longer seems to be the case … which we attribute to the organization’s desire to curry favor with South Carolina’s two most influential lawmakers.

You see, at some point every individual and organization in S.C. politics must decide if it’s really going to stand up and fight for common sense reform and fiscal conservative change – or if it is going to sit back and provide cover for the politicians who are fighting against those things (i.e. RINO’s like S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell and Senate President Glenn McConnell).

With the release of its 2009 legislative scorecard on Friday, SC BIPEC has demonstrated conclusively that it is more concerned with sucking up to legislative leaders like Harrell and McConnell than it is with promoting the true best interests of South Carolina businesses.

“We’re going to find out who the real RINOs are,” SC BIPEC President and CEO Tom DeLoach told us on Friday prior to the release of this year’s scores.

Ummm … really?

Because all we found out from these rankings is that DeLoach knows how to perform “insider fellatio” on powerful politicians.

Seriously, people … this isn’t a “business scorecard,” this is shameful, manipulative special interest groveling at its worst.

Looking over the rankings, it certainly appears that all DeLoach did was cherry pick votes that made Harrell and McConnell look good – and then assign arbitrary “values” to those votes to reach a certain score. For example, voting in favor of McConnell and Harrell’s decidedly anti-business port management bill counted for a whopping 23.36% of each State Senator’s “pro-business” score. Meanwhile, a procedural tally on a special interest vote backed by the Realtors’ lobby (whose President is on SC BIPEC’s board of trustees) comprised another 10% of the Senate score.

In other words, any Senator who opposed President Glenn McConnell on his port power grab automatically started off with the equivalent of a “D” grade, which then turned into an “F” if they didn’t play ball with Sen. Larry Martin’s late session special interest maneuvering on behalf of the Realtors.

Other allegedly “pro-business” votes that SC BIPEC found significant enough to count? Several local livestock and poultry ordinances and … get this … landscaping service mechanics’ liens.

Yeah … color us unimpressed.

So … what was NOT counted in SC BIPEC’s “ratings?” Well, let’s start out with the 75% of votes that lawmakers cast in the dark – with absolutely no record of how individual legislators voted.

Also left out?

All of the votes tied to the s0-called federal “stimulus” funds – including Sen. Shane Martin’s after-the-fact “switheroo” in accepting them – as well as a fiscally-responsible alternative budget crafted by Sen. Tom Davis that would have funded the core responsibilities of government (and then some) without accepting this controversial pot of money.

SC BIPEC didn’t think any of S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s cost-saving vetoes were worth including, either.

“For every session of the SC General Assembly since 1985, SC BIPEC has used roll call votes and bill sponsorships on business and industry issues to calculate a vote score for every member of the South Carolina General Assembly,” the organization’s website states. “Accountability and transparency have been goals and hallmarks of SC BIPEC Member and BIPEC research since 1985.”

Really? Then why are they selling out those objectives?

Personally, we’ve always liked Tom DeLoach. He’s an affable guy – and there was even a time we thought he was serious about fighting on the side of real change. But that was before he decided that his spot in the special interest reception line was more important to him than the reforms his organization should be advancing.

For example, a year ago when Speaker Harrell was fighting tooth and nail to (successfully) keep transparency from becoming a part of permanent state law, it was DeLoach who stepped up to provide him with a desperately needed bit of “pro-business” cover.

“President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell have provided a roll call record on business and industry issues that is both plentiful and verifiable,” DeLoach said.

Yeah … anybody hear a sucking sound?

Here’s the bottom line. Real fiscal conservatives who are fighting for change got shafted because DeLoach wanted to make two legislative leaders (who are fighting against it) look good.

That’s pathetic, and as much as we like DeLoach, we’re not going to let such sycophantic behavior pass without comment.

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