To hear S.C. Senate President Glenn McConnell and other lawmakers tell it, South Carolina’s numerically-challenged, performance-averse Employment Security Commission is exclusively to blame for the latest insanely expensive example of the Palmetto State not being able to discern its ass from its elbow.
In fact, according to McConnell and S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, it was the ESC’s “completely avoidable” oversight regarding the state formula used to calculate jobless benefits that has resulted in the checks of some 6,700 unemployed South Carolinians running out – a situation which has compelled the S.C. General Assembly to come back into session next week.
“The General Assembly will take quick action to fix this oversight by the ESC to ensure that unemployed South Carolinians will not suffer further by being denied this Federal benefit,” McConnell and S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell said Monday in a joint statement. “This oversight was completely avoidable and further highlights the need for reforming the ESC from a reactive check writing agency into a proactive job placement agency. Just as the ESC waited until the 11th hour to warn the General Assembly about the dwindling Unemployment Trust Fund, again the ESC has laid this problem at the feet of lawmakers at the last possible minute.”
Really? So McConnell and Harrell learned of all this at the “last possible minute,” huh?
Before we take a look at the evolution of this ticking time bomb, let’s go ahead and make one thing perfectly clear from the outset – when it comes to assuming the responsibility for this disaster, state lawmakers have absolutely nowhere to hide.
Simply put, they’re the ones who run the Employment Security Commission. Or to put it more accurately, they’re the ones who have run it completely into the ground.
For those of you who don’t know how state government in South Carolina, um, “works,” the ESC is one of several hundred legislatively-controlled boards and commissions that allow lawmakers to splinter executive authority so that everyone – and in the end, no one – is ever really responsible for anything. This convoluted structure dates back to the state’s 1895 Constitution (which is still in effect, by the way) and is based on the fear that a black man (gasp) might actually become governor one day and (gasp) have a true executive branch of government to run.
The horror, right?
Anyway … who did lawmakers appoint to run this legislatively-controlled commission?
Not surprisingly, three of their own … as each of the three ESC commissioners (who make $108,000 a year, by the way) is a former legislator.
To his credit, S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford was screaming bloody murder about the incompetence of the ESC back in December of last year, when it first became apparent that the agency’s surplus had turned into a deficit and its leaders were utterly and completely clueless when it came to either a) explaining how that happened, or b) doing their job (a.k.a. finding people jobs).
Of course, as is almost always the case when Sanford screams about something, no one in the legislature was listening.
But soon the crisis at the ESC – which Sanford totally blinked on, by the way – grew much, much deeper.
In January of this year, just days after McConnell and his self-important legislative colleagues reported to Columbia for their annual parade of alcohol-soaked special interest cocktail receptions, FITS published an exclusive report exposing additional problems at the ESC. Specifically, we obtained data showing the failure of the agency to place workers in tens of thousands of available jobs, concluding that “the performance of this outdated, unaccountable and inefficient agency is worse than unacceptable, it’s pathetic.”
“The ESC would rather absorb massive taxpayer debt via emergency federal loans (while proposing to triple employment taxes on businesses) than actually place people in jobs,” we wrote at the time.
Today these “emergency loans” (which South Carolina must eventually pay back to Washington, D.C.) have soared to $561 million … and are soaring higher still as we speak.
In his Spring 2009 newsletter, ESC director Roosevelt “Ted” Halley – one of the most incompetent bureaucrats to ever draw a six-figure, taxpayer-funded salary (it’s $134,277, by the way) – blasted his critics, particularly Gov. Sanford.
“These criticisms are unfair, untrue, contrary to everything I know about this agency for the past 30 years, and also fairly typical of a governor who will say anything to bring this agency under his cabinet,” Halley said.
At the time, Halley was fighting hard to keep an ESC reform bill from being passed by the legislature – a bill which (wait for it) included the correct unemployment formula for drawing down all available federal funding.
Perhaps McConnell and Harrell’s memory is a little bit hazy on this point (and given their rhetoric this week, it obviously is), but the S.C. House of Representatives killed an ESC reform bill that included the very unemployment language that lawmakers are coming back to Columbia to adopt. Led by Rep. Annette Young (RINO-Dorchester), the House voted “off-the-record” – i.e. on an unrecorded voice vote – to send the proposal back to the Judiciary committee.
So much for that whole “last minute” theory. That vote took place in April, people.
Meanwhile over in the State Senate on that same very day, McConnell joined a dozen RINOs (including Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler and Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman) in voting to kill an alternative budget proposal that would have put an additional $200 million into the state’s unemployment trust fund – without raising taxes and without drawing down a controversial $700 million in stimulus funds.
So lawmakers basically failed to fix the formula when they had the chance, failed to reform the agency when they had the chance and failed to replenish the unemployment reserve fund when they had the chance.
Now, of course, these same morons are pretending to be shocked and horrified by the conduct of the ESC – which is, again, an agency they appointed their old cronies to manage.
Don’t be fooled – least of all by RINOs like Harrell and McConnell, who as leaders of their respective chambers bear the ultimate responsibility for this disaster.
Lawmakers are 100% responsible for the failure of this agency – and for the failure to reform it while there was still time.
Now, South Carolina businesses and taxpayers will be the ones left holding a half-billion (and counting) bag.
By Mike October 21, 2009 at 1:48 am
Fantastic wrap up, but sadly it will not likely effect the process much for a couple of reasons:
1. This wacky, only-in-SC story cannot be adequately summarized in 20 seconds or less, which means that neither the SC mainstream media (such as it is) nor Joe Sixpack will pay it much heed, if any.
2. As you explained, no single person is truly accountable. All of the players can easily craft an “out” that will play well in 7 second sound bites, regardless of the voracity of their statements.
3. It’s an “entitlement program,” so to speak, which means that once established it’s a true governmental sacred cow anyway.
Before Sanford’s self-destructive political death spiral, I was genuinely optimistic that maybe he was going to get some traction on restructuring and we might just get remedy some of this craziness. These days, I have just about given up on all that…
By Ynot October 21, 2009 at 6:58 am
Victim’s Rights program is broke.
ESC is broke.
Schools are broke.
Prison system, despite report, is broke.
Social Security became a state program and is broke.
Where is taxpayer money going?
No one is accountable? HUH?
I believe one person is accountable. I believe one person set out to break this state and it’s budget.
That person is constantly seeking more and more power.
Impeach Mark Sanford now. He may scream things aren’t working but he’s the responsible elected person.
He’s chosen. He’s special. He’s destroyed the budget of countless agencies.
So fix the little problems?
Fixing the big problem would be better.
Our system, with all it’s flaws, worked before he ran it. He ran it exactly as he believes is “responsible” and in “good goverance”.
People are sick to the point of nausea with what has happened in this state.
Getting cronies to do your dirty work. Shame Shame Shame.
Shame on all of em.
By shaggy October 21, 2009 at 8:53 am
hold on, a minute there. Sanford wanted to restructure the government so that the buck would stop with him, not the legislature and the legislature wouldn’t let him. therefore. the buck now stops with 174 + the budget and control board not him.
By Jack October 21, 2009 at 9:04 am
Great recap Will. After reading this post, I felt a glimmer of optimism that perhaps we can get the citizens of South Carolina to recognize the root problems and thus enact positive lasting changes through substantive restructuring of our state governance through constitutional changes. Then I read the post by Ynot and fear we are indeed getting the governance we deserve. Wake up folks, it IS the legislature to thank for what little is right and to blame for the sorry conditions in this state. There will be more to come on this matter in the next few weeks.
By JR October 21, 2009 at 9:53 am
There is another alternative that has not been considered which requires neither downsizing nor greater expenditure, collaboration. EPA and OSHA have seen efficiencies rise through collaboration, as well as City and State Planning Commissions and Administrative Law courts. Yet in this state DHEC and LLR (which have similar functions as well as many of the same intergovernmental relationships) do not collaborate; DOR and DOE both of whose county allocation formulas (CPI + variable y) are similar do not collaborate on ways to more efficiently use expenditures. The point is that collaboration among agencies has been shown to increase efficiency; more so than arguing whether agencies or government should be shrunk or expanded; or making some utterly ridiculous and indefensible argument about tax credits for public goods, while not addressing the issue of agency mission. These only shrink the expenditure which simply removes dollars from the system while paying no attention to quality.
By James T Kirk October 21, 2009 at 10:34 am
THAT IS ONE GAY MAN RIGHT THERE!!!
By Dismayed October 21, 2009 at 10:35 am
Good summary (the usual RINO blather aside). If Sanford had focused from the beginning of his first term on working on government restructuring instead of becoming distracted by efforts to get a pat on the head from the Club for Growth gang, he might have accomplished something very useful. Of course it would have depended on working with the Legislature, and little Mark does not work and play well with others, so probably there was no real chance anyway.
By Willam Klinton October 21, 2009 at 10:35 am
He needs to see a dentist ASAP about that Gap!
By SCCON October 21, 2009 at 11:48 am
Mark Sanford is an unfortunate distraction. It’s so convenient to blame him that people ignore the real culprit–an unwieldy, unaccountable government. The problem of unaccountability did not begin with Mark Sanford (who actually, to his credit, did at least point it out), and it will still plague us long after he has packed his bag for that long trip to Argentina. Until the constitution changes, these problems will persist. And the constitution won’t be changed until about 60% of the legislature is redeployed.
By Willam Klinton October 21, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Hello Clarence, is that perfume youre wearing???
By Spok October 21, 2009 at 12:52 pm
McConnell looks like Liberace in the picture above, I wish my brother George were here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dioRwB4RvrQ
http://www.tu.tv/videos/snl-vincent-price-s-valentine-s-day
I’ll never tell!!
By Mike October 21, 2009 at 1:50 pm
OK, after reading Ynot’s comment, I have officially lost all hope. People just don’t get it…
By Groundball October 21, 2009 at 5:21 pm
I think people do get it. They may not agree with what you or I say or think. Even though I don’t necessarily agree with Ynot, we all have seen, Shaggy, that Sanford would never let the “buck” stop with him. In fact that buffoon is very adept at saying “well, they did it too, and I didn’t do it nearly as much as they did!”. Some leader.
I truly believe that there has not been a Governor in this state since Carroll Campbell who could have handled the restructuring that ya’ll are talking about. Because of the last three Governors we have elected (and especially the last), I tend to agree with JR that agency collaboration would probably work most efficiently.
But who is going to make those self important, self preservationist turf defenders work together?
By Bryan McCanless October 21, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Great job!
Bryan McCanless
By You make me FITS October 22, 2009 at 8:39 pm
FITS actually it is anti-RINO’s (or actualy Republicans) who decided to “help” the business community several years back by lowering the ESC cotributions of employers’ – which hey? who doesn’t want to pay less? – but the real problem was that despite the fact that employer’s liked paying less, it didn’t cover the benefits being paid out EVEN BEFORE THE MASSIVE UPTICK in unemployment over the past year plus. About half a decade ago the ESC trust fund had about $616 million dollars, but is now broke. Does someone need an accounting degree to realize that if the fund is being depleted faster than funds are replenished that there is an issue? This happened year after year after they cut the ESC contributions of employers, and guess what nobody wanted to discuss the $100,000,000.00+ deficit each year becasue Sandford and his fellow ideologues were being “true conservatives” never mind the fiscal foolishness of these deficits ESC was running – it was “business friendly” to slowly bankrupt the state. Therefor Sanford “screaming bloody” murder last December means nothing, nada, ziltch in my book because he ushered in the problems with his unhinghed non-factually grounded view of economics and accounting.
P.S.
You keep noting that “This convoluted structure dates back to the state’s 1895 Constitution (which is still in effect, by the way) and is based on the fear that a black man (gasp) might actually become governor one day and (gasp) have a true executive branch of government to run.”
So was the U.S. constitution and (gasp) it was written over 100 years before out state’s. The Citadel, at the time it was erected, was built to guard against more slave uprising, but despite that blemished history, is a fine institution today…should we tear it down because of its checkered past or roots???
By Wake-up Call March 4, 2010 at 4:27 pm
What everyone keeps on missing is the fact that NOTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN DONE AND NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE EVER COME TO LIGHT WITHOUT FORMER EMPLOYEES SPEAKING OUT AND REFUSING TO BREAK THE LAW!!!! The lawmakers in Columbia didn’t just decide to dig into this themselves. They were tipped off…….haven’t you all been reading the news? And for those of you who have called the two lawsuits filed frivilous, well looky, looky, there is validity to their claims. Just look at what the Legislative Audit Council dug up…..more than they bargained for. It kinda makes everyone look stupid doesn’t it. Was anybody really doing their jobs other than the two who filed the lawsuits. It appears not, or the agency would not be in the shape it is now in. Our elected officials, the Commissioner’s in Columbia for the SCESC or any in command of that agency were not doing their jobs. You’re right….they should all be fired-immediately. We citizens should all join together and demand that a criminal investigation be done by SLED or the FEDS. There is so much more to this story than you all know. We need to demand that lawmakers get to the bottom of this and learn EVERYTHING there is to know. Don’t just scratch the surface-dig deep, you will be amazed at what you might find. What has been disclosed in the news is just the tip of the iceburg!!!!