STATEWIDE GRAND JURY SHOULD BE EMPOWERED TO GO AFTER CORRUPT POLITICIANS
|| By FITSNEWS || We’re sure we will have occasion to criticize new S.C. Speaker of the House Jay Lucas in the future, but we gotta be honest … his early moves have impressed us.
At an organizational session of the S.C. House of Representatives last month, Lucas used a rule change to ban “leadership PACs” – a.k.a. political action committees used by powerful legislators to financially reward lawmakers who toe the status quo line. Basically these PACs – which are at the heart of an ongoing federal/ state corruption investigation – provided a means of funneling more special interest cash into the system so that a handful of legislative leaders could effectively bribe rank-and-file members.
We applauded Lucas for his efforts …
“Cutting off this particular spigot of corruption is a long-overdue reform – and we credit Lucas and his allies for making it happen,” we wrote.
This week Lucas is taking another step in the right direction – joining forces with crusading S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson to strengthen the statewide grand jury.
As FITS readers are well aware, Wilson was hamstrung last year in his anti-corruption efforts by a state judicial system literally teeming with corruption. In fact at one point a compromised circuit court judge attempted to shut down his investigation of former S.C. Speaker Bobby Harrell – a move which would have afforded Harrell the same sort of whitewash that Gov. Nikki Haley benefited from in 2012 when she faced a slew of much more serious ethical allegations.
In contrast to Harrell’s case, the allegations against Haley were ultimately heard by a panel of her former “Republican” peers in the S.C. General Assembly – who cleared her of wrongdoing following a farce of a “trial.”
Lucas aims to end such “self-policing.” In fact he told The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier this week that he is pushing tougher ethics laws because “lawmakers have shown they are incapable of policing themselves,” thus “eroding the public’s trust in government.”
He’s absolutely right …
South Carolina’s ethics laws are a joke – in their parameters, penalties and enforcement. They must be upgraded, or else taxpayers will continue to be robbed blind by their “Republican” rulers.
Strengthening the grand jury’s ability to pursue political corruption is a big part of that upgrade – because it grants the attorney general’s office freedom from legislative/ judicial meddling in what ought to be an independent executive branch investigation.
For too long, powerful lawmakers have relied on the judges they appoint (yet another infinitely corrupt process) to protect their self-serving behavior. They’ve also benefited from lazy prosecutors who were more interested in rubbing shoulders with ethically challenged officials than exposing their misdeeds. Now that the state finally has a top prosecutor who is willing to go after corrupt politicians – he should be given the tools needed to do his job.
Props to Wilson for being such a prosecutor … and props to Lucas for seeking to empower him.
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11 comments
Once again, how ironic, that a Howard Rich suck up would complain about the corrosive effects of special interest money in politics.
PACs don’t bribe politicians, people who contribute to PACs bribe politicians. I’ve never seen a Republican who believed there was anything wrong with taking money for a vote.
Change that to politician and I will agree!
Can’t because I have met a couple of Democrats in my life, whom I believe were honest and would not take a bribe. That said there are many who would. Thus the need to get money out of politics. Which is something the Republican Party adamantly opposes. In fact they are pushing for laws making unlimited political contributions legal.
I do think Republicans as a party are more corrupt than Democrats, but that may just be because they have more opportunity. Its hard to get big corporation and billionaires to offer money to someone advocating for middle class and poor people. But when you are advocating for tax cuts for the wealthy, increased defense spending, and more corporate welfare, the money flows freely.
Correction required I have never seen a politician who didn’t believed that taking money from anyone wasn’t a requirement of public office.
Actually, the concept of no money for sway was an old Athenian democratic staple…when those who served in certain capacities were chosen by lottery, like jury duty, then their finances audited both going into and leaving office.
The populace back then was much smarter back then in many ways than today.
Monetary corruption today has been codified in a strange way via “freedom of speech”, but then again, the government existence of today is built against the basic Biblical premise of “thou shall not steal” and is inherently immoral to start, so there’s that.
“…eroding the public’s trust in government…”
News Flash Cockroach Dumbfuck – it is not “eroding” , it has ERODED
As for Cockroach Lucas turning off the PAC spigot, it is a no brainer when the spigot has already been pulled off the wall and is sitting inside the evidence locker over at the Federal Courthouse
Don’t see any real substance to Cockroach Lucas at this point – more inclined to believe that there is a Karma shoe out there with this Cockroach’s name on the sole
Yep, any such rhetoric that turning off the PAC spigot is the “solution” to the Cockroach/gov’t problem is laughable.
The only solution is the nuke the Statehouse from orbit.
neither of you have provided a real solution.. just Lucas
Dear Mrs. Lucas
Thanks for your biting words, my ass is still stinging
As for a real solution, such may have not been in my earlier post but on previous occasions I have proposed:
All the Cockroaches, elected/appointed/anointed, should be loaded on Donkey Carts, pulled through the Streets of Columbia, herded onto the State House grounds, marched up the steps of the Guillotine, beheaded into a saw grass basket, their flea bitten remains fed to Duroc Hogs, hogs butchered, hogs barbequed and B-B-Q distributed to the needy.
Now my Dear Mrs. Lucas, if you have a “real” solution, the floor is yours – bitch
You can’t fix something that is bad to start. You toss it, & start over with something different.
That’s my whole point, Lucas hasn’t provided a real solution to anything.
I would kinda help of fits explained what Lucas and Wilson plan to do.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150104/PC1603/150109911