Lazy Governor: Henry McMaster Isn’t Exercising His Appointment Authority

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Governors in South Carolina don’t wield a lot of power. For those of you unfamiliar with the structure of the Palmetto State’s form of governance, it is based on a post-Reconstruction constitution approved in 1895 – a constitution which explicitly limited the power of an independently elected chief executive and vested supreme authority into the hands of the legislature (which isn’t about to relinquish that authority).

“After Reconstruction, white Democrats feared the swelling black population would assume political control – so they re-wrote the state’s founding document to mitigate the risk of a black governor having any real power if elected,” I wrote earlier this year. “To this day, South Carolina’s gubernatorial office remains impotent compared to other executives nationwide – with the legislature enjoying direct control over many functions of government which would be executive functions in a more logically established system.”

Years ago, I submitted a blueprint for the comprehensive reconfiguration of South Carolina’s government, a plan to modernize the state’s “busted, broken, bloated and brazenly corrupt state government – which remains mired in the morass of its duplicative, dysfunctional, dystopian-inducing constitution of 1895.”

That reform agenda has gone nowhere. If anything, it has moved in reverse.

***

A big reason for that? Governor Henry McMaster, a caricature of a politician who is on the cusp of being the Palmetto State’s longest serving chief executive. McMaster inherited the governor’s office in January 2017 when former president Donald Trump tapped his predecessor, Nikki Haley, for a position in his cabinet. McMaster won an initial full term in 2018 thanks to Trump’s help, and won a second full term in 2022.

What has he done over the past seven-and-a-half years? That’s a good question…

Government spending and crony capitalism in the Palmetto State have soared during McMaster’s tenure, but positive outcomes remain elusive for South Carolinians – economically, educationally and with regarding to infrastructure and public safety.

I’ve written on McMaster’s status quo legacy in the past, but there’s another front of inaction he is presiding over which is worth addressing.

Among the few powers a South Carolina governor does have is the authority to appoint qualified individuals to boards and commissions. And while not all of these boards and commissions are particularly important or influential, many of them are… while many others can be used to advance the governor’s agenda or amplify his bully pulpit.

Is McMaster leveraging this authority? No…

***

***

A review of the latest list (.pdf) of vacancies and expired terms on various boards and commissions in the Palmetto State revealed hundreds of appointees serving in seats well past their due date.

For example, the entire seven-member board of the S.C. Department of Natural Resource (SCDNR) is currently serving in holdover status – meaning all of its members are serving despite the fact their terms have expired, according to the list. Six members of the board – including its chairman and vice chairman – are serving even though their terms expired more than two years ago. Perhaps not surprisingly, eleven members of SCDNR’s thirteen-member advisory board are also serving on expired terms, per the list.

SCDNR received $172.7 million in the current (fiscal year 2024-2025) state budget.

The S.C. Arts Commission is another entity which is exclusively run by holdover appointees, according to the list. As of June 30, 2024, not a single appointee on this board is serving on a current term – with three members continuing to serve even though their terms expired way back in 2011 (thirteen years ago).

This commission received $11.5 million in taxpayer money in the latest state budget.

The nine-person S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) commission – which oversees an annual budget of $2.74 billion – has two members (including its chairwoman) who are currently serving on expired terms and two vacancies, per the list. That’s nearly half of its governing authority either not there or serving after its term is over.

Three of the governor’s appointees to the board of Santee Cooper – which has racked up $7 billion in debt thanks to its starring role in a command economic debacle seven years ago – are serving on expired terms, including the first vice chairman of the agency, per the list.

How accountable is this board’s decision-making of late? Hmmm…

***

***

One of the governor’s two appointees to the S.C. Retirement Systems Investment Commission (SCRSIC) – which manages $44 billion in pension trust funds – has been on holdover status for more than four years, according to the list. In other words, he’s served an entire second term in office after his first one ended – during which time McMaster signed one of the largest recurring tax hikes in South Carolina history for the expressed purpose of shoring up this fund.

The S.C. Commission on Higher Education – tasked with overseeing the Palmetto State’s duplicative and unwieldy network of colleges and universities – has only two of its fourteen members currently serving on non-expired terms, according to the list. Twelve of its members – including former state senator Wes Hayes – are serving despite their terms expiring. Eight members of the commission – a majority – are serving despite their terms having been expired for at least two years, per the list. One of those appointees? The sister of sitting S.C. senator Chip Campsen.

Another one of Campsen’s sisters currently sits in an expired seat on the S.C. Public Charter School District, where only two of eight appointees are serving non-expired terms, according to the list. One of those appointees, incidentally, was tapped for the job by S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith.

Meanwhile, S.C. First Steps – which has spent the last quarter century attempting to improve academic outcomes in the Palmetto State – has two vacant gubernatorial appointments and two holdover appointments from the Haley administration.

Again, not all of the panels lacking valid appointments are dealing with huge sums of taxpayer funds. However, many of them play key roles in big decisions which impact thousands of citizens. For example, the Joint Legislative Committee on Municipal Incorporation – which will likely hear a high-profile coastal community battle in the months to come – features a gubernatorial appointee whose term expired on July 1, 2017. Meanwhile, McMaster has a vacancy and a recently expired term on the S.C. Commission on Prosecution Coordination, a group which is tasked with “coordinat(ing) all activities involving the prosecution of criminal cases” in the Palmetto State.

The list goes on and on…

It’s been said “decisions are made by those who show up.” Which begs the question: When is McMaster going to show up and start filling these seats?

To view the hundreds of vacancies and expired terms for yourself, click on the document below…

***

THE LIST…

(S.C. Governor’s Office)

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

***

WANNA SOUND OFF?

Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.