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Theatric complaints about “pork barrel spending” are a longstanding Palmetto political tradition, perhaps best executed by former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford. In 2004, Sanford two live pigs into the S.C. State House lobby to protest the legislature’s refusal to consider his budget vetoes.
Sanford’s stunt – while a tremendous hit with the media – was no more effective at bringing an end to wasteful spending in Columbia, S.C. than his supposed “Appalachian trial hike” was at covering up an extramarital affair that effectively ended his national political ambitions.
Such profligacy – including dubious expenditures based on member-specific requests – continues on to this day.
While South Carolina’s current governor isn’t one to attack the establishment GOP, freshman upstate legislator Stephen Frank has taken up the mantle of pork barrel protestation, reigniting a debate over how the legislature allocates funding for projects throughout the state.
(Click to view)
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The vast majority of the the state’s expenditures are passed through the normal budgeting process – in which ways and means committee members in the S.C. House and finance committee members in the State Senate engage in a lengthy process of hearings and closed-door compromises.
These negotiations ultimately produce the budget that’s approved – usually without controversy – by both chambers.
Earmark expenditures, referred to colloquially as “pork barrel” expenditures, are negotiated outside of this process. They involve lawmakers appealing directly to leadership for funds for projects in their districts, a process that critics say encourages spending on non-core functions of government that wouldn’t pass the scrutiny of the normal budgeting process.
While many of the expenditures are legitimate, the passage of numerous decidedly corrupt or frivolous expenditures over the course of decades have made the earmark process a perpetual point of criticism for fiscally conservative GOP politicos.
Frank’s publication of an interactive online map detailing last year’s earmark expenditures makes him the latest in the long line of politicians to seek reform of South Carolina allocates funds for projects. Users can hover over expenditures to see which lawmaker asked for specific funds, how much was spent and where the money went.
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Frank told FITSNews “earmarks are a bypass of the normal merit-based allocation budgeting process that open the door for individual legislators to earmark funds for their pet projects.”
“It’s been said that earmarks are the currency of corruption,” Frank said. “Obviously, I’m not saying that every project that gets funded is nefarious, but the process is.”
A glance through Frank’s map reveals disbursements for numerous projects that many taxpayers would likely support – along with a handful of related expenditures likely to raise eyebrows.
While few would likely object to helping rural communities purchase much-needed firefighting equipment, many Palmetto State voters would doubtless prefer that $10,000 allocated to a non-profit that teaches surfing lessons (per the request of representative Thomas Brittain), or $2,000,000 dedicated to a path connecting Conway and Myrtle Beach (senator Luke Rankin) be debated as a part of the traditional budgeting process.
“There’s no private organization that successfully operates like this,” Frank said. “It doesn’t happen.”
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Frank is of the belief that House and Senate leadership can leverage the allocation of earmark dollars to ensure representatives support legislation they’d like to see pass, something more senior legislators who’ve been through the budgeting process tell FITSNews doesn’t happen.
“I’ve never been told how to vote,” state representative Brandon Guffey said, adding that he’d “never been told, ‘if you want to get money for your district, do this.'”
“I think what Stephen Frank is trying to do is correct, but I think the narrative is a little skewed to make it sound like everything is pork,” Guffey said. “Is there some spending that I would not agree with? Yes. Would I shut down an entire budget to stop it? No, and we can vote against it on the floor.”
Midlands representative Micah Caskey told FITSNews the budget process in South Carolina “has increased the transparency and accountability every year since I’ve been in office,” adding that “there’s more work to do” and suggesting “everyone who is serious about improving things should lend a hand.”
According to Caskey, “faceless, unaccountable bureaucrats” ultimately decide how the bulk of the the state’s funds are spent once they’re allocated to government agencies, pointing out that earmarked expenditures are tied to a specific decision-maker (the legislator who made the request), while state agency expenditures are not tied to a specific individual.
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“Without denying my undeniable curiosity about how a guy that’s never even attended a budget meeting suddenly has this new internet gadget, I’m hopeful the tool representative Frank has unveiled will help,” Caskey said.
“I’m also hopeful he’ll break from the Freedom Caucus’ modus operandi and actually use this thing to be a constructive contributor in enacting sound, conservative policy — I’d hate to think he’s just going to use it for the sort of vapid, bumper sticker slogans his fellow clownsmen have defined themselves by,” Caskey added.
Caskey has been a vocal critic of the Frank’s colleagues in the S.C. Freedom Caucus, accusing them of engaging in performative legislating.
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Specifically, Freedom Caucus members have been accused of demanding frivolous floor votes to entrap fellow Republican legislators into voting against measures that can later be used as cudgels in primary elections.
Mainstream GOP political operatives spent significant sums of money attempting to oust numerous Freedom Caucus members in the 2024 presidential primaries, but failed to unseat any of the arch-conservative representatives. The battle between caucus members and mainstream GOP operatives has spilled over into this legislative session, which has already seen a slew of negative text messages sent out to voters by the rival factions.
Frank told this news outlet he believes his map is a way to draw attention to the fact that “our budget has grown year over year without any spending cuts” and believes that regardless of intra-party battles, the state needs a “better, more merit-based budget accounting process.”
FITSNews will continue to chronicle both the South Carolina budget process and the ongoing internecine GOP warfare as state lawmakers return to Columbia, S.C. on January 14, 2025 for the start of the 2025-2026 legislative session. As we do, we encourage readers with views on this issue (or any other issue of public import) to email us an opinion-editorial column or a letter to the editor – which we’ll gladly run front-and-center on our website. We pride ourselves on being the Palmetto State’s public square.
This author can be reached by emailing Dylan@fitsnews.com, and would be happy to facilitate the publication of your letter or column…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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