South Carolina’s Legislative Tyranny Rolls On

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South Carolina state treasurer Curtis Loftis may well have done something wrong – conceivably even something impeachable – related to a recent $1.8 billion accounting error.

Some certainly seem to think so…

Have we uncovered anything even remotely indicative of that in our extensive reporting on this situation, though? No. Have we uncovered anything even remotely warranting impeachment – or Loftis’ removal from office via other means? No.

To the contrary, we’ve uncovered evidence which would strongly suggest the problem lies elsewhere… specifically with (wait for it) the state’s accountant.

Because… accounting.

Loftis, as it happens, is not the state’s accountant. He is its banker, lead investor and its check cutter. The state’s accountant – on an interim basis, anyway – is Democrat comptroller general Brian J. Gaines. Incidentally, Gaines was installed in his post after independently elected “Republican” Richard Eckstrom resigned in 2023 following another multi-billion dollar “oopsie” with state finances.

Gaines’ office was blistered in an independent report issued back in January on this ostensibly “missing” money. Also, his office went on the record in December 2023 demanding Loftis certify the “missing” $1.8 billion – i.e. making it available for lawmakers to spend. To his credit, Loftis consistently stated that if any funds were available due to the comptroller’s miscalculations – they should be rebated to taxpayers.

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RELATED | LOFTIS WON’T BACK DOWN

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So, if the $1.8 billion fiasco wasn’t real (and more importantly, wasn’t Loftis’ fault)… why are fiscally liberal lawmakers led by state senator Larry Grooms trying to take him out?

“To paraphrase all this into a quote from Donald Trump – they want your money, and I’m in between you and the money,” the veteran conservative official told me in an exclusive interview earlier this month. “I’m standing in the way.”

There’s a compelling argument to be made for that point. Just last month, Grooms – along with senator Greg Hembree – was rated the most fiscally liberal member of the S.C. Senate by the national Club for Growth Foundation. As a leader on the S.C. Senate finance committee, he’s been among the key drivers of rampant, unsustainable government growth in the Palmetto State in recent years.

Loftis? He’s a staunch fiscal conservative who has battled ranking Senate “Republicans” for years. And with the current state budget approaching $42 billion… this is about much more than just the $1.8 billion.

With an April 21, 2025 Senate hearing looming, Loftis has appealed to the S.C. Supreme Court – asking it to step in and “enjoin” these proceedings until it can “weigh in on significant constitutional issues.” Specifically, Loftis is challenging the Senate’s efforts to remove him via Article XV, Section 3 of the state constitution – a section typically reserved for non-statewide officers.

This article allows the governor to bypass impeachment and remove “any executive or judicial officer on the address of two-thirds of each house of the General Assembly.”

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In a brief filed with the court last week, Loftis’ attorneys argued this article “does not apply to constitutional officials elected on a statewide basis; those elected officials can be removed only by impeachment.”

“The only proper procedure for the removal of a statewide elected constitutional official, such as the treasurer, is by formal impeachment,” the brief (.pdf), continued, describing the formal impeachment process as “a substantive protection of the will of the people of this state, to ensure that political maneuverings do not undermine that will.”

Loftis was elected to a fourth term in 2022 with a whopping 79.7% of the vote – the highest percentage of any statewide official who did not run unopposed in that election cycle.

“I am asking the Supreme Court to step in and clarify whether the Senate is authorized to overturn a state election using this provision,” Loftis said. “The people of South Carolina deserve a process that upholds the law and the democratic principles they have entrusted to us.”

Context matters in this discussion, too… a lot.

For those of you in need of a history lesson, South Carolina’s 1895 constitution – forged in the aftermath of post-Civil War Reconstruction – was intentionally structured to vest as much power in the hands of the legislature as possible. 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.

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As a result, 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. Also, numerous offices which should be selected via gubernatorial appointment – like the treasurer’s office – are elected independently, further splintering executive authority.

“All of this prevents a direct line of accountability over a host of executive functions,” I noted last spring. “And preserves a status quo that has been holding South Carolina back for decades on a host of fronts.”

Will the state’s high court step in to stop it? Probably not… because it, too, is controlled by the legislature.

South Carolina is one of only two states in America in which powerful lawyer-legislators picks judges via legislative election. Actually, it’s worse than that – a legislatively controlled panel screens the choices ahead of time, effectively rigging judicial races before they begin.

While the battle over Loftis’ future will dominate headlines in the coming weeks – and understandably so – this is the larger war. Unless/until it unshackles itself from an entrenched legislative tyranny – a.k.a. “King Columbia” – South Carolina will struggle to compete in the modern world. And its citizens will struggle to live free and prosper.

This is one reason my media outlet has written so extensively on the exploits of Rom Reddy and his DOGE SC organization, which has made the separation of powers in the Palmetto State such a central component of its mission.

“The federal and state constitutions both call for a clear separation of powers between the three branches of government — legislative, administrative and judicial,” Reddy wrote in a recent column on The (S.C.) Island Eye. “This is intended to keep government weak and the citizen free and self-governing within the framework established by the Bill of Rights.”

“We essentially have only one branch of government, which is another way of saying we’ve recreated the king,” Reddy added.

Exactly. And without putting too fine a point on it, it’s past time South Carolinians introduced “King Columbia” to the guillotine…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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