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One of the most famous quotes cited by limited government advocates is attributed to Scottish philosopher Alexander Fraser Tytler.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government,” Tytler is purported to have said. “It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.”
The gist of the quote is that democracies inevitably descend into unsustainable profligacy (ahem), resulting in their inevitable collapse under the weight of “loose fiscal policy.”
In “Republican-controlled” South Carolina, GOP lawmakers have taken Tytler even more literally – actually voting themselves money from the public treasury. Specifically, the so-called GOP “supermajority” approved a budget earlier this week which contained $4.34 million in pay raises… for themselves.
This legislative pay hike – first reported by FITSNews last month – would give each lawmaker an extra $25,500 over the next seventeen months, coinciding with their current term in office. While most of the debate about the pay hike has revolved around its piss poor political optics, a new front is emerging – specifically, questions related to its legality.
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According to the S.C. Constitution (Article III, Section 19), “no General Assembly shall have the power to increase the per diem of its own members.” In other words, lawmakers are only allowed to award pay raises to future legislatures – i.e. those General Assemblies chosen in subsequent election cycles.
Not themselves.
That means the soonest lawmakers could constitutionally raise legislative pay – per the prevailing interpretation of this provision – would be January 2029, at which point every member of the current legislature would have stood for reelection at least once.
Any pay hike implemented before that time would, by definition, involve the legislature increasing the pay “of its own members” – again, according to this reading of the constitution.
Republican senator Wes Climer cited this concern as one of his reasons for opposing the state’s $40 billion budget. He also noted one of his former colleagues – Dick Harpootlian – was considering bringing a lawsuit in the event governor Henry McMaster failed to veto the pay hike. McMaster – a status quo fiscal liberal – has indicated he plans to sign off on that provision of the budget.
If he does, Harpootlian should sue.
“Republicans” clearly appear to be in violation of the constitution via this pay hike – although the House’s lead budget writer, ways and means chairman Bruce Bannister, told a legacy media reporter the $4.34 million “is not a pay raise, it is an expense reimbursement.”
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RELATED | ‘REPUBLICANS’ TRY TO OPT OUT OF THEIR MASSIVE PAY RAISE
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Mmmm-k. Any excuse to rip off taxpayers, right?
It’s good to see Climer standing on principle against this pay hike – just as it’s good to see Harpootlian willing to flex his considerable muscle on the matter. Climer and Harpootlian previously worked together on exposing secretive spending within the state budget – efforts which have since borne some fruit.
Perhaps this issue will lead to something resembling progress…
Once again, FITSNews has no objection whatsoever to lawmakers being paid more money – so long as they accompany any funding increases with stringent anti-corruption legislation. In fact, eight years ago we proposed an inflation-adjusted $80,000 annual salary for lawmakers – albeit this pay hike would have been accompanied by “the most draconian anti-corruption measures South Carolina state government has ever seen.”
Basically, lawmakers would have received a larger base salary – but their ability to profit from their elected offices would have been eliminated. Included within this draconian ban would have been constitutional restrictions on legislative meddling in other branches of government – i.e. getting rid of the current legislatively controlled judicial selection racket.
Sadly, lawmakers don’t want to be held accountable for their corrupt “self-service.” In fact, they want us to pay them more to keep ripping us off.
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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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2 comments
You need to research why Chuck Wright resignation papers state that he is NOT under investigation!!! They are covering his ass so he doesn’t lose his retirement! That’s bullshit! I have a copy of the form showing the Information that the Sheriff’s office administrative representative filled out
Sounds like a criminal conspiracy to violate the constitutional rights of the rightful owners of state government. The people were spit on The people should have had this put before then to decide by voting for or against this.