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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina’s status quo governor Henry McMaster used his veto pen to temporarily restore a $150 million taxpayer-funded bailout for crony capitalist Scout Motors – a subsidiary of über-woke Volkswagen.
And yes, you read that right…
The gubernatorial line item veto – which exists so governors can cut spending – was used in this instance by “Republican” McMaster to put taxpayer dollars back into the state’s bloated $42.7 billion budget. And not only that, for the restoration of a corporate welfare handout.
Scout has already received $1.3 billion from Palmetto State taxpayers for its massive facility in Richland County, which continues to face numerous production delays. This latest appropriation – exclusively unearthed by our media outlet earlier this year – was quietly slipped into the budgets of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) and the S.C. Department of Commerce (SCDOC) via multiple provisos.
For those of you unfamiliar how the budget process works in South Carolina, provisos are specific spending mandates included in a standalone section of the state’s annual budget. Using these mandates, lawmakers instruct executive and judicial branch agencies as to how they can (and cannot) spend taxpayer money.
Curiously, Scout’s bailout was snuck into the budget just months after the company snubbed the Palmetto State for its corporate headquarters – choosing to locate in Charlotte, N.C. as opposed to Charleston.
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Fiscal conservative state senator Tom Davis countered this secretive move with a budget proviso of his own – one directing the S.C. Legislative Audit Council (SCLAC) to review “cost overruns” at Scout’s Richland County plant and determine whether these expenditures could be “recovered from responsible parties.” Davis’ proviso also instructed the agency to explore what “systemic reforms” were needed in the reporting process – and to refer any “potential legal liability” to the S.C. Office of Inspector General (SCOIG).
Davis’ proviso expressly blocked the appropriation of any of the bailout funds until the completion of the SCLAC report and the enactment of “separate authorizing legislation.”
Now, McMaster is seeking to undo all of that accountability…
“The governor’s veto rests on the premise that $150 million is due now,” Davis said in a statement following McMaster’s disappointing decision. “It is not. About $90 million of that figure is SCDOT road and bridge work, and Secretary (Justin) Powell has advised me his agency is paying those invoices out of the state highway fund and is content to wait until next year to be reimbursed. Another $26 million is wetlands mitigation that Commerce’s own payment schedule spreads across FY28, FY29, and post-construction monitoring through FY31.”
According to Davis, what is “actually invoiced and outstanding today” is $6 million owed through Richland County — whose local government is the focus of intense controversy after one of its elected leaders took a paid position with Scout.
Davis said Commerce can pay this amount “with funds already on hand” – and pointed out that previous estimates supplied to lawmakers regarding this project have been “found inadequate twice.”
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According to Davis, allowing these funds to be spent without letting SCLAC do its work further undermines public faith in state government’s handling of the still-unfolding Scout debacle.
“Letting money move before the Legislative Audit Council reports will only further erode public confidence in how this project has been handled,” Davis said.
Sadly, McMaster has made it clear he doesn’t care about “public confidence,” public funds – or the public at-large. Having been humiliated by the failed Carolina Panthers crony capitalist boondoggle, the good ol’ boy guffawer-in-chief is pulling out all the stops in an effort to protect what he perceives as his economic development legacy.
That’s sadly pathetic… but also not surprising considering he has served as the poster politician for the Palmetto State’s failed command economy for the past decade.
Fiscally liberal South Carolina lawmakers have surprisingly taken a stand against McMaster’s machinations once in this budget process (via their approval of Davis’ proviso). They should take another stand by overriding McMaster’s veto.
In fact, this $150 million should never be routed to the Scout project – it should be added to the $378 million in pork barrel spending Davis fought to keep out of the budget last month and used as a starting point for long-overdue tax relief for struggling South Carolinians.
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DAVIS’ PROVISO…
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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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