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by DAVID PASCOE
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Lately the rumor mill in Columbia has been working overtime.
Every day we get calls from people who have heard some version of the same story. They’re being told that if I become Attorney General I’m going to put every legislator in jail. They’re being told I’m coming after specific lawmakers. They’re being told I have a list of targets.
Let me be very clear. I do not go after individuals. I go after corrupt conduct.
I do not have a target list. I am not running for Attorney General to go after any one person. I am not running to settle political scores. I am not running to target a particular legislator, lobbyist, or group. In fact, I truly believe that most of the folks serving you in Columbia are good honest people. We may differ on issues, but the vast majority are there for the right reasons. Unfortunately, the actions of the few have built a self serving machine. And that’s what we must weed out.
For decades, Columbia has operated under a political machine that has created a culture where corruption can grow. It is a culture where special interests hold enormous influence, where insiders protect insiders, and where too often politicians end up serving the system instead of the people who elected them.
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When I led the S.C. State House corruption probe, we exposed part of that system. Powerful politicians were held accountable and removed from office. That investigation shook Columbia because it showed something many people had begun to doubt: that even the most powerful figures in state government are not above the law.
But anyone who believes corruption simply disappeared from the State House after that investigation is living in a fantasy.
We removed some of the rot, but that work was only the beginning. I made it clear at the time that the investigation needed to go further. The South Carolina Supreme Court ultimately stopped that effort, and since then there has been no meaningful investigation into corruption inside the Statehouse. The system has been allowed to return to its old habits, and the rot has gotten worse.
My concern has never been about individuals. It has always been about the environment that allows corruption to thrive. Columbia has become a place where too many politicians put themselves before the people and where special interests carry more weight than the citizens who sent those officials to the Statehouse. All one has to do is follow the money…government money.
Government ends up serving itself when it is supposed to be serving the public.
The reason the corruption probe had such an impact is simple. Politicians do not fear other politicians. They negotiate with each other. They protect each other. They compromise with each other.
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The one thing a corrupt politician fears is a prosecutor.
A prosecutor does not trade favors. A prosecutor does not make deals about whether the law will be enforced. A prosecutor follows the evidence wherever it leads and lets a jury decide the outcome.
That is the job of the Attorney General: To be where corruption needs an adversary.
So when you hear rumors about me having some secret list of names, understand what they are really trying to do. They want to turn this into a personal fight because they do not want to talk about the real issue.
The real issue is the system.
South Carolina deserves a government that answers to the people, not to a political machine. We deserve a State House where the rule of law is not optional and where public service means serving the public.
That is what I will restore.
Not by targeting individuals – but by dismantling the culture of corruption that has been allowed to take root in Columbia for far too long.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
David Pascoe is solicitor for South Carolina’s first judicial circuit, which includes Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties. He is a Republican candidate for attorney general of the Palmetto State.
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