Welcome To The Party

The State newspaper published a beautiful article on May 29 that described the incredible dysfunction of South Carolina government:
“Rural schools fail their students. Children die while in the care of the state Department of Social Services. Crumbling roads cost some S.C. drivers their lives and, according to a national research group, other residents about $3 billion a year. Dams collapse, causing hundreds of millions in damages. Violent youths riot, torching part of a state facility.”
Well, welcome to the party. We’re glad The State has jumped into the pool. And we hope its new monthly series on rebuilding our state will help shake up things.
Statehouse Report has railed for years about how lawmakers fail to make and implement long-term plans for the state, how they won’t reform billions of tax loopholes and giveaways, and how state agencies are underfunded and under-performing.
The state’s dysfunction isn’t even a secret around the halls of the General Assembly. Lawmakers know it exists, but a vast majority seem incapable of taking on the humongous challenges of reforming taxes, education, health care, and a related assortment of ills related to roads, mental health, prisons, policing, social services, and infrastructure.
In fact, state Sen. Vincent Sheheen (D-Camden) wrote a whole book (The Right Way: Getting the Palmetto State Back on Track) on the state’s dysfunction that he used in his 2014 campaign for governor against GOP Gov. Nikki Haley. Describing South Carolina’s “so-called ‘leaders,’” Sheheen invoked language reminiscent of The State’s story:
“Instead of remembering our past successes, we the citizens bought into their cynical rhetoric, their cynical leadership. In return, we have ended up with the most inefficient, dishonest, and destructive government a modern society could practically have in America. With the leaders we’ve had, it’s no wonder South Carolina is a recurring laughingstock on late night television shows.”
Similar rhetoric filled a May 31 piece in Esquire in which writer Charles P. Pierce called The State’s report “refreshing.” Pierce pointed the finger of blame directly at the Republican Party for failing to meet responsibilities and actually govern:
“Like almost all elements of the Republican Party, the S.C. GOP has been struck down by the prion disease because a sizable portion of its members ate the monkeybrains long ago, and the state is pretty much falling apart.”
Perhaps these reports will be a wake-up call to voters and legislators. Because otherwise, we can expect legislators to keep focusing on small-minded wedge issues like abortion, guns or bathroom bills that they can wrap their brains around.
Case in point: South Carolina’s crumbling roads and bridges. There’s a lot of backslapping at the Statehouse this week for a $2.2 billion borrowing package to fix transportation infrastructure by leveraging $200 million in general fund revenues over 15 years or so. The problem: Roads and bridges still have about $26.8 billion in needs over the next three decades to bring them into good shape. Instead of backslapping for coming up with an 8 percent solution, they should be ashamed for not passing a gas tax increase that would have provided a consistent stream of hundreds of millions for road funding ad infinitum.
Legislators are elected in popularity contests every two or four years. Instead of prancing around like preening gazelles in a legislative reality TV show, they need to roll up their sleeves and do their duties to fix problems like roads and education that they’ve let fester for decades. It will be hard work. It will be unpopular. But that’s the job that they’re elected to do.
One final note: Electing new guys to replace people in office isn’t really change if the new guys offer the same kind of directionless leadership that a lot of the old guys have offered. Over the years, we’ve noticed it takes six to eight years for a legislator to fully understand the pickle that state government constantly is in. We’d suggest more education — particularly on tax, infrastructure, and agency-related policy — for legislators prior to annual sessions to help them to wrap their brains around problems and actually get some big things done to correct South Carolina’s unfortunate trajectory.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report, which has provided analysis of the last 15 legislative sessions. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.