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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014
N.G. Osteen 1843-1936 The Watchman and Southron
H.G. Osteen 1870-1955 Founder, The Item
THE SUMTER ITEM H.D. Osteen 1904-1987 The Item
Margaret W. Osteen 1908-1996 The Item Hubert D. Osteen Jr. Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Graham Osteen Co-President Kyle Osteen Co-President Jack Osteen Editor and Publisher Larry Miller CEO Rick Carpenter Managing Editor
20 N. Magnolia St., Sumter, South Carolina 29150 • Founded October 15, 1894
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR CANNON WILL MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS FOR OUR COMMUNITY I am writing to support my friend Alan Cannon for Sumter City Council. In a democracy, the most important thing we can do is to vote, and I am disappointed in the turnout in the general election, and there will most likely be a small voter turnout in this most important runoff election. So please vote. I have known Alan and his family for many years and found him to be a loyal, honest, trustworthy and hardworking man. He is a man of his word; if he tells you something, you can count on it being true. I have served on several church committees with him and observed him to make sound decisions all the while having a heart of compassion and concern for people. He is also able to make the hard decisions that may not be popular, but is the right thing to do for the people. So on Nov. 18, be sure to vote, and vote for Alan Cannon for city council. You will be glad you did. TOMMY MIMS Former sheriff of Sumter County
PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR YATES IN RUN-OFF ELECTION This is an appeal to the residents of the City of Sumter who live in Ward 4. Please participate in the run-off election that is being held on Nov. 18 and support Colleen Yates with your votes. I have known Colleen for over 10 years and know her to be a person with a passion for the betterment of Sumter. I have worked with her through various organizations and watched her tirelessly seek to encourage better education for our children, more harmonious relationships between races, talented women to run for political office, help for the poor, hungry and homeless. I can’t think of a person that would be a better choice for making decisions about the future of Sumter. I have often marveled at the energy she has for reaching out to her community with a helping hand and encouragement to seek opportunities to make a better life for us all. And best of all, she has many friends who will join with her to tackle a problem or achieve a lofty goal for improvement. Tuesday is a very important day for the residents of Ward 4, and I implore you to go to your voting precinct to cast a vote for Colleen Yates for city council. She has won once with more votes than the opposing candidates. Help her win for a final time with the 51 percent that she needs to satisfy the election rules. BEVERLY GAGNE Sumter
RETURN TO THE POLLS ON NOV. 18 TO CAST YOUR VOTE FOR YATES Just when we thought it was over, the race to represent Ward 4 on Sumter City Council requires a costly runoff. Evidently, Yates’ 662 votes wasn’t enough to beat the closest opponent’s 399 votes. Therefore, the election is not over. Nov. 18 will host the only contested race of this midterm election and, as such, turnout is predicted to decline. It is expected to cost the city between $35,000 and $40,000. This is an unpleasant dilemma no matter how you look at it. However, let us not shirk our duty. Get back to the polls on Nov. 18. Nothing is more important to local government than your voice. Your council member represents you. If you care about your neighborhood and community, get involved in the simple act of voting. Find out what your candidate can do for you and what have they done for their communities in the past. Let me remind you, Colleen Yates is the only one fully qualified to do the job from day one. She has a proven track record. She has never stopped serving her community and the city of Sumter. She still attends various neighborhood association meetings, to include city council meetings, and actively participates in countless organizations that promote the safety, health and welfare of the people of Sumter. Colleen Yates’ 662 votes versus her opponent’s 399 votes: The odds are in her favor only if her supporters return to the voting booth on Nov. 18. Please do. Show your appreciation for what Colleen Yates has already done with a lifetime of service to Sumter and what we know she will do for us in the future. NORMA HOLLAND Retired USAF lieutenant colonel Sumter
COMMENTARY
S.C. House speaker has too much power
B
obby Harrell’s guilty plea and resignation from the South Carolina House of Representatives largely settles the debate over the former House speaker’s misuse of campaign funds. It sheds little light, however, on the root of the problem and the reforms necessary to prevent this type of abuse from recurring decade after decade. Virtually all of the commentary surrounding the Harrell case has focused on the need to strengthen ethics laws. This is essential if South Carolina is to position itself to succeed economically, socially and environmentally. But shady campaign finance activities — illegal, borderline illegal and perfectly legal — do not begin to capture the magnitude of the abuses of power that have been so detrimental to our state’s welfare. The dollars involved are, literally, rounding errors compared to the real corruption. The problem lies in the speaker’s legally constituted powers to direct massive streams of public dollars to his favored projects, locales and allies. This system of influence and patronage has been constructed, piece by piece, over the centuries, and especially over the past few decades, to invest an unprecedented level of power in the hands of a few legislative leaders. Consider the following: The speaker of the South Carolina House represents one district — in the case of Rep. Harrell, a few dozen neighborhoods in Charleston west of the Ashley River and a rural part of Dorchester County. He is selected by roughly 0.8 percent of South Carolina voters. The other 99.2 percent have no voice in the matter. But the speaker has the authority to appoint 125 members of 49 boards and commissions. These public bodies are empowered to spend billions of taxpayer dollars, collected from citizens across the state, on everything from roads to historic monuments to industrial incentives. Beyond spending authority, the speaker appoints members to various oversight and advisory committees. In one notable example, he names five out of ten members of the Judicial Merit Selection Committee, the entity that determines who is qualified for judgeships. Through these appointments, the speaker influences the decisions of all three branches of government — legislative, executive and judicial. So much for James Madison’s prin-
ciple of the separation of powers, so fundamental to our democracy. Furthermore, the speaker’s vast appointment network provides virtually unlimited leverage to extract favors, even from committees over which he does not have direct control, ensuring unparalleled influence in every nook and cranny of state government. Consider just one of the 49 boards and commissions to which the speaker has appointment powers, the S.C. State Transportation Infrastructure Bank (STIB). Since its inception in 1997, this little known board Dana has borrowed and Beach spent more than $4 billion on numerous road projects. Just over a year ago, the Coastal Conservation League produced an analysis of the spending patterns of the STIB. It revealed that the vast majority of funding had gone to counties where the speaker and his counterpart in the Senate (the Senate president pro tempore) live, and to the home counties of STIB board members, regardless of whether the projects were priorities of the state, or even of the county where the project was located. No STIB project better illustrates this situation than the extension of I-526 to rural John’s Island. Charleston County Council, after hearing from hundreds of citizens, and considering the pressing but unfunded transportation needs in the county, voted to reject the 526 project in favor of badly needed improvements on existing roads. In response, Speaker Harrell’s appointee, Charleston attorney Rick Tapp, informed the county that it would be held in default of the contract with the STIB and required to pay $12 million back immediately or have their scheduled state funding “intercepted.” This threatened financial retaliation, along with various pressures on individual council members, caused the council to reverse its “no-build” vote and proceed with the project. On top of the speaker’s quasi-executive power to direct public funds to pet projects and quasi-judicial powers to approve or deny judgeships, he has extensive legislative authority. He appoints 153 of 167 members of the 11 standing committees of the House. These include judiciary, education and public
works, medical affairs and other committees that schedule and debate proposed laws and spending measures. Through his appointments to the Ways and Means committee — he appoints all 25 members — the speaker can deliver funding to his allies or withhold it from his adversaries. No one, neither Rep. Harrell, nor acting Speaker Jay Lucas, nor any other single individual, should possess this much power. Regardless of what we believe about the integrity of our House members, control of this magnitude sows the inevitable seeds of hubris and corruption. This is the reason America’s founding fathers were so intent on establishing three separate branches of government with inherent checks and balances. South Carolina’s perspective on political power has for 300 years been paradoxical and ambivalent. We claim to resist centralized authority, but the evidence tells a different story. In an attempt to diminish the authority of colonial governors in the 18th century, and then in the late 19th century, Reconstruction governors, the Legislature incrementally co-opted executive branch powers for their own, also assuming an inordinate degree of control over the state court system. This phenomenon is so deeply ingrained in our political culture that we don’t even recognize the results — the steady erosion of democracy and the rise of autocratic control. Herein lies the most difficult challenge. Re-establishing a healthy balance among legislative, executive and judicial power and, thereby, re-empowering citizens and voters, will require extensive legislative action. Dozens of laws must be rewritten. Legislators must be willing to return the reins of government to the people and distribute powers to the proper branches. Today, with the spotlight illuminating the specific abuses of power by one politician, we have the chance to make the broad, structural changes necessary to prevent autocratic rule once and for all. Toward that end, this debate must not revolve around, or end with, former Speaker Harrell. Instead, it should focus on fundamental reforms that will correct the course of democracy in our beloved, but politically defective, state. Dana Beach is the executive director of the Coastal Conservation League.
HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? Send your letter to letters@theitem.com, drop it off at The Sumter Item office, 20 N. Magnolia St., or mail it to The Sumter Item, P.O. Box 1677, Sumter, SC 29151, along with the writer’s full name, address and telephone number (for verification purposes only). Letters that exceed 350 words will be cut accordingly in the print edition, but available in their entirety at www.theitem.com/opinion/letters_to_editor.