Mark Sanford is South Carolina's governor, but House Speaker Bobby Harrell is the state's strongman -- and primary obstacle to a transparent and accountable government.
The latest example of Harrell's obstructionism is his purging of two fellow House Republicans from prestigious committee assignments -- all because they supported Gov. Sanford's call for more on-the-record voting and to allow open criticism of the lower chamber's practices and procedures.
The purging of Reps Nikki Haley of Lexington and Nathan Ballentine of Richland -- transferred to nonentity panels -- marked one of the battles in the ongoing war between Sanford and lawmakers over who should be in charge of running the government -- the governor, as in all other 49 states, or the legislature as in South Carolina.
Under the leadership of Harrell and Senate Majority Leader Glenn McConnell, the legislature stubbornly holds on to power that most governors take for granted -- such as naming their own cabinet and exercising budget cuts when necessary. This is why the push for more transparency ought to resonate with the public.
When 124 House members and 46 senators are in charge, no one's accountable. Indeed, lawmakers usually vote by voice -- which means they're not on the record, and therefore not accountable to their constituents.
Does anyone think this is a good way for government to operate? Apparently Harrell does, otherwise he wouldn't defend it.
Of course, he denies he's taking reprisals against Haley and Ballentine, but that's about as credible as his claim that the House does enough of its business on the record already.
When Ballentine and Haley appeared with Gov. Sanford to appeal for more openness in government, Harrell derided the effort as "just pandering to voters and grabbing for headlines." There's nothing wrong with that if you read "pandering to voters" as doing what's right by them and "grabbing for headlines" as keeping them informed.
No one in his right mind believes Harrell's claim he's not punishing the two dissident lawmakers. Sanford understands what's happening. "House leadership is sending a message," said the governor's office. "If you open your mouth, you're going to get your head chopped off."
This cannot possibly be the kind of government South Carolinians want.
Holding the operations of government accountable is impossible when that authority is diffused through 170 legislators instead of concentrated in the governor's office where it belongs.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
That's strong criticism and justified. Stories still abound about Sen. J.D. Parler of St. George who used to run the Highway Dept and be the lawyer you went to if you had a DUI.
Looks like the ACES can't find enough Georgia business to butt into. S.C. is an easy target. Illinois must make them weak with envy.
fd1962, do you really feel S.C. business is irrelevant to the CSRA? What does Illinois have to do with this area? Your apparently narrow perspective may explain many of your wildly misdirected comments.
Doesn't Sanford still have veto power? Doesn't the House still elect it's leaders? If Sanford doesn't like the current system, and why should he, he has the bully pulpit. He needs to take the message to the people, not the weeks after the election, but the weeks before the election. He's a popular governor. Now is the time to be building his base for orchestrating a change of leadership in the House.
Maybe YOURS is the narrow-minded perspective, Patricia. Mine, afterall, INCLUDES the voting population of South Carolina, the majority of whom obviously have no quarrel with how the leadership has run the state's business for generations. Let's fix Ga.'s deficiencies (aren't there any?) before criticizing neighboring states' practices.
Let's don't forget the architecture of your openmindedness which a couple years ago had your patron saint Chronicle ACES endorsing Whitehead in Augusta while simultaneously endorsing Broun for the SAME congressional seat race in the Athens area, PT. I guess that wasn't wildly misdirected though..., just focused.
fd1962...Anger never led to winning a debate. Cooler heads generally prevail. It's ok to disagree, especially in an opinion forum.
fd1962, lots of words, but not many connections. Why isn't the operation of the S.C. congress relevant to the CSRA. The Chronicle represents both sides of the river. It's printing facilities are just located on one side, it's readership is on both sides. Your disjointed comments seem to assume that the Chronicle only represents Georgia with its stories. I'll admit to having a hard time understanding you special kind of ... "reasoning?".
The corruption we have experience in this COUNTRY in the last eight years rivals that of any Banana Republic.
Bobby Harrell is a crook and a shill for the entrenched and moneyed interests in SC -- particularly the inheritors of former slave-holder and plantation interests in and around Charleston. He typifies the very worst of machine-politics -- Republi-con in this case. The operators of the political machinery in Chicago could take lessons from him. I don't think of Sanford as a heroic figure, but I do give him credit for attempting to dismantle the machine. America has certainly become a banana republic in terms of politics. But, perhaps even more significantly, it is also a banana republic in terms of its financial and economic condition. How anyone can be supportive of either the Republi-con or Demon-rat machines is beyond my comprehension. Both of these criminal organizations have sold us down the river. ----- "When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic." (Dresden James)
Patricia, I believe the title is "Augusta Chronicle" not "CSRA Chronicle". I would therefore assume the main thrust of the news would be Augusta Ga. I believe the A.C. in this case wrote the story because of a CONservative Governor that the paper likes. BTW if the Governor was really concerned about his state, he would focus on trying to get their education system out of the dark ages. But then that would require intruding on the profits of big business and we know that hasn't happened and never will happen. P.S. I know about as much about Harrell as I do about some of the people that our roads are named after.