Legislature Not Corrupt, But Has Work To Do

Part of the job of a political party chairman is to arouse passions and stick it to the other party when there’s a good opportunity.
S.C. Democratic Party Chair Jaime Harrison certainly did both this week. Soon after news that a Richland County grand jury indicted GOP House Speaker Bobby Harrell of Charleston on nine misdemeanor ethics violations, Harrison said, “This culture of corruption in South Carolina has to stop. Leaders on both sides of the aisle must be held accountable for ethical wrongdoing.”
Harrison is right on the money that our leaders ought to be held accountable for ethical wrongdoing. But he’s dead wrong that there’s an insidious “culture of corruption” in South Carolina.
It might make good partisan politics to suggest the General Assembly is corrupt, but it rings hollow when you get to know legislators and what they do, says state Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Moncks Corner.
“I don’t believe most people in the state understand what it takes to serve in the General Assembly in the sacrifices on your personal life and on your professional career,” he said. “The vast majority are serving for the good of the people and the state.”
State Sen. Wes Hayes, a Rock Hill Republican who started his political career in 1985 in the House as a Democrat, remembers the legislature of the early 1990s when federal authorities indicted 28 state lawmakers and lobbyists on corruption charges in what became known as Operation Lost Trust.
Before Lost Trust, there was a subculture in Columbia that was a little fast and loose with things like gifts by lobbyists to lawmakers. Some legislators were accused of taking bribes. But statements like Harrison’s on a culture of corruption today are overboard and “out of line,” Hayes said.
“We’ve come a long way in building an arms-length relationship between lobbyists and legislators,” he said. “The General Assembly, for better or worse, truly reflects the people they serve. Some are dishonest. Some are wishy-washy. But the vast majority want to do the right thing, just like the people of South Carolina do.”
GOP State Sen. Larry Martin, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, understands how news of the legal and ethical accusations suffered by a few tars the whole General Assembly and reduces people’s confidence in government.
“This just sort of kicks us all in the stomach,” he said this week after news of Harrell’s indictment broke. “People tend to put it all in the same bowl of fruit. That’s the distasteful thing about this.”
Former Democratic state Rep. Vida Miller currently is trying to recapture the Pawleys Island House seat she had for 14 years in a race against GOP Rep. Stephen Goldfinch of Murrells Inlet. Currently he faces a federal misdemeanor charge related to the alleged illegal sale of stem cells, a charge he reportedly (and incredibly) says shouldn’t be an election issue.
Miller says the news about Harrell puts an extra burden on members of the General Assembly to pass an ethics reform bill that failed in the waning days of this year’s session. The proposal would have eliminated leadership political action committees, required more disclosures on income, provided more accountability and created an independent investigatory agency to look into complaints about elected officials.
“It is past time that this gets done,” Miller said of ethics reforms. “Everybody in the Senate and House has to come together and restore people’s confidence back in the General Assembly.”
Suggesting the legislature is corrupt makes for a nice sound bite for partisan political purposes, but it unfairly paints good, elected public servants from both parties. Yes, there might be one bad egg in every few cartons — just like in regular society — but the overwhelming majority of people who serve in the legislature are upstanding folks who got into elected politics to try to make positive differences in the lives of South Carolinians.
Let’s hope state legislators use the discussions now about ethics and power to do the right thing by passing tougher ethics reform. That way, they’ll send a clear message that the General Assembly truly is an honorable place.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. He can be reached at brack@statehousereport.com.