Richland County, SC — In all of the controversy surrounding the job performance of Richland County elections director Lillian McBride, there has been no discussion of whether the job merits a salary of $89,124.

The State recently quoted former Gamecock football coach Lou Holtz saying that when he was young, he always wanted to be a garbage man, because they only worked on Tuesdays. That, of course, is a misleading understanding of what that job entails, but if Coach Holtz had known about elections directors, he might have set his sights on that job.

While I’m sure there is more to the job than it seems, I suspect there are many others who, like me, wonder what exactly is it that is done (or, in this case, not done) in the 23 months between general elections.

Although it appears that Ms. McBride’s days in that job are numbered, I hope that the commissioners will exercise some financial accountability before passing the position off to a successor at the same or greater salary.

Gere B. Fulton

Columbia