We’re not done yet with SC ethics reform

Anyone in the State House is likely to rattle off a similar list of what the Legislature’s priorities should be: infrastructure, education and economic development. I agree that all are critically important. But one item sits above them all, one that many in Columbia have been too eager to check off of their “to-do” lists: ethics reform.

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Some unethical actions are illegal in SC; lots aren’t

How to punish corrupt politicians

New case, same lesson: We need random ethics audits

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Before we expect our citizens to have confidence in the solutions proposed in Columbia, we must restore confidence in the people making those decisions. With the 30-count indictment of former Rep. Jimmy Merrill and pervasive rumors of more to come, we cannot afford half-measures when it comes to ethics.

Ethics should not be a partisan issue, and many Democrats have signaled that they believe Gov. Henry McMaster is someone they can work with. As a former U.S. attorney, state attorney general and co-chairman of then-Gov. Nikki Haley’s bipartisan ethics reform panel, he has seen firsthand just how badly further reform is needed.

As the Merrill indictment demonstrated, there are still gaping holes in our ethics law.

For starters, we need full income disclosure for lawmakers. This is one thing our federal government gets right when it comes to members of Congress. Lawmakers should disclose exactly where they derive all income, in income ranges. And they shouldn’t be able to simply list salary from an employer that derives its income doing consulting, legal or other work for the state; the ultimate source of that income needs to be identified.

We also need to strengthen conflict-of-interest requirements. Elected officials should be required to recuse themselves from participating in any matters they work on as a consultant; they also should have to recuse themselves when a vote would impact the business of a family member. Most importantly, the recusal should start at the subcommittee level, because we’ve all seen the game played: Officials who stand to benefit from a certain bill being passed or a certain judge being appointed shepherd the action through the process, only to recuse themselves from the final vote.

Finally, the State Ethics Commission needs some real teeth, and that includes more investigators and subpoena power. Right now, ethics violations have a pretty good chance of sliding by. We need elected officials to know that every disclosure is going to be scrutinized, double checked and triple checked. And we need to empower the Ethics Commission to work like a criminal investigative agency.

South Carolina has an opportunity to serve as a national leader on ethics reform, and I urge Gov. McMaster to lead the charge.

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "We’re not done yet with SC ethics reform."