Editorials from around South Carolina: dam inspections, police on video, ethics oversight
Dam inspections
The state’s dam safety office is one of the most poorly funded in the nation, and in 2014 had a budget of $260,000, according to a report in The State. In 2014-15, funding was $453,000.
This is not a problem created by our current governor or even many of our current lawmakers. But it is a symptom of a state that rushes to cut taxes without taking time to study potential consequences.
What are the consequences? Of 75 dams that now are under emergency repair orders issued in the wake of last month’s floods, at least a dozen hadn’t been inspected in the past five years or more .…
Gov. Nikki Haley and the Legislature need to take this problem seriously when they address the budget next year. Unfortunately, they need to add it to a list of things this state needs to take seriously.
Year after year this state’s leaders talk about cutting taxes. This year, they’re going to need to face the music and begin talking about increasing spending – and perhaps taxes – to ensure the infrastructure in this state is safe and contributes to, rather than hinders, the well-being of our fellow South Carolinians.
Police on video
It’s amazing how reactionary our society has become in the world of cell phone videos and social media.
The video of a student being dragged from her desk at Spring Valley High School quickly produced all manner of outcry, from demands for immediate prosecution of the officer to announcement of a civil rights investigation. Action in firing the officer did little to quell the furor.
The incident offers all kinds of lessons about how students should behave and respond to authority; how students should be respected by teachers, administrators and school-based police officers; how teachers should control their classrooms without injecting resource officers in cases short of emergencies; and how education and law enforcement professionals are to be professional in their dealing with anyone and everyone. …
(I)t is necessary to point out that most officers and educators routinely do the right thing by protecting, assisting and serving students – and taking appropriate action when something goes wrong in the process.
Ethics oversight
No, the acronym GOTV doesn’t designate another nostalgia-themed television network. It’s shorthand for “Get Out the Vote,” and it frequently appears on the ethics forms that legislators and other candidates have to file detailing how they spend their campaign funds. And as … (a recent news report) makes clear, “GOTV” can cover any number of expenditures without being explicit. As such, it can also cover a multitude of sins.
Apparently, those charged with ethics oversight aren’t overly concerned. The limited space on ethics forms encourages “GOTV” and other expenditure descriptions of a similarly terse nature: “office,” “supplies,” “transportation,” “campaign expense,” “expense reimbursement,” “fee” and “incidentals.”
And even “unknown.” Now that ought to get the attention of any ethics watchdog.
The public has no way of knowing what any of those abbreviated descriptions really mean — unless they ask. They shouldn’t have to. Those expenditures ought to be spelled out in full detail and available for any citizen to access online. …
The problem isn’t merely a broad interpretation of campaign fund expenditures, but the virtual absence of meaningful record keeping and oversight.
That’s why real ethics reform must include provisions for fully detailing candidate income and expenditures, as well as third-party investigation and judgment of legislative ethics complaints.
This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Editorials from around South Carolina: dam inspections, police on video, ethics oversight."