Edmund Burke, a British Member of Parliament during the American Revolution and defender of the American colonists, once famously said “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” He also observed that “A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.” Acknowledged as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism, Burke’s theories provide a common-sense route to achieve serious reform in our state government.  He was a proponent of organic reform that built upon inherited forms and traditions. He did not believe that reform based on abstract theory ever improved the institutions of government.

If we want to see proof of his assertions, we need only look at the efforts over the past seven years to reform our state government. Based upon the abstract notion that our Governor should have more power like those in other states, the current reform movement desires to rewrite the state constitution so that the Governor would control more of our state agencies and appoint our cabinet level officers. These reform efforts have largely failed in the Legislature because its underlying theory ignores South Carolina’s inherited form of government. In the same sense that Great Britain is controlled by the House of Commons and not the King, we are controlled by the Legislature, not the Governor – a tradition going back to 1729, the year that Burke was born.

How then do we “preserve and improve” our state government? Instead of rewriting our constitution to create a different system of governance, the Legislature should concentrate on those people already in positions of oversight at each agency. The Legislature appoints many citizens to various commissions and boards to provide oversight. Beyond the appointments, the relationship remains passive with the Legislature dependent upon the commissioners to communicate problems as they occur.

Unfortunately, there are two recently publicized examples of the lack of communication between the commissioners appointed to supervise state agencies and the Legislature.  The Legislative Audit Council recently released a report detailing the failures of the Employment Security Commission. The ESC has gone from an $800 million surplus in 2000 to insolvency in 2010 at a time when unemployed South Carolinians need these benefits most. The report specifically noted that the ESC failed to give the Legislature adequate information about the declining trust fund balance nor did the ESC makes recommendations to prevent the fund’s decline as required by state law.

The events leading up to the closure of I-385 provide another example. A unilateral decision was made by the DOT more than two years ago to proceed with the project without any effort being made to form a consensus with Upstate legislators. The DOT commissioners provided no oversight over this project as evidenced by their own comments. The DOT failed to communicate with other agencies, such as the Department of Commerce, to develop an economic impact study – a failure that brings their cost savings claim into question.  The DOT did little to prepare the public for the closure until they started receiving belated pressure from Upstate legislators and the press.  

If we look at these two examples, we know that the lack of oversight is systemic to our state government as a whole. Furthermore, the mismanagement exposed at ESC has cost the state real tax dollars – unlike other recent scandals that have been the primary focus of the news media. We reached a point in 2009 where the credibility of these agencies burned while the Legislature fiddled around with impeaching the Governor.

Real reform will begin when the Legislature develops a comprehensive plan to oversee our state agencies. Appointments to each commission should be based on qualifications not political relationships. Communication between the Legislature and the commissioners should be proactive. The Legislature should use its existing standing committee structure and county delegation structure to establish frequent communication with the commission members. If state agencies under-perform, commissioners should be held accountable. If we are willing to impeach our Governor over his travel arrangements, we certainly should be willing to dismiss commissioners whose agencies are clearly out of control. Once we have re-established control over those responsible for oversight, we can then continue preserving that which works and improving that which does not.

Much has been made of the budget cuts that have occurred because of falling tax revenue. The portion of state tax revenue received by the various agencies has dropped almost $2 billion in two years. However, South Carolinians are still spending over $5 billion per year on the operation of their state government. This amount does not include the monies received directly from the Federal government in the form of income redistribution. Now more than ever, South Carolinians deserve an efficiently operating state government. Interestingly, the audit report detailing the problems at the ESC concluded that the agency would be more efficiently operated under the authority of the Governor. However, the historical stance of the Legislature does not suggest that the Governor will ever be granted these broad powers. This leaves the Legislature with the duty to aggressively reform the system that it has fought to protect. We cannot afford the alternative.

The South Carolina House recently joined 30 or so other state legislatures who have passed resolutions reminding the Obama Administration that the 9th and 10th Amendments to the United States Constitution still exist.

As a reminder to those of you who do not keep a copy of the Constitution in your pocket for easy reference, these two amendments attempt to limit the power of the Federal government through a couple of catch all phrases. Specifically, the 9th Amendment states that “the enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” The 10th Amendment states that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

In South Carolina, the State Sovereignty Resolution was passed by the Republican majority after recognizing the massive ideological shift to the left that occurred in Washington after the last election – a shift that directly inserts the Federal government into the day to day lives of ordinary citizens while further eroding the sovereignty of the individual States.

The Republican majority was right to pass the Resolution. The Obama Administration, aided and abetted by the Democratic majority in Congress, has demonstrated through its so called “stimulus” package that it intends to use our current economic crisis to nationalize as many facets of American life as possible. Banking, finance, manufacturing, healthcare and education are all targets.

In the State House, we faced President Obama’s strategy during our budget debates when we learned that $700 million was coming from Washington to help “stabilize” our budget. The problem was that the money came with a mandate which dictated that we use 81% of it to fund the various levels of education at their 2008 levels – an irresponsible level given the severity of our economic downturn.

During the budget debate, the first question was whether to take the money at all. Though Gov. Mark Sanford has been and continues to be correct in his criticism of the way Washington has politicized the handout, very few members of the House seemed inclined to refuse the money. Only 8 brave members voted to refuse the stabilization funds – just days after the State Sovereignty Resolution was overwhelmingly passed. Once we were shown the money, there was not much left to talk about.

But where does that leave us?

With a Federal government that is completely out of control. A government, through years of self dealing between members of both political parties and special interest groups, passed legislation and adopted policies that drove us into economic chaos. A government that now advocates propping up a failed system by mortgaging the futures of generations of Americans. A government that has decided to advance a left wing partisan political agenda at the expense of State sovereignty and the will of the citizens of those individual States.

Which brings us back to those Constitutional amendments. Little doubt exists that we will take the stabilization money this time. Hard dollars always win over political rhetoric. But the time has come for the individual States to assert their Constitutional authority. Specifically, the individual States, through Constitutional Amendment, should force the Federal government to have a balanced budget and a cap on national debt. We have the power reserved to us to do it. Our survival depends on it.

Whether you are a liberal or conservative, governmental waste should be a bi-partisan concern. Each dollar improperly used represents opportunity wasted for both the taxpayer and the intended recipient of the governmental program.

Much of the $700 million in stabilization money coming into the state’s budget from Washington must be used to fund K-12 and Higher Education at their 2008 levels. Common sense dictates that we should hold these institutions accountable.

Each institution of higher learning in this state has an elected board who should be demanding accountability on behalf of the taxpayers. Unfortunately, most boards seem to have abandoned their oversight duties to act as cheerleaders for their schools.

From 2006 through 2008, I had the privilege of serving as a trustee at Coastal Carolina University (CCU). During most of that time, I was chairman of the board’s audit committee.

When I first arrived, I was presented with a “Comprehensive Annual Financial Report” for the year ending June 30, 2006. Included in this report was a clean audit from their external auditor of several years.

Shortly after I arrived at CCU, questions arose that the procurement code had not been followed in awarding a consulting contract. This $1,000,000 contract went back for several years and was granted to a former vice president of another state university to write procedural manuals.

Due to this issue and several other circumstances, the audit committee was formed by the board to investigate the procurement problem. The board also found a new external auditor.

The audit of the year ending June 30, 2007 by the new auditor revealed a very different scenario of the university’s management of funds. A copy of the new auditor’s report can be emailed to you if requested.

As noted in his report, the auditor found that “significant deficiencies were disclosed by the audit, some of which were material weaknesses.” Among the 23 problems noted by the auditor, the following cost the taxpayers – failure to control procurement card use by employees, failure to follow the procurement code in granting the consulting contract, failure to ascertain market values when leasing property for university use, failure to cease using state money to support the operations of its private foundations, failure to control payroll hours by paying people wages in excess of time worked, failure to account for work orders and payments to contractors.

As evidenced by this audit and the recent allegations of fraud and waste in the Department of Social Services and the Employment Security Commission, taxpayers deserve accountability.

Fortunately, thirty-nine members of the House of Representatives, both Republican and Democrat, are sponsoring H3434 to create the Office of State Inspector General. Appointed by the Governor, the State Inspector General would have the authority to investigate allegations of fraud, waste and mismanagement of funds at the various state agencies.

By having a State Inspector General who reports to the Governor, the taxpayers have a clear understanding of who they can ultimately hold accountable.