South Carolina Government: Now is the Time for Historic Reforms<\/p>\n
Restructuring our state government will result in a more efficient, more effective, and more accountable government. A government that is more efficient will free up additional resources to more adequately serve those who need government help. A government that is more effective will better serve those who need government\u2019s services. And a government that is more accountable will allow voters \u2013 and The Legislature \u2013 to hold future governors responsible for our state\u2019s results. <\/p>\n
One of the many benefits of greater accountability would be an increased diversity in government leadership. For example, over the past ten years: <\/p>\n
African-Americans have led \t26% of agencies when the governor makes the appointment, yet 0% of agencies under Constitutional Officers (for the past 130 years!)<\/p>\n
Women have led 30% of agencies when the governor makes the appointments, yet only 6% of the agencies under Constitutional Officers<\/p>\n
African-Americans currently hold \t23% of the top deputy positions under gubernatorial appointees, yet 0% of the top deputy positions under Constitutional Officers <\/p>\n
Many leaders \u2013 have publicly called for a much needed restructuring of government.
\n\u2022\t\u201cThe reason to do it, I believe, it makes for a much more effective government.\u201d former Governor Jim Hodges1
\n\u2022\t\u201cThe 1895 constitution was \u2018done poorly and for the wrong reasons,\u2019 said former Governor Dick Riley\u2026He agreed with a previous comment by (former) Gov. Mark Sanford that the constitution was meant to keep liquor out and black men down.\u201d1
\n\u2022\t Representative Chris Hart \u201cdismisses the fears of diminished legislative power, noting that the Legislature and governor can – and should – both be strong…\u2018In civics class, you learn about the three branches of government\u2026We don\u2019t have that here.\u2019\u201d2
\n\u2022\t\u201cHe demonstrated his ability to do with DPS what we could not have done in the Legislature\u2026That just illustrated what the potential impact of a governor who can be held accountable would be\u2026That\u2019s a benefit that I think some of us may have missed.\u201d Representative Joe Neal2
\n\u2022\t\u201c(Senator John) Scott boasts that he voted this spring to create a new Department of Administration that the governor would control, to let the governor hire and fire the director of a merged Department of Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, and to ask voters to let the governor name the education superintendent, secretary of state and lieutenant governor.\u201d 2
\n\u2022\t Senator Darrell Jackson \u201cnow says he\u2019s back to supporting the idea (restructuring), specifically mentioning (former) Gov. Mark Sanford\u2019s argument that letting the governor appoint constitutional officers is \u2018the only way we\u2019ll get an African-American in a high position.\u2019\u201d2
\n\u2022\t\u201cIf you have accountability to where the people can have some input to it, they can get the services they deserve\u2026In those areas that you don\u2019t have oversight by the governor, those people are not accountable.\u201d Representative Joe McEachern2
\n\u2022\t \u201cIt is a constitution born in sin.\u201d Senator Tom Davis1
\n\u2022\t Governor Ben Tillman\u2019s goal was \u201cthe elimination of black Carolinians from the political process\u2026.black disenfranchisement was the primary goal of the new constitution.\u201d Walter Edgar, The History of South Carolina
\nSources:
\n1. State senator says S.C. Constitution \u2018born in Sin\u2019\u201d Charleston Regional Business Journal 1\/19\/09
\n2. \u201cAre black legislators becoming the best advocates of restructuring,\u201d Cindi Ross Scoppe, The State 5\/20\/08
\nIf passed by The General Assembly this session, the referendum to change the Constitution could be put before voters in 2012 and therefore will not take effect until January of 2015.
\nThis session is the time to act since we don\u2019t know what governor will be in office when the change is made. It is also unlikely to impact any of our current statewide constitutional officers. And, perhaps most importantly,
\nIsn\u2019t 120 years long enough to spend under the shadow of Ben Tillman\u2019s pitchfork?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Carolina Government: Now is the Time for Historic Reforms Restructuring our state government will result in a more efficient, more effective, and more accountable government. A government that is more efficient will free up additional resources to more adequately serve those who need government help. A government that is more effective will better serve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2gEQ0-1hU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}