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During my time as Gov. Mark Sanford’s chief of staff, I got an inside look at how South Carolina’s state government “works.”
And I was amazed to see legislators who campaigned on cutting wasteful spending taxes turn around once they were elected and support wasteful projects like balloon festivals and floats for parades that cost tens of millions of dollars.
During my recent campaign for the S.C. Senate, the people in Beaufort County told me that they expect this sort of nonsense to end, that they want legislators to spend their tax dollars on core government functions — on things like adequately funding law enforcement, fixing our highways and bridges and providing an excellent system of education for our children.
But making that shift in spending priorities happen is only possible if the public holds their elected officials accountable, and right now that is not possible.
Last session, for example, the S.C. Senate had recorded rolls call votes on only 1 percent of its votes, while the S.C. House of Representatives had only 8 percent.
The public can’t hold elected officials accountable if it doesn’t know how they voted.
For that reason, my very first action as Beaufort County’s new state senator was to co-sponsor a bill to require legislators to vote on the record every time taxpayer dollars are spent. Many senior lawmakers have lined up in opposition, saying such is against “legislative tradition.”
But the people’s right to hold their elected officials accountable trumps any such tradition.
To contact Senator Davis, call (803) 212-6008 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
