From personally profiting from campaign funds to setting up illegal poker operations, South Carolina’s politicians haven’t had the greatest track record for behaving ethically. After years of downright embarrassing actions on the part of our state’s politicians, Gov. Nikki Haley has finally decided to take action.
A commission for ethics reform was created Thursday in hopes to battle against unethical behavior by advising lawmakers and submitting proposals to the Legislature. The committee is comprised of 11 members, purposed with better representing the voice of the people.
When South Carolina has been rated an “F” for risk of corruption and is currently ranked 45 out of 50 states, it’s great that such a huge issue that has tainted the reputation of our state for decades is finally being addressed. Furthermore, two of the committee members include USC’s own Charles Bierbauer, the dean of the College of Mass Communications, and Bill Rogers, the head of the South Carolina Press Association, who we hope will encourage reform of the state’s Freedom of Information laws.
We fully support this move, and we agree that such a committee is long overdue in our state. But panels and committees are created every day to address seemingly every issue under the sun. From this one especially, we hope to see results.
For that to happen, the board will need to be productive, and the Legislature will need to be hear out its suggestions. We’re hopeful that’ll happen.
But changing the pace of decades of political mischief is easier said than done. We’ll be anxious to see results.