Recent local scandals demonstrate lack of integrity, waste of resources
South Carolina hasn’t had a great track record for being the bearer of good news. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. For years, our state has been the butt of our nation’s jokes regarding a wide variety of things: a poor education system, relentless conservatism, the “backward” culture and, lately, corrupt politicians and their inappropriate behaviors.
Recall former Gov. Mark Sanford and the infamous Argentinian escape that made front page of national news. Three years later, mockery of the incident still abounds. But Sanford isn’t the only politician who got caught where he wasn’t supposed to be. Some more recent scandals include: Lt. Gov. Ken Ard, who was fined and charged in court for ethics violations, Rep. Kris Crawford, who was indicted for neglecting to file his tax returns, Rep. Thad Viers charged for harassment and just last month, Lexington Councilman Danny Frazier who refused to step down after being caught trying to set up illegal poker operations in Lexington County.
And if these incidents — this isn’t even a comprehensive list — weren’t enough already, last Tuesday morning, yet another scandal came up. South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell was found to have reimbursed himself $325,000 with money from his campaign funds over the past four years, a “reimbursement” he had no documentation for. In fact, in March of this year, the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International put together a collaborative report that graded states on their risk for corruption. South Carolina got an “F.”
Corruption, whether it’s on a national, local or organizational level, is a delegitimizing and destructive force. Corruption takes valuable time, energy and resources away from the issues that need them the most. It goes without saying we all hope to see improvements in the departments that are lacking, including South Carolina’s high poverty rates and poor education system, for starters. However, when we so easily and so frequently fault our nation’s leaders for our country’s problems, perhaps what we really should be focusing on are first fixing the problems that hit a little closer to home.
If something doesn’t change in the local ranks, our state will be well on its way to being taken even less seriously, if possible, by the rest of the nation and by its own residents. As it stands, South Carolina is already experiencing severe brain drain, where smart and capable young people are desperately trying to escape, and honestly, who can blame them? Maybe if our state’s politicians would devote a little less time to setting up illegal operations and stealing money from campaign funds, we would be able to focus our energy on more productive endeavors, endeavors that would preserve our dignity, keep in talented human capital and benefit us all in the long run.