On transparency: Sanford wins, Harrell loses

fitsnews.com
Originally uploaded by johnvierdsen

One of the most infuriating parts of politics is when one guy takes the opposite position from another guy just because they hate each other. Such a thing happened today when Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell went after Gov. Mark Sanford on the new transparency proposal for roll call votes in the General Assembly.

“I have always supported more transparency and responsibility in government. More transparency is good for our state, and more roll call voting in the General Assembly would be a good idea, but we must be fighting for true transparency and not just pandering to voters and grabbing for headlines. In the House, we believe in working together to accomplish real transparency. That’s why the House has passed earmark reform, spending limits, government restructuring, tax cuts and many other important reforms to our state government.

“Demanding that we should spend taxpayer money to take a roll call vote on a resolution congratulating a state championship high school team is not true transparency, it’s pandering. Real reform in government is fixing the workers comp system, tort reform, and immigration reform, all of which became law because of actions by the General Assembly.”

Well, while roll call votes aren’t odd in the House, they also aren’t required. It’s important to make sure our lawmakers are accountable for their actions, and Harrell’s “thanks, but no thanks” answer just makes him look like he’s blocking needed reform.

As far as the Senate goes, it rarely has roll call votes, on a whole myriad of bills and amendments. Though Vierdsen doesn’t like Sanford or Rep. Nikki Haley, they’ve got something good here. John also noted earlier Sen. Shane Massey’s leadership on this issue in the Senate.

Though there’s plenty on enmity between Sanford’s sycophants and the rest of the General Assembly, it should be put aside for issues like this one.

GOP leadership continues war of words with Sanford [Brad Warthen’s Blog]
Transparency Reforms Take Flight [FITSNews]