As the week drew to an end, it became more and more apparent that, tied up as I was getting the Saturday Opinion Extra thing done, any column that I did was going to be a rush job and probably not worthy of a Sunday.
Fortunately, Cindi Scoppe already had a column done that was better than either of the ideas I was kicking around (one would have been about the continuing dialogue we’ve had here about the cognitive divide between black and white over the Rev. Wright, the other would have been a look at the Pennsylvania primary, leading with an anecdote from when I was up there recently).
Cindi had written again about the absurdly generous pensions that S.C. lawmakers provide for themselves out of our pockets. More particularly, it was about the fact that they are about to vote themselves an increase in those pensions without so much as a debate.
But the House is poised not only to approve the plan this week, but to do so without a bit of debate. That would have happened on Thursday, but for a procedural delay. And the Senate might not be far behind.
Representatives are poised to act without so much as acknowledging what they’re doing. That means some legislators won’t realize what they’re doing — and with a few exceptions, those who do realize what they’re doing can get away with claiming ignorance.
Or rather they could have. The purpose of this column is to make sure everybody — not just voters, but legislators as well — knows what’s happening, so there can be no claims of innocence.
Follow the link to read the rest of it. Along with the column was this informative box:
How generous is it?
• For every dollar state employees contribute to their pensions, the taxpayers kick in $1.27; for every dollar legislators pay into their system, taxpayers pay $3.91.
• The average pension for career state employees is $17,536 — 53 percent of their final salary. The average pension for our part-time legislators is $18,218 — or 102 percent of their pay.
• Former legislators can buy “service credit” at the same super-subsidized rate after they leave office. A legislator who leaves office after eight years can buy credit for $2,280 a year for the next 22 years, and then collect an annual pension of $32,980. He will recoup his “investment” in three years, and clear $33,000 a year in profit for the rest of his life.
State employees get no subsidy if they buy additional credit after they quit working.
• Former legislators can start drawing a full pension at age 60. That means an extra $91,000, on average.
It occurs to me that after reading this stuff, you might want to contact your representatives in the Legislature. To find out how to do that, go to www.scstatehouse.net and select “Find your legislator” on the left. Or call 1-888-VOTE-SMART.
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Now really.
Can there be any wonder that it is nearly impossible to get widespread popular support for tax measures, no matter how good their purpose may be? And if you want to know why Governor Sanfords’ semi-half-baked tax relief schemes have garnered so much support among average citizens, look no further than this. Many, many people in South Carolina and see this kind of duplicitous, sneaky and conniving behaviour by our legislature and their faith in state government simply evaporates.I know mine certainly does.
Did Scoppes’ column appear in the todays’ paper? If so, for once in my life I can say hooray for Cindi. David
This is great information. Thanks. But when considered in light of the rest of the waste and inefficiencies, how is it worth printing?
Ms. Scoppe and nearly everyone else realizes that Health and Human Services , Commerce and a couple of other cabinet agencies have 270 million dollars stashed away. The House nibbled at that…but now the Senate is backing off those funds altogether.
The banner headline should be “Senate strikes deal with Sanford to fund agency super reserves while underfunding needed programs”. (OK, its a little long, but…)
If you print that story, and the deals stuck by those that made it happen…you would sell lots and lots of newspapers.
slightly off point, but speaking to leaders that care about themselves more that us…
The John O’Conner piece in today’s State was excellent work. Anyone with a sharp eye can easily deduce what many of us have said all along; the root of the problem is simply that Mark Sanford does not care about us. For example:
He does not know most of the legislature by sight or by name.
He does not do the “missionary” work needed to actually get his work done.
He turns every opportunity to govern into an opportunity to raise money for himself, and to raise his poll numbers.
His love of out of state money trumps any in-state considerations.
Mark Sanford and Company will claim any action in the legislature as their own…even though in many cases they were bit players.
In my humble opinion the term of Mark Sanford will be remembered as a man of promise that failed simply because he thought he was too good for the likes of us. To the plantation born, he has been all too willing to use us as props, as mere photo opportunities as he and his rich wife use our poor state to climb their way even further up the social and financial structure.
It is a shame that he lacked the humility to see what he could have done to help SC. He had the ability to serve many, but chose to serve a few. What a shame.
ChevyGuy needs to explain which of our recent governors did any more than Sanford did…
Sanford flipped on the kitchen lights and the cockroaches went scurrying under the refrigerator only to come out long enough to grab another slice of the taxpayers pie.
Does Sanford have the ability to veto this blatant thievery? If so, I hope he does.
Sanford vetos the budget every year, and it takes the legislature about 10 minutes to override every single veto.
The legislature is going to take care of themselves first, retirees second and if there’s any money left over then they’ll consider taking care of current state employees. How any of these people keep getting re-elected is beyond me.
…this is the type of behavior favored by the likes of republicans and lee muller….where is the outrage from republicans?….this is how republicans conduct business….there will be no outrage trust me…
Rick, my initial reaction to your post was that I should be aggravated by it and indignant about it, so as to respond snippily. For instance, I could point out that democrat legislators are every bit as profligate and wanton whenever they are in the majority as are any republicans that may be so now. So, I thought, why not blast Rick right between the eyes?
But it occurred to me that you’re right. This really IS how republicans govern. It’s also how democrats govern, but your point about republicans is nonetheless valid.
I point out that this may be how republicans govern, but it is NOT how CONSERVATIVES govern. The crop of wastrels presently leading the state legislature have nearly nothing to do with conservative principles. I had just as soon see democrat wastrels in there as what we presently have. I would much rather see men and women in there like Jim DeMint. David
So has anyone been outraged enough by this to actually DO something? I sent emails to both Joel Lourie and John L. Scott, the representatives for Blythewood. I also sent emails with links to Cindi’s column to everyone in my neighborhood association and Sunday School class.
As the saying goes, you get the government you deserve. If you don’t care that these supposed public servants steal money out of your pocket, then please provide me with your bank account number as I will gladly find something better to do with your cash.
The crop of wastrels presently leading the state legislature have nearly nothing to do with conservative principles.
-david
That’s just a bunch of crap. Conservatives have governed South Carolina for generations. At one time they labeled themselves Democrats. Now they’re called Republicans. Either way they’re still conservatives. And where has all this conservative governance gotten us? Nearly last in every significant quality of life measure. Thanks to conservative values (as practiced in SC) we continue to flounder around near the bottom. If only people would catch on and vote for liberals we’d be a whole lot better off.
This is the reason the system will fail or the taxpayer will be saddled with a tremedous tax burden. It seems as though in government we have elected a bunch of leeches that thrive on our blood.If the average South Carolinia just new of the huge retirement packages some of these clowns have and leave their spouse it would choke them. They double and triple dip and sneak their perks right on through and most of them at a maimum spend more time figuring a way to srew us than to actually help anyone.
Before we start point fingers at Republicans and Democrats… this system was in place prior to the Republicans taking over. Prior to that the Democrats had the reigns for 10+ years. This retirement system is not new, but I don’t know when it was put in place.
All it would take to eliminate it is a majority of honest legislators.
But that is true of every piece of this vast corrupt entity which calls itself “SC State Government”.
Lee, as soon as you find an honest politician let us know.
Bud, you’re wrong on this, but your hatred for ANYthing that has the word conservative in it blinds you too, so you got that going for you.
Any group of politicians that doesn’t accomplish whatever it is you want, or which has a political ideology diferent from yours…you label conservative and then demonize. What a simple, unsatisfactory and unproductive worldview you hang on to. And to what purpose? Can you really be so screwed up that you believe the mob that you support would do or has done any better. C’mon. David
that would be any better with a question mark
David
The very liberal state of Massachusetts enjoys a substantially greater quality of life in virtually all categories. Conservative South Carolina flounders around near the bottom. The idea that conservatism, as defined by supporters of Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh, actually works well is quite simply not supported by any known statistics. It’s a case of wishful thinking on the part of conservatives. Until people can look at the evidence objectively South Carolina will continue to do poorly and the nation will suffer whenever Republicans are control of the federal government.
Just think how much better the quality of life would be in Massachusetts if they had a smaller and more honest government.
If big, oppresive government creates prosperity, why were the communist countries starving for so long, until they permitted a little bit of trade with the capitalist West?
Why do the socialist countries in Europe like France have double-digit unemployment during a world economic boom?
Some very intresting ideas and comments. I came across this page whilst looking for cheaper energy prices http://cheaperenergy.wordpress.com My bills haven risen by 35% this year and am now facing yet another increase by these greedy energy companies. (Thankfully I only rent so don’t have to worry about a mortgage as well.) Has anyone tried this green and cheap renewable energy? If so, be intrested to know how it worked for you.