Continuing to move through today’s e-mail, my next message (after the Fisher missive) was this text from Steve Benjamin:

Benjamin calls for City Hall “Spring Cleaning”

COLUMBIA, SC – Columbia Mayoral Candidate Steve Benjamin today unveiled details of his new transparency initiative calling for a “Spring Cleaning” at City Hall.

“The Culture of Carelessness infecting our government has been well documented,” Benjamin said. “It must end here and, as Mayor, I will open the City Hall’s doors to the people of Columbia – together, we will let in the sunshine.”

Benjamin’s plan includes policies that will:

* Abolish Executive Session

* Disqualify organizations with serving Council Members or Department Heads on their governing boards from receiving any city funding or grants.

* Require that all discrepancy account funds used or reimbursements received by Council Members and Department Heads be publicly reported and posted on the city’s website.

* Broaden the public record to include conversations between Council Members and Titled City Officials making them subject to FOIA.

* Establish an Independent Citywide Ethics Commission to hear any and all ethics complaints as well as conduct annual ethics evaluations of all titled city employees.

“There is a sacred trust, a covenant between a city’s people and their government,” Benjamin said. “It’s time the city held up its end”

Steve has pretty consistently sounded such reformist themes during this campaign, but I don’t recall having written about it before now (if I have, forgive my redundancy; I’m not thinking clearly today, thanks to a horrific case of hay fever)…