Category Archives: Legislature

S.C. goes dumpster-diving

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Did you see this today? Have you ever seen anything more pathetic? In case the hypertext didn’t work, here’s the lead of the story:

State education officials have recently begun trying to buy used buses because the state doesn’t have enough money to buy new ones. Last week, officials bid on 73 buses from 1993 that were being sent to the junkyard by a district in Louisville, Ky.

This is what we’re reduced to, thanks to our refusal to fund the most elementary infrastructure needed to get kids to school. Just to get them there, much less providing adequate educational opportunity after they get there.

We’re reduced to dumpster-diving. We’re rummaging through junkyards for school buses. When I say "we," of course, I’m not talking you and me. Who are the people performing this degrading service in our behalf so that we won’t have to soil our dainty hands? Why, it’s those fat "educrats" that the "pro-choice" crowd is always castigating — the people who get up every morning and go to work trying to provide decent schools for the state’s children with insufficient resources.

What the rest of us should do every morning is hang our heads in shame for allowing this state of affairs to continue.

Oh, and by the way, don’t fixate on the fact that South Carolina is the only state that owns all of school buses in the state, rather than letting local entities pay for them. As odd as that is — a vestige of the Legislative State, which once controlled all aspects of local affairs as well as state — it would not work simply to say, "turn it over to the districts." Our single largest problem in providing an adequate education to all children in the state is the wide disparity between the abilities of rich and poor districts to provide schools, much less take on the bus burden.

South Carolina must come up with an equitable way to fund all essential aspects of funding education in every corner of our state — and that includes a safe, reliable way of getting the kids to school to begin with.

Rare moment of dignity

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It was with a divided mind that I went over to the State House to witness Bobby Harrell’s election as speaker. After all, with Jim Harrison having bowed out (pictured below, right) of the race that morning, I knew what was going to happen, so was it really worth my time on a busy day?

But I’m glad I went. Otherwise, I would not have been able to witness the almost Harrison eerie spectacle of all the members in their seats, completely QUIET, and paying rapt, respectful attention to the person at the podium — in this case, Rep. Bob Leach, who was nominating Mr. Harrell.

I particularly appreciated this because normally, I don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on in that chamber. At least, not when I’m there. If I watch it over the streaming video link on the Legislature’s web site, I can sort of follow the action. But with everyone milling about, talking, none of them even looking in the direction of whoever theoretically has the floor, and usually someone standing next to me telling me something far more interesting (and more intelligible) than the official business being conducted … well, I’m just lost.

Fortunately for one with an attention deficit as deep as mine, most of my career has been spend supervising people who can go over and follow the action — then come back and explain it to me — rather than trying to do it myself firsthand (I was only a reporter for two years, and that ended in 1980).

So actually being able to follow the simple, linear, undistracted process for once was a real pleasure, and made me feel almost, but not quite, like someone who was on top of everything for a change.

But it was not fated to last. Here’s the really ironic thing: While they were carrying out an election that was a fait accompli, everyone was riveted to the action. But as soon as they got through with Bobby’s speech and moved on to the actual business of making laws that we’ll all have to live under, it was back to the usual schizophrenic nonsense. And I was totally confused. For some reason, David Wilkins — who was no longer speaker — presided while his successor milled about on the floor accepting congratulations. Everybody was out of their seats, Chaos chatting, looking everywhere but at the former speaker, milling about, and their numbers were rapidly dwindling as more and more left to get a jump on lunch. I thought, from what little I could follow, that they were deciding whether or not to concur with bills coming back to them from the Senate or from conference committees, but I really couldn’t tell for sure.

The sublime, somber, dignified moment was over, and they were back to making sausages.

Talk about having an effect…

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Well, I’m feeling pretty satisfied today. Why? Let’s see:

  • On Wednesday, we ran an editorial endorsing Bobby Harrell for speaker of the S.C. House.
  • That same day, Rep. Doug Smith dropped out of the running for the post.
  • This morning, Rep. Jim Harrison, who many had thought just hours before still had a chance,Speakers_1 dropped out.
  • At noon, the House — Democrats,  Republicans, etc. — voted almost unanimously to elect Mr. Harrell. The one holdout was Rep. Dan Tripp, who was recorded as not having voted, so in a way it was unanimous.

Not that you can say there was any actual cause and effect between our editorial and these results. But still.
Allow me my little delusion.