Efforts Could Drastically Change Direction of State in November

Harry-Kibler---7-25-12Immediately following the unprecedented South Carolina Supreme Court decision that deleted more than 200 Republican and Democrat candidates from primary ballots, conservative patriot organizations across the state, led by RINO Hunt, launched a non-partisan petition signing effort labeled “Operation Lost Vote.” At least 150 candidates collected petition signatures and submitted them to the appropriate election commission for verification.

 

Voter anger generated by the court decision and the behavior of some incumbents is expected to give a degree of momentum to the petition candidates in November. Should half or more of the petition candidates win their elections in November it will turn the South Carolina General Assembly on its head and become a giant first step in returning honest government to the Palmetto State for the first time in decades.

During the RINO Hunt meeting Friday, July 20, Harry Kibler, founder of RINO Hunt stated that there are two major reasons South Carolina Government is not free:

1. Separation of powers doesn’t exist

2. Secrecy of government

RINO-Hunt---guy-with-sunglassesSeparation of powers doesn’t exist in South Carolina Government because a handful of entrenched leaders in the Legislature control all branches of the government as well as the expenditure of funds. The Governor is little more than a spokesman and figurehead. She can only attempt to veto parts of the budget. Ultimately, the legislative leaders determine how much money and how it will be spent. The legislature appoints the Supreme Court Judges and re-appoints them every ten years. Members of the legislature who are lawyers represent clients before the judges they appoint.

Lawmakers write and pass laws and the judges they appoint interpret them.

In the House, the Republican Caucus, approves the legislative priorities and agenda determined by the Speaker and it determines what bills will get out of committee and have a chance of passage. Registration by Party, a top priority for the Republican Party gets no consideration, because the Speaker will not allow it to be on the priority list and it gets no consideration by the leadership.

Kibler stressed that Speaker Bobby Harold and at least three RINOs in the Senate must be replaced if South Carolina is to become a free state.

Eight goals for taking power back by the people of South Carolina have been listed by the S. C. Policy Council and supported by the Patriot Network.

The goals for Taking Power Back follow:

1. Restore Judicial Independence:

The public deserves confidence that judges rule independently of the legislature whose laws they judge. South Carolina is the only state in the nation in which the legislature unilaterally appoints judges even when vacancies arise. The governor should nominate Judges, with only advice and consent from the Senate.

2.  Make the Governor fully accountable for the Executive Branch:

South Carolina lawmakers control the Executive Branch through a complicated web of boards and commissions, to which lawmakers appoint members to run state agencies instead of allowing the Governor to run them. The legislature has further diluted the Governor’s responsibility by doling out power to multiple constitutional officers (the Comptroller General, Treasurer, Agriculture Commissioner, Secretary of State, and so on), thus creating little executive fiefdoms that properly belong in the governor’s cabinet.

RINO-Hunt---lady-speaking

3.  Ensure a true citizen legislature by shortening session:

Our state has one of the nation’s longest legislative sessions; a system that favors career politicians over citizen-legislators, and empowers lobbyists and special interests over taxpayers. Legislative sessions should be limited to 90 calendar days or 45 legislative days, every other year, forcing lawmakers to limit their activity to citizen priorities.

4. Open the state’s secret incentives process: Corruption is virtually guaranteed when politicians have the power to strike secret deals with private companies using public money. Taxpayers deserve full transparency in all incentive deals - including public applications for subsidies, public debate on the merits of deals, and full reporting on investment “return.”

5. End lawmakers’ ability to police themselves: House and Senate members police their own ethics violations - and much of the process is kept private. Legislators should be governed by the same agency that governs other public officials, and details of hearings should be publicly reported.

6. All South Carolina elected officials should report their income sources: The public has no way to ensure that lawmakers don’t personally profit from legislation on which they vote. Members of Congress and elected officials in other states report their income - and so should South Carolina politicians.

7. Strengthen the state’s open records law and abolish lawmakers’ exemption from it: State agencies should organize their transactions and expenditures to be accessible to the public rather than charging taxpayers double for “labor” costs. And there’s certainly no justification for lawmakers exempting themselves from the state’s Freedom of Information Law.

8. Enforce the state law that mandates an open budget process: The law requires the governor to write “the” budget and the legislature to hold “joint open hearings” to debate it. Compliance with that law would allow the public to engage in the budget process in real time. In addition, lawmakers should submit the budget in a simple format that is accessible to citizens online.

 

Hits: 5968

No comments

Leave your comment

In reply to Some User