Convenient Oversight

The State reports that the city of Columbia is being sued for stiffing some contracters by not paying them for the work that they've already done. The architectural firm of Stevens & Wilkinson is looking for $1.3 million to cover the cost of services rendered.

Now counsel for the architectural firm in this poltically charged case featuring taxpayer money and public projects is none other than Dick Harpootlian.

“(The city) asked them to go forward with a number of things, and they were paid for a portion of that,” said Dick Harpootlian, attorney for Stevens & Wilkinson. “They continued that work and have not been paid for that.”

Now, this is the same Dick Harpootlian who had previously been chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party. Given that this lawsuit, if successful, would award damages out of the taxpayers' pockets, don't you think the readers of The State would be interested in who they're up against?

Going Through the Motions

In its characteristic, transparently disingenuous style, The State gins up a fake problem about the nature of school bus driver regulation (too tight?) while ignoring the massive level of taxpayer abuse inherent in running the nation's least efficient school transportation system.

As recently as 1987, a 16-year-old with a freshly minted license was allowed to drive a school bus.

Today, drivers must pass a series of written tests, a health checkup, a physical fitness test and a driving test to earn a bus license. Schools also check applicants’ driving and criminal records.

George Lee, director of transportation for Richland 1, said the requirements can cause problems.

“There are so many distracters that can cause a person to lose their certification,” he said.

The district avoids this problem by hiring its 217 drivers as full-time employees, so they can receive benefits. Lee said that because of these benefits the district loses only about five drivers a year because of certification problems.

The Daily Press Release

Once again The Statist serves as a dull platform for dull politicians—a service through which they can get their press releases out to a wide audience. Today, Columbia Mayor Bob Coble bloviates on how to get more, high-paying jobs into Columbia. There are, of course, two general ways that you can go about it. You can remove the obstacles and costs—regulations and taxes—for starting and running businesses that provide jobs. Or you can cook up some expensive, complicated scheme with only half a chance of working and finance it at taxpayer expense. Guess which option Mayor Bob prefers?

Behold, The Content-Free Newspaper

Today's bold editorial from The State: Don't eat sand.

Really.

What it's all about

About a decade back, Columbia's politicians devoted some hard earned taxpayer money to subsidizing millionaires by building them a baseball stadium. In the meantime, the millionaires who run the Capital City Bombers got up and left, complaining of inadequate municipal support for the stadium.

When The State runs the story, do they lament the waste of taxpayer dollars? No, they insist it's the city who has "turned its back" on baseball. The solution? More taxpayer dollars, please!

One possibility is being proposed by Bill Shanahan, a Bombers general manager in the early 1990s. . . .

But Mr. Shanahan’s proposal comes with a price. He understandably wants Columbia to bring the park up to playing shape, which would cost about $250,000 in deferred maintenance. Mr. Shanahan said if the improvements are made, an ownership group he represents will purchase an existing team for $250,000 or an expansion franchise in the same league for $300,000.

Mr. Shanahan’s proposal is an intriguing one that the city should consider. Negotiations should include a discussion about continued maintenance and what additional costs the city would incur.

Warthen Loses It

...his mind, that is. Brad Warthen's latest opinion piece is a disjointed, semi-coherent catastrophe. Any person with a shred of decency is compelled to feel a little embarassed for the editor of The State. For instance, what to make of this?

John Glover Roberts Jr. is flawed in a way that is so obvious, so irrefutable...At 50, he is the first person nominated to the Supreme Court in my lifetime who is younger than I am.

Brad insists he's joking but, let's face it, the distance from Warthen to funny is about as far as from Greenville to Paris.

Like a self-important child impressed with their newest magic trick, Warthen summons everyone to watch him perform.

I will now confuse everyone by not only getting serious, but changing the subject entirely.

Warthen goes on to recite his perceived flaws of recent governors. Don't worry, it's not confusing, Brad—just pathetic.

Honesty Absent from Offices of The State

For a year, The State has been prattling on about how we didn't need to give parents a choice in education because the current politician monopoly that runs our public schools has done a great job with its impeccably high standards.

Now the Department of Education has gone and gutted its standards. (Not that you can tell that from the laughably biased State account.)

Does anyone believe that The State, in light of the new evidence, will reconsider its position on school choice?

[ducks and covers to avoid being pelted with rotten fruit and vegetables]

It's as Simple as "ABC" (Another Biased Column)

Lee Bandy doesn't have to moonlight from his job as a State columnist in order to play Democratic strategist. This dude can multi-task or, in the parlance likely to be more familiar to Bandy, wear two hats at once.

Bandy, a gossip columnist who trains his focus on politics, is salivating at the possible opportunities for Democratic gain represented by the downgrade of the state's bond rating. Bandy is particularly excited about buoying Democratic gubernatorial prospects.

But if Bandy wanted to get at the truth, he might want to pay a little less attention to a few bond traders in New York and a little more attention to the people of South Carolina. Governor Sanford's poll numbers are still very good.

The Solution to Every Problem

The State suffers from the delusion that every problem can be tackled and defeated with a vigorous government program or, better yet, a tax.

Today's problem is smoking. The State cites a study that says that smoking leads to lost productivity. I haven't read the study. Maybe it's a formidable study with reasonable assumptions, sophisticated methodology, impeccable execution, and plausible conclusions. (Nevertheless, I would maintain, for technical reasons, that "lost productivity" studies are inevitably speculative.)

In any case, The State takes this as a platform to come up with a policy prescription. Since they can't advocate banning smoking outright—even their minimal understanding of freedom reminds them of that—they come up with other plans.

What's the magic solution this time?

[Make] it illegal for kids to smoke and [increase] cigarette taxes to price the smokes out of their reach.

The State seems to think that the government has a magic wand. If teenagers can routinely drop $50 or $100 on a pair of blue jeans, how exactly are you going to tax cigarettes so that they can't afford them? I don't suppose that adult smokers would be exempt from this newly increased tax.

Well, I guess you could simply make it illegal for kids to smoke. That'll stop 'em. After all, it worked with marijuana.

The State thinks that they're the only ones who are enlightened enough to oppose teen smoking and that silly legislature the people elected just isn't very bright. They should think again.

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

I couldn't believe it. I did a quick double-take, rubbed my eyes, and finally resorted to pinching myself. After I picked my jaw up off of the floor, I thought to myself, "I never thought I'd live to see the day."

What was the occasion? Why, it's an unambiguously pro-taxpayer opinion piece in The State!

Of course, my enthusiasm was soon tempered by the fact that the column, while excellent, was written by Governor Mark Sanford.

The bottom line at The State remains: no pro-taxpayer columnists need apply unless you're Governor of the state of South Carolina.

Oh well, for The Statist, even this qualifies as progress.

Read Your Own Dang Paper

Why does The State constantly editorialize for bigger, more expensive, more powerful government when a cursory scan of its own pages reveals that concentrations of power and money in state hands lead to abuses of trust, rights violations, and stealing?

Today, there are one, two, three scandals to report. Perhaps tomorrow there will be more.

Bill Robinson to the Principal's Office

For a practiced reporter, the job should be easy. What we have is another case in which the taxpayers are forced to sit and watch while the politicians diddle away their hard-earned money. Nothing new there.

In this case, it's our overlords school board in Lexington-Richland 5 that has gone ahead and decided to build a new elementary school for $16 million. Now, anyone who knows anything about local government knows that you don't spend that sort of money without someone getting their pocket lined. Contracters, developers, architects...these people have to eat. And working for the government means fat profits on the taxpayer dime.

Back to our story. The project is experiencing a logistical nightmare—SNAFUs bordering on FUBARs—as the parasites winning bidders try to milk the taxpayers for all they're worth.

A concerned citizen just might be interested in learning exactly who's robbing them. Of course, Bill Robinson never comes forth with the information on the identity of architects and contractors who are making big money at taxpayer expense. I mean, who cares about all of that?

Seriously, for Bill Robinson, I'd like to repeat the first rule of journalism: Who, what, where and why. If Jones kills Smith, you report all of that information. You don't say "there was a murder" and move on.

I swear that sometimes writing this blog feels like teaching remedial journalism to hospital patients recovering from blunt force head trauma.

Sanford Questions Government Spending, The State Blows a Gasket

It seems like they'll never learn. The State's worship of expensive, Big Government plans has reached such extreme levels that they can't even comprehend why others might want limits. (Hint: Taxes) What's annoying: It's not so much the simple fact that The State always wants more taxpayer money. It's not even that they act like they're entitled to increased taxes for government spending.

No, the worst part is when The State feigns ignorance—or maybe it reveals real ignorance—regarding the arguments against increased taxes. It's one thing to say, "My opponent is an idiot." It's another thing to say "My opponent is such an idiot that I can't even understand what he's saying."

Recently, in regard to the subject of expensive, taxpayer funded research projects, Governor Sanford expressed caution about promises of resulting economic growth. The State, confronted with a Governor looking out for the taxpayer dime, was completely baffled. Read James Hammond's naive, ill-informed piece here.

(For evidence that Governor Sanford is right about the ambiguous relationship between research expenditures and economic growth see this article from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.)

Always Bigger Government. Always Higher Taxes.

Whether it's the national, state, or local level, The State is always looking to lighten the taxpayer wallet while transferring power farther away from the individual.

Today's example is an editorial advocating that Richland County taxpayers assume financial responsibility for Eastover township's sewer system. No thanks!

It reminds me of the old "Forgotten Man" observation of William Graham Sumner—when A and B decide what C owes to D, C will get screwed. (Read the book here.)

Grow a Spine

It's a good thing that the existence of our constitutional liberties doesn't rest on the talent and good judgment of the people who exercise them. The State could make even the most hardened libertarian rethink the First Amendment.

The First Amendment protects free speech, regardless of content (outside of a few narrow exceptions). I don't care what the Supreme Court says about permissable restriction on commercial speech, or political speech, or whatever. That's what the plain text says.

People with an interest in our nation's founding era will immediately recognize that this was primarily to protect dissent from political prosecution.

So what does The State choose to use its First Amendment rights for? Why to genuflect, supplicate, and generally boot-lick before Lindsey Graham! It's an affront to the rambunctious independence displayed by our founders.

Oh well. No nation can be the home of only the brave. Each one must also have its share of the weak and timid, those who quiver before power.

Self-Parody

This is from today's editorial praising the departing Justice O'Connor.

She also showed an interest in the facts and ramifications of cases, not just the law.

Wouldn't it be nice if Supreme Court justices could confine their decisionmaking to the law? Wouldn't it be nice if The State could confine itself to the facts?

Cindi Scoppe, Cheerleader for Thieves

Two days after the 4th of July, Cindi Scoppe does a little dance around the mangled corpse of another constitutional right slain at the hands of our out-of-control Supreme Court. The 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees two protections against arbitrary government takings of private property. In order to take private property, the government must:

prove it has a public purpose

provide just compensation to the original owner

In the recent case of Kelo v. New London, homeowner Suzette Kelo challenged the city of New London's decision to condemn her home in order to give the property to a private corporation that would build a bigger development and provide more tax revenue. (Details here.) The U.S. Supreme Court decided that in fact the city of New London had the right to do this, notwithstanding the constitution's strict limits on government takings.

Let's call this what it was. In plainly contradicting the Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned a theft. By virtue of its legal authority, it lent the feint air of legitimacy to what was fundamentally the government taking property from private owners, for private use. The Supreme Court says that it's okay to steal provided it yields more tax revenue.

In light of this assault on logic, constitutionality, and fairness, the Supreme Court should be ashamed. Decent people around the country are decrying this outcome.

And what's Cindi Scoppe's reaction? Excuses, alibis, and callous indifference.

There's a word for people like Cindi Scoppe: disgusting.

Burying the Lede

The State is always among the first voices to say that South Carolina's government does not have enough revenue. You'd think that this would mean that they would be willing to aggressively go after waste in government, instead of just advocate raising taxes on citizens. So why are there no editorials decrying our corrupt, inefficient system for the providing school buses?

No, in The State, that story gets buried:

South Carolina is the only state in the country that owns and runs its own school buses, and education officials said the bus fleet has shrunk because fuel and labor costs are up while funding from the Legislature is down.

South Carolina needs to buy about 350 to 400 new buses each year, each costing about $60,000, to keep up with a typical 12-year replacement cycle, Tudor said. But the state has only bought a total of 300 new buses since 2002.

The lack of decentralized, competitive system for providing school buses costs us something in the neighborhood of a quarter of a billion dollars every ten years.

Brad Warthen's Summer School Assignment: Remedial Civics

On this 4th of July, let us allow our daily critique of The State to take a patriotic turn.

One of the most annoying features of The State—in both its opinion page editorials and reportorial bias—is its unrelenting, wholesale dismissal of the core values of American politics. We're talking about constitutional protections, limited government, checks-and-balances—you know, basic stuff.

Despite the fact that he has given us no reason for hope, we still like to believe that Brad Warthen is not the proverbial old dog who cannot learn new tricks. So here's a new trick for Brad: it's called "respecting basic American liberties." Here are four key documents from the American founding for Mr. Warthen to read before the start of the upcoming school year. Happy studying!

The Declaration of Independence

US Constitution

The Federalist Papers

Common Sense