South Carolina’s New Spending Transparency Website

This blog has often pointed out that well-funded, special interests in our state often have their way with policy, budgets, taxes, and spending, while the best interests of “we the people” can sometimes be overlooked. Sound fiscal management, balanced budgets, and even ensuring that jobs in South Carolina are only filled by those legally entitled to work here, shouldn’t be controversial or partisan issues. Unfortunately, some legislators know that we as private citizens are not organized, do not have highly-paid lobbyists in Columbia and Washington working for us, and are often too busy earning a living and looking after our families to pay attention to their mischief, or to even notice whose interests they are serving.

To help citizens oversee what government is doing, and to make it easier for each of us to hold our government officials accountable, I am very pleased to announce a new website that Governor Sanford and I have created that will provide a greater degree of information about how our tax dollars are being used.

Our new spending transparency initiative, available by clicking the flashing link at www.cg.sc.gov, contains information provided by my office on all funds expended by state agencies. This information covers travel expenditures, purchases of office supplies over $100, and spending for contracts over $100. The information is reported by agency, and it will be updated monthly.

Because it is budget time again in Columbia, the need for more transparency and accountability could not be clearer. For example, some in the Legislature have proposed borrowing $100 million from our Medicaid program’s reserve fund. Instead of saving that money for economic down times when revenues are low and demand for Medicaid services are high, some of our legislators have decided they want spend that money on non-essential projects in their districts.

As Governor Sanford has pointed out, “revenue growth is essentially flat, and the state is dealing with a $270 million budget hole created by budget writers paying for ongoing expenses with one-time money last year.” Yet our legislators are digging an even deeper hole of debt for hard working taxpayers to fill by adding another $179 million this year in one-time money to pay for ongoing expenses. This is being done at the very time when it appears our nation is about to experience a serious economic downturn. This habit of ignoring our day of financial reckoning guarantees that South Carolina’s budget crisis will be even more painful next year and in future years.

I’ve been working to open the curtains on government spending since I came into office because taxpayers have a right to know how their tax money is being spent. We’ll keep working to make this information even easier to access and as always, I would welcome your suggestions as to how we can make government finances even more transparent. If we all work together, vote responsibly, and hold our representatives accountable, we can build a more prosperous South Carolina, with a sound economy and greater opportunity for our children and grandchildren.

It’s your money being spent. And you have every right to know how it’s being spent. Please let me know whether you find this new web-based information helpful.

SECURING THE HOME FRONT

It is becoming clear to many Americans that the cost of our federal government’s reluctance to enforce immigration laws, to secure our borders, and to ensure our national security and the safety of American citizens, affects every facet of American life.

The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that the net public cost for providing illegal immigrants with services like Medicaid, food assistance programs, our federal prison system, our court systems, and public education exceeds $10 billion annually.

Some states are recognizing the enormous costs and threats this problem poses to our American way of life. Many states recognize that employment is the most common incentive for illegal immigration to the United States, and some are beginning to hold scofflaw employers accountable for aiding and abetting criminal behavior. There is also growing awareness that those that hire illegal aliens are discriminating against U.S. citizens and legal resident immigrants. In response, some states are taking greater responsibility for addressing the crisis.

Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, and West Virginia have enacted tough new laws requiring or encouraging employers to verify every job applicant’s legal status using a federal data bank. These states have also imposed tough new sanctions on employers, including a progressive penalty system for those found guilty of hiring illegal workers. Arizona will permanently revoke an operator’s business license for a second offense. As a result, states that have been aggressively implementing new laws have dramatically reduced costs and problems, as illegal aliens have moved back home or to other states.

There are an estimated 76,000 illegal aliens in South Carolina, costing our taxpayers $87.4 million annually for education alone. Between 2000 and 2006, South Carolina’s K-12 student enrollment increased by over 34,000 students, and is projected to increase by a similar number by 2015. This increase will, of course, result in the need to build many new schools. But that’s just one small part of the toll this crisis presents our state.

Consider our transportation systems. Increased traffic congestion results in slower commute times, greater fuel costs, and more need to repair and build roads and highways. The SC Department of Transportation already has a $5 billion maintenance backlog. The illegal wave that’s flooding our state and nation also increases problems with air quality and solid waste disposal, requires additional low-income housing, dramatically increases costs for many of our hospitals and clogs their emergency rooms, and stretches capacity while increasing costs for law enforcement.

Despite these added costs to taxpayers, threats to national security, discrimination against hardworking citizens and legal immigrants, and threats to our personal safety, when our state Senate recently had the opportunity to address the problem, it yielded to special interests that seem driven by a desire for low-cost labor. In response to overwhelming support from the citizens of our state for tough, meaningful reform, the Senate passed a bill so loaded with loopholes it would accomplish little.

Fortunately, our state House of Representatives passed stronger legislation that would hold employers accountable for aiding and abetting the criminal act of invading our country and claiming a job rightfully belonging to a legal citizen. The House and Senate bills have gone to a “conference committee” to hammer out differences, and there is hope that the provisions in the stronger House bill will prevail.

It is disappointing that many elected officials would not only put the interests of special interests above the welfare of the citizens of South Carolina, but that they would do so on matters that concern the very security and survival of our state and nation. If they would do so on matters like this of such enormous cost and importance to the safety and security of us all, think of how ready they must be to put our interests below those of special interests on so many lesser matters.

This issue emphasizes again the need for every patriotic South Carolinian to know what is happening in our state, to speak out on the issues of our times, to hold our elected officials accountable, and to ensure on Election Day that those we elect truly do represent “we the people."