Balancing transparencyPublic agendas, autopsy issues getting hotterBy Bill Davis, senior editor AUG. 8, 2014 -- Two recent state Supreme Court rulings are leading to fresh legislative debates in coming months about what should be made public – even concerning governmental meeting agendas.
 In July, the S.C. Supreme Court ruled that results of coroner autopsies were private and should not be released to the public. This was seen by some as defeat for the free flow of governmental information, as the ruling was part of case involving a shooting in Sumter that occurred in 2010.
The official law enforcement version of the shooting did not seem to jibe with findings in the coroner’s report, which was eventually released through the State Law Enforcement Department.
In June, the court also passed down a ruling that analysts say seemed to give state and local governments the ability to skirt publishing an agenda for upcoming meetings. That could mean that a public body could discuss a contentious issue during a meeting simply by a last-minute vote to include it on the agenda -- a move that would not give 24 hour’ notice to the public.
State Sen. Larry Martin (R-Pickens), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, responding to constituent concerns, said he would soon name a special subcommittee to look into solutions for both issues.
Fox guarding the henhouse
Jay Bender, a Columbia area lawyer and USC School of Law professor who has served as a free-press lobbyist for several decades, said the autopsy issue presents a difficult balance.
On one hand, the dead people and their families have an expectation of privacy regarding health information. But on the other hand, the public has an interest in knowing about the cause of death.
In the Sumter case, Bender claimed the police reported shooting back at a man who had already opened fire on them. The coroner’s report, he claimed, showed no evidence of gun powder on the man’s hands and that he was shot in the back.
Bender, who has consulted on the drafting of state Freedom of Information Act legislation in years past, said it was going to take new law from the General Assembly to restore clarity.
Victoria Middleton, executive director of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, also called for a “legislative fix” for the autopsy issue.
Surprise … Agenda!!!
 In June, the state Supreme Court ruled on the language in existing state FOIA law in such a way that public meeting agendas may not have to be posted at all and issues, especially contentious one, could be pushed up or stalled to avoid public scrutiny or outrage.
Just two words -- “if any” -- are part of the FOIA state law reviewed by the court that led to the ruling, according to Tigerron Wells, governmental affairs liaison for the Municipal Association of South Carolina.
And the court ruled, in a strict reading of the language of state law, that their inclusion meant public meetings needn’t have an agenda.
Wells said his association has urged its members to continue to post agendas, as they “support the efficient handling of public business.”
Martin said he and his staff were reviewing the ruling and would include it in the scope of the special subcommittee. He expressed little love for public bodies that wish to avoid negative publicity of hot button topics.
“And it puts their members at a disadvantage,” said Martin, because no one will ever be sure what is on the docket for any giving meeting and what they should prepare for.
Martin said that a big stumbling block may come from some far-right Republicans in the Senate demanding complete public access to politicians’ phone calls and emails by issue. He called that measure a “poison pill” sure to kill any legislation.
Bender said he expected most of the work on the autopsy and agenda issues to take place in the Senate in the coming legislative session, due to the off-season focus Martin is bring to them. Bender said that most House members this time of year would be more focused on reelection campaigns in Novembers.
Several Democratic and Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee did not return multiple calls for comment for this story.
Bill Davis is senior editor of Statehouse Report. He can be reached at: billdavis@statehousereport.com.
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Boarded up
The southern Williamsburg County town of Lane, S.C., once was a thriving railroad town, photographer and retired editor Linda W. Brown of Kingstree writes. Now, however, few businesses remain. A number of store fronts are open to the elements; others are boarded up. More: BetterSouth.org
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Zais to speak on education mythsThere’s not much going on next week at the Statehouse. But the state Education Oversight Committee will have an Aug. 11-12 retreat at the Marriott Resort on Hilton Head Island. The agenda features updates on accountability on standards, discussions on early readiness and a speech by outgoing state Superintendent of Education Mick Zais entitled: “Folk Legends and Facts: Using Data to Vanquish Myths about Education in South Carolina.” - School safety. The first meeting of the new School Safety Task Force will be 2 p.m. Aug. 27 in 433 Blatt. More.
- Series continues: The Riley Institute at Furman University will continue its series, “Can’t Win for Losing: The Crisis of the Working Poor,” with an Aug. 12 forum. “Revitalizing the American Dream” with former Spartanburg Mayor Bill Barnet and Carol Naughton of Purpose Built Communities. There also will be a roundtable discussion with several people and hosted by Mark Quinn.
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Haley’s media team ducks question after 8 requestsStatehouse Report exclusively reported last week that a key Republican House member would consider a statewide refundable earned income tax credit (EITC), a bipartisan policy proposal often viewed as a great way to lift lots of people out of poverty. To date, Republicans at the Statehouse haven’t given the proposal the time of day.  But there’s one thing we didn’t tell you -- Gov. Nikki Haley’s position on the proposed tax credit. Why, because we couldn’t get a statement about the governor’s position, despite being led to believe we would.
Through the years, it’s been hard to get comments from Haley on a variety of public policy issues because of the media barriers set up to insulate her. It’s almost impossible to get her government-paid communications personnel on the phone for interviews. Instead, they seem to prefer questions by e-mail. Still, it’s not uncommon for questions from Statehouse Report and other media outlets to be routinely ignored and unanswered. To date, we’ve asked Haley’s team eight times for a statement on the EITC. Questions started on July 29 to spokesman Doug Mayer and followed each day until our publication day last Friday, Aug. 1. On that day, we alerted Mayer that we’d publish this -- “Nikki Haley (R) -- Did not provide answer after four requests” if we didn’t hear by noon. That led to this email exchange: Mayer (10:24 a.m., Aug. 1): “Who in SC is purposing this plan? What’s the angle here?” Andy Brack, editor and publisher (10:27 a.m.): “I am writing a story about the EITC. It has been introduced several times over the years and is not a novel concept. I have statements from [independent candidate Tom] Ervin and [Democratic candidate] Sheheen. Simple question, regardless of my story: Is Gov. Haley supportive or not of a state refundable EITC? “ Mayer (11:41 a.m.): “OK. Hang tight. Can you give me an hour?” Brack (12:24 p.m.): “Will hold publication til 1 p.m. Thanks.” Mayer (12:26 p.m.): Got it, as you know, governor was in surgery this morning, working on it. Thank you.”
A few minutes later, Mayer called (a first!) to say he’d have a comment before the close of business on Friday. We said we’d go ahead and publish with the comment above, but mention that a statement was expected later in the day so readers could check the story for more information. By 5 p.m., we checked and got no response. This week, we asked more times and got nothing. So the question of whether Haley supports a statewide refundable earned income tax credit -- something supported by GOP hero Ronald Reagan -- remains unanswered. As one political observer noted about the above exchange, “I’m embarrassed to live here if my governor can’t answer some simple questions about policy. They ought to be able to.” ABC broadcasts national story on DSS problems
Statehouse Report in May told readers how a national news outlet was working on a story to tell the country about the mess at the Department of Social Services. In June, DSS director Lillian Koller, appointed with much fanfare by Gov. Nikki Haley, resigned. On Sunday night with little aplomb, ABC World News aired a “Hidden America” investigative report on a “national outrage” -- how state agencies meant to protect children are too often sending children back to abusive environments. The story said 76 South Carolina children died last year “under their agency’s watch.” Major media outlets in South Carolina did little to showcase the ABC News story. But over the last few months, local media have carried multiple reports about child deaths and the agency’s performance. Independent Republican petition candidate Tom Ervin, who jumped into the gubernatorial race, in part, because of the problems at DSS, accused Haley of failing to lead to protect children, a similar charge made by Democrats. In a statement this week, Ervin said he would reform DSS: “This organization is top heavy and needs to redirect human capital from management into case workers. Gov. Haley knew about this crisis but failed to act until the public outcry was deafening. We can do better for our state and our children.”
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Governor’s race starting to get interesting earlyBy Andy Brack, editor and publisher AUG. 8, 2014 -- Boy, the race to be South Carolina’s governor is heating up and we’re still in the Dog Days of summer. It’s only going to get more intense as Labor Day marks the traditional time for the political punching to start.  In recent days, Gov. Nikki Haley has made the rounds touting an endorsement by the S.C. Chamber of Commerce -- the same group that endorsed Sheheen four years ago but got whipped and cowed into shape after Haley won.
Haley also is airing an ad to highlight her record of moving some 20,000 South Carolina welfare recipients to the work force. While critics complain the numbers aren’t accurate, what’s interesting is that Haley, who has been governor as the unemployment rate has dropped from double digits to less than 6 percent, is airing a welfare ad after proposing a new education program to help poor kids earlier this year in her State of the State address. It’s almost as if the conservative governor who wouldn’t allow more than 200,000 poor people to take advantage of government health insurance through the Affordable Care Act is focusing on using Democratic themes to soften her image.  As College of Charleston political science professor Gibbs Knotts notes: “The welfare to work language harkens back to the 1996 welfare reform law that was passed by Republicans in Congress and signed by Democratic President Clinton.”
Furthermore, starting with a welfare commercial is interesting because the state agency in charge of it -- the state Department of Social Services -- has been battered in the media and by state legislators for mismanagement by a Haley-picked director, Lillian Koller, who resigned in June. Meanwhile, two of Haley’s challengers have been on the air too.  In May, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Vincent Sheheen went after Haley for mismanagement at DSS with a tough ad. But last month, the Democratic Governors Association got even meaner with a heavily-played ad about a lawyer who left DSS when she said she couldn’t keep working at the agency because the agency was “leaving children in dangerous situations to make the numbers look better.”
Knotts said the Democratic campaign’s focus on children might help create a gender gap and more support from women for Sheheen. “I also expect him to focus on administrative mismanagement within DSS to be part of a larger attack against Governor Haley,” Knotts said. “I suspect that he will also spend time during the campaign talking about the security breach at the South Carolina Department of Revenue.” Also new: independent Republican challenger Tom Ervin has launched a one-minute television commercial to highlight his character. Voiced by Ervin’s wife, the candidate’s first statewide ad since winning a spot on the ballot highlighted how Ervin paid for a funeral of a World War II veteran and got veterans to attend the funeral to honor the man’s service.  “The Ervin ad is a classic ‘get to know you, ad,” Knotts said. “South Carolina is a patriotic state and veterans and the families of veterans remain an important voting bloc.”
To date, there have been no big television ads from two other candidates, Libertarian Steve French of Charleston and United Citizens candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves of Winnsboro. In the weeks ahead, look for Haley to tout her economic successes -- bringing down the unemployment rate and working to land new plants and helping existing big businesses like Boeing to expand. More than likely, she’ll continue to be mostly positive, but to rely on outsiders, such as the Republican Governors Association, to attack Sheheen with nasty ads such as one that painted him as a (gasp) lawyer. Meanwhile, Sheheen and Ervin have to be careful about being too negative. If they don’t give people enough positive reasons to vote for them as more than being “not Nikki Haley,” they could suffer at the polls. Incumbents always have an advantage over challengers because they have good name recognition and don’t have to tear apart opponents as much. But with Haley’s approval ratings low enough to make campaign insiders squirm and with polls showing the gubernatorial race tightening, anything could happen. And probably will. Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. He can be reached at: brack@statehousereport.com.
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ACLU of South Carolina  The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Statehouse Report to you at no cost. This week's spotlighted underwriter is the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU of South Carolina’s National Office in Charleston is dedicated to preserving the civil liberties enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Through communications, lobbying and litigation, the ACLU South Carolina’s National Office works to preserve and enhance the rights of all citizens of South Carolina. Foremost among these rights are freedom of speech and religion, the right to equal treatment under law, and the right to privacy.
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State’s economic development model must changeBy Frank Knapp Jr.
S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce
Part 2 of 2 | See part 1
Special to Statehouse Report
AUG. 8, 2014 -- Raising the per capita average income of all South Carolinians is a goal of economic development efforts. But while South Carolina has added 7.1 percent more jobs since 2009 primarily as a result of new manufacturers entering the state, our per capita income has fallen nearly 3 percent during that same period, according to the last available information from the Census American Community Survey data.  Our economic development model must change and concentrate less on big business recruitment and retention and more on small business development that can reach every community in the state. Two out of every three net new jobs are created by start-ups and small businesses under five years of age. These are the real job creators who need our attention and what they critically need is access to capital.
Our traditional mechanisms for funding entrepreneurs and small businesses, primarily banks, can’t do this alone. The former head of the Small Business Administration, Karen Mills, recently wrote that the data on the gap between small business demand for credit and banks loans “raises troubling signs that access to bank credit for small businesses was in steady decline prior to the (economic) crisis, was hit hard during the crisis, and has continued to decline in the recovery as banks focus on more profitable market segments.” It is time to put everyone, regardless of occupation or income, into the economic development game of providing capital for our entrepreneurs and small businesses. Instead of our citizens sending all their discretionary investment dollars to Wall Street, we need to develop a culture of investing locally and provide relatively easy mechanisms for this to happen. Currently only high-net worth individuals are legally allowed to invest directly in a business that is not registered with the Security and Exchange Commission. These “accredited investors,” who have net assets of $1 million not including personal residence or incomes of $200,000, have two local investment mechanisms available for them — angel groups and an angel fund — and another is on the way. South Carolina has several angel groups where participating investors actively select businesses, typically five to eight a year, in which to invest their own money. The median angel investment per investor is $10,000, in companies seeking to raise around $500,000. For more information about angel groups contact the South Carolina Angel Network. Some accredited investors prefer to invest more passively or in a more diversified way. The Palmetto Angel Fund co-invests in all the early stage businesses funded by the state’s angel groups. Its investors commit $25,000, spread over multiple years, to benefit from the due diligence expertise of the angel groups and the management expertise of the fund managers. For more information about this Fund contact the Palmetto Angel Fund. Unfortunately only several hundred of the over 100,000 South Carolina families who qualify as accredited investors actually invest directly in South Carolina businesses. There are three reasons for this. Potential accredited investors simply don’t know they can invest directly, don’t want to commit to a certain level of investment or don’t have an easy way to find in-state businesses looking for investors.  A new online portal is coming to address the latter two reasons. Accredited investors are being asked to privately register with this cutting edge mechanism that will resemble a shopping mall. Accredited investors will be notified by email when a business opportunity is available for them to review for either an investment or private loan.
Finally, new federal rules are being prepared to enable everyone regardless of income to invest directly in a local business. This democratization of investing, called equity crowdfunding, has the potential of unleashing a new wave of capital our entrepreneurs and small businesses need to grow our communities from the ground up. Creating jobs, increasing per capita income and reducing “poverty areas” can be achieved. But first we must create a culture of investing locally in our small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Knapp is the president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce and the recipient of the Small Business Administration’s 2014 South Carolina Small Business Financing Advocate of the Year.
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Doesn't cotton to gay marriageTo the editor: Andy Brack's column on gay marriage claims "it's time to accept that discrimination at the altar is discrimination." Wrong! What he is claiming is that man's laws supersede God's laws. Man has a choice as to which religion he chooses to join; therefore, if the religion does not support his sexual appetite, that man should join a religion that does so or elect not to follow any religion at all. He should not force the religion to change its beliefs to support his beliefs.
 Look at what the gay rights really want. They want complete acceptance (or endorsement) of their lifestyle, period. Civil unions give them all the civil rights they crave, but does not give them the sanction of their lifestyle that forcing religious organizations and others to recognize their lifestyle as acceptable to all. That's what they really want.
Suppose one opposes drug use. Are we to be forced to accept a lifestyle that offends us as normal and acceptable? Oh, wait. I believe that's being done as we speak.
O.K., let's try something that is currently against the law, like bigamy. Suppose opposition to bigamists is considered discrimination and the law changes to force us to accept bigamy as normal behavior. Suppose religions refuse to marry individuals already married to another individual. Suppose the law forces them to do so anyway. Is that any different than the gay marriage issue? Does man have the right to challenge the right of a religion not to change its beliefs and teachings? To use Brack's own words regarding this question, "As Americans, we shouldn't tolerate it."
-- Jack Magurn, Florence, S.C.
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Two up and four down Charleston. Again voted the friendliest city in the United States. Congratulations. Now stop overbuilding hotels in the downtown. You’re about to ruin a good thing.
Gone. SCE&G has hauled away about 540,000 tons of coal ash from Palmetto State rivers. Santee Cooper has removed more than 42,000 tons of it from unlined coal ash lagoons on the banks of the Waccamaw River. More.
Test scores. Scores on state standardized tests were worse across the board this year for elementary and middle school students, with a few exceptions. Makes you wonder about the state’s commitment to public education. More.
Haley. The governor and her media team get a thumbs down for not answering policy questions. Evading the media is not a good strategy for dealing with legitimate inquiries. And throwing Democrats out of events isn’t helpful either. More.
Rivers. State Rep. Samuel Rivers, a Berkeley County Republican, is getting a lot of justified criticism for cribbing an op-ed since pulled by The Post and Courier and for inflating his resume. More.
Viers. Troubles continue for former state Rep. Thad Viers, a Republican from Horry County. After pleading guilty to second-degree harassment in January, he now has been indicted on 14 federal tax charges. More.
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