Eyeing corruption scandals, Gov. McMaster puts ethics on the agenda for 2022
COLUMBIA – Gov. Henry McMaster wants to beef up a pair of watchdogs that investigate government misconduct, make the Palmetto State’s scandal-scarred sheriffs attend ethics training, and shine more light on special interests that secretly influence city and county councils.
The Columbia Republican will package those proposals into his soon-to-be-unveiled executive budget, calling on lawmakers to spend some $3.4 million more per year on measures meant to repair South Carolinians’ faith in their government.
The governor’s agenda would tackle some of the problems exposed over the past year by Uncovered, a project in which The Post and Courier has teamed up with 17 other newspapers across the state, including The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County, to investigate public corruption and expose the systems of oversight that fail to hold politicians accountable.
More than 120 S.C. public officials have been arrested on criminal charges related to their government work over the past seven years, the investigation found. The state’s sheriffs keep getting arrested for breaking the laws they swore to uphold – more than a dozen have been charged with crimes while in office since 2010. But as newspapers and other watchdogs have declined, many other officials in small-town South Carolina have evaded scrutiny.
The Legislature expects the state budget to grow by nearly $900 million next year and will have nearly $2.2 million to spend on one-time projects, making McMaster’s request a drop in the bucket. …
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