You are being ignored!

Your South Carolina Senator is ignoring you!

The Senate has been debating the Department of Administration bill, H3066, for three weeks.

It has been amended five times.

There has not been one single recorded vote.

Thank you for contacting your Senator multiple times to tell him to implement the recommendations of the South Carolina Policy Council.

You can read their recommendations here.

Not one amendment has been made that implements these recommendations.

Oh, there have been half measures, but nothing that implements them all.

These recommendations will give us a government with transparency and accountability.

That transparency and accountability will save you money!

Contact your Senator and tell him enough is enough!  It is time for our Senators to grow a steel spine and fight.

You can find your Senator and his contact information here.

It is so simple, even a grade school civics student can understand.

We simply want an accountable and transparent state government with proper division of powers between the three branches.

Because of the Budget and Control Board, we haven’t had that for more than six decades!

The biggest problem with the Budget and Control Board is that it is nearly impossible to hold anyone accountable.

This board manages the state’s spending, the state’s bonding debt, it gives permission to agencies to spend more than they have, and they manage the retirement system which has billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities.

We simply want to take the functions of this quasi-legislative and quasi-executive Board and divide them between EITHER the executive OR the legislative branches of government.

Over the last couple of weeks, you have contacted your Senator and told him you wanted the recommendations of the South Carolina Policy Council implemented.

Here is what has happened over the last three weeks:

NOTHING OF SUBSTANCE and LOTS OF FIERY SPEECHES!!!

They have amended the bill five times…  all on voice votes.

None of the amendments have implemented what we have asked for.

On top of that, not a single recorded vote has been taken.

Everything that has been done over the last three weeks has been done anonymously with either voice votes, or “common consent”.

Remember, common consent is used when they want to break their own rules of procedure.  As long as no one objects, they do it.

This is a once in a generation opportunity to get our government structured right!

If we insist on getting it right, we can tell our children and grandchildren that we had a little bit to do with their prosperity. 

That IS what we are demanding!  Accountability and transparency will give our children and grandchildren the chance to grow up in a state full of opportunity for prosperity!

But, if we allow our Senators to compromise away this chance… making deals off the record, in back rooms and in huddled conversations on the floor of the Senate, we deserve what we get.

But our future generations don’t deserve that.  They don’t deserve to inherit this debacle.

Senator Leatherman has already been spotted huddling up with Senator Knotts and Senator Campbell.  What was he offering them?  My bet it is anything he can in order to keep his powerful influence through the Budget and Control Board!

And what about our reformers?  Where are they?

Where are our recorded votes?  It only takes three to force a recorded vote on an amendment!

Why has no one put up an amendment to implement these common sense recommendations made by the Policy Council?

This bill is on “Special Order”.

That means it can’t be blocked with procedural tricks!

That means any amendment that is offered must be debated and voted upon as long as one Senator refuses to give his consent to skip it.

Who will be the hero of this generation?  Who will offer an amendment that will implement every single recommendation of the Policy Council?

And who will fight for it?

What does that mean, to “fight for it”?

Giving a fiery speech is not fighting for it!  We’ve heard several of those already on the floor of the Senate.

Giving a speech doesn’t get policy implemented!

No, a fight for good government means:

• Introduce an amendment with all of the South Carolina Policy Council’s recommendations;
• Don’t give “common consent” to anything that prevents a vote on the amendment.  It only takes one Senator refusing to give consent to force a vote on an amendment.
• Force roll call votes on the amendment!
• Accept no more voice votes!

I really don’t want to hear another Senator call me on the phone and tell me what a good speech they made defending our position!

Speeches are for “Toastmasters”. 

Our Senators need to move legislation…  and not the halfway measures that are under current consideration (more on that in a future notice)… full of compromises with Leatherman and his band of big government liberals hiding behind the “Republican” label.

Please, contact your Senator!

Give special attention to our reformers!

Make sure they understand what it is they were elected to do!

You can find your Senator and his contact information here.

They were not elected to make deals in back rooms or on the side of the chamber for halfway measures!

They were elected to fight for the people of South Carolina!

They need to grow some steel in their spine and force a vote on an amendment that implements all of the Policy Council recommendations. If they lose that vote, so be it, but if they never even bring it to the floor for a vote, then they lose without even fighting!

What kind of reformer goes down without a fight?  Not the kind that I support!

One Senator said it something like this:

We have this bill on special order… it can’t be blocked or buried by one Senator.  It must come to a vote.

Then by golly, let’s make sure they give an amendment with everything we want and then have a vote on it. 

You can find your Senator and his contact information here.

Sincerely,

Talbert Black Jr.

State Coordinator

Campaign for Liberty

P.S. The South Carolina Senate has been debating the Department Of Administration bill for three weeks, amending it five times without a recorded vote.  None of those amendments implemented the recommendations of the South Carolina Policy Council.  These recommendations will structure our state government with transparency and accountability.  That will allow us to save the tax payer money and give our future generations a state full of opportunity for prosperity.

Contact your Senator and tell him to stand up for the people of South Carolina and introduce and amendment that implements these common sense recommendations and then insist on a recorded roll call vote on the amendment!

You can find your Senator and his contact information here.