Sanford to Senate: Deliver on restructuring

Gov. Mark Sanford is calling on the S.C. Senate to "act quickly" on the government restructuring bill passed by the House that will give the governor authority to appoint three constitutional officers who are now elected.

The House bill would allow voters to decide if they want to continue electing the state Superintendent of Education and the Secretary of State or to have future governors appoint those positions. The House bill would also let voters decide whether future lieutenant governors would be separately elected, or run on the same ticket as future governors.

"First off, I'd give real credit to the House -- particularly Speaker Harrell, Chairman Harrison, and Majority Leader Merrill -- for the incredibly hard work they put in to move this issue forward," Gov. Sanford said. "We'd ask the Senate to move quickly on this as well, because at the end of the day, it's about a very simple concept - whether we give power to the people of South Carolina to decide on the structure of their government. While there have certainly been some supporters of this idea in the Senate, in the past what we've unfortunately seen in that body is a minority of Senators working to protect an antiquated, inefficient and unaccountable government structure. I'd ask the Senate to do as the House did, and show some faith in the voters of South Carolina by giving them a chance to decide this issue for themselves."

Comments

[CH Muller]

I really think that these offices should be elected where all their credentials would be opened for the voting public to see and scrutinized. If appointed, then the office could have just anyone inserted without regard to experience or education, totally at the discretion of the governor.

[Bumbling Idiot]

Well, let us review the last series of Gubernatorial appointments.
1.) DPS- Another scandal, and you thought the Rose incident was bad.
2.)DOI-Wow, from rate fixing to no wind coverage since it was made appointed.
3.)DOA-And you thought cockfighting was the only cruelty charge.
4.)Ports Authority-sounds like bid-rigging to me.

Given the above,and the contentuous relationship with the GA, why should we not restructure the Governor's office and make it elected by the legislature as it once was. Why only one stock when you can diversify risks with mutual funds. Does Sanford own one stock? Then, why should SC?

[HWP]

BI: RE: "restructure the Governor's office and make it elected by the legislature"

WHY TO NOT DO THAT: The deck in the legislature is apparently stacked against the greater good.

[HWP]

BI: RE: "restructure the Governor's office and make it elected by the legislature"

WHY TO NOT DO THAT: The deck in the legislature is apparently stacked against the greater good.

[Smallville]

Now that's an interesting concept and one worth consideration. Elect a general assembly and have them elect a governor - a parliamentary government.
If nothing else, that would have the assembly and the executive working together.
And it would be more so if votes of "no confidence" could be called as well to get rid of slackers.
Could you imagine that? John Blow, your local representative could be removed from office without having to wait for a general election.
Sign me up for that.

[HWP]

If that's how it would work, then maybe I misunderstood parliamentary functioning. I'd vote for that. And then vote alotta no confidence.

[Bumbling Idiot]

HWP,
Do you know ehy we changed from a Governor elected by the legislature to one by the genereal population?

A: Reconstruction done by the US Congress.

While you do not like the GA and the GA does not like the Governor it does appear we have dropped in standing by virtually every category since the first restructuring phase done by the late Gov. Campbell. Care to go into the nitty-gritty rate fixing and no-bid contracts given by the Governor's since then?

Go ahead and have the Governor call my competitors that contributed to him the contracts that should be based on the procurement code.

BTW: I have no interest in SC other than the coast-a nice place to visit.
SC, not a corridor of shame ,but rather a state of shame.

1.crime
2.education
3.economy
4.healthcare

If you were stuck there, refer to number 2.