Back during the Republican gubernatorial primary campaign, after one of the many debates someone asked us if we watched. Internal response was, “Why the fuck would we?” External response was, “No.” It might have had a little bit to do with the candidates, but a whole lot to do with the office and level of political polishing. For most debates for higher office, they’re totally stone-cold boring and contain no new information. Just a competition to see who could most artfully chop up their stump speeches into timed segments. So let’s kill the debates.

Most of the presidential debates, and they began in the summer of 2007 for chrissakes, were just exercises in waiting for the freak candidate to say something weird or drinking games for people who find it hard to get obliterated without rules and points. In races with a lot of people, many candidates say very little and even less of actual import. They would be better served with covering themselves with bumper stickers and turning about for the cameras.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Vince Sheheen decided to a new twist on an exceptionally old trick — did the staff get high and approve this? — by challenging GOP nominee Nikki Haley to fucking Lincoln-Douglas debates. A whole mess of ‘em! And stories were written far and wide. This comprises the vast majority of all action regarding debates. Candidate A proposes something a little out of the ordinary. Candidate B says bah to that. Then so many news stories. It’s just a method to generate news coverage. As a result, most of the people who actually give a damn are those who are directly involved, and nobody else cares.

In that way, more than 90 percent of all political debates between candidates are little different than the presidential nominating conventions. No, they’re actually very much worse. Conventions have political memorabilia to buy, the occasional famous person sighting, entertainment by famous people (this applies mostly to Democrats, or to your definition of “famous”) and those wonderful hospitality parties thrown by big corporations and special interests that have the open bars and free food. Debates, even high-level debates, don’t come close. The best swag you’ll bring home is a press pass bought off some writer at the hotel bar. And about 90 minutes of sheer boredom.

Lower ballot race debates could be worthwhile, but if you’ve had to sit through multiple city council debates or watched State House candidates go at it in some back room in BFE with 11 people attending, you’d agree that the news value is negligible. Columbia would be better served by having the city candidates debate in front of the Metro desk reporters and save everyone else the trouble.

But here’s the connection between the debates and the conventions: as former DNC chairman Don Fowler taught us at Carolina, conventions never help a campaign and if they have effect, it’s bad. Fowler pointed to RNC ’92 in Houston and his own DNC ’88 in Atlanta as examples. The same goes for the debates. They’re only particularly newsworthy and have an effect on the campaign if somebody seriously fucks up, as in George H.W. Bush in ’92 in Richmond (looking at his watch) or Al Gore in 2000 (le sigh).

Discussions, like among the Pub Politics crew or the fabulous C-SPAN broadcast of William F. Buckley and George McGovern from several years ago are different matters altogether. People sitting down with different points of view and talking about them can elicit interesting commentary and analysis. And jokes that aren’t pre-scripted. Operatives, former pols, reporters who are allowed an opinion — Lee Bandy at the Dan Rather thing in ’08 was great — these are people close enough to the action to really know what’s going down, but removed enough to actually say something worth listening to.

But these candidate debates, they’re moribund, they’re out cold. It’s toe-tag time.

Maybe Gov. Mark Sanford is shutting it down early, but he’s decided not to oppose $127 million in federal spending that’s slated for state health care programs. Specifically, programs dealing with the poor and disabled. Mind you, this is a guy who camped out on cable television during the second stimulus debate and went to court against the General Assembly to stop federal stimulus money from reaching the Palmetto State.

Sanford’s spokesman said that he just didn’t want the fight, and that he didn’t (?) oppose the health care stimulus bucks. That’s all well and good, but when the Department of Health and Human Services spokesman says the agency is still $200 million in the red, that’s a problem. What it signals is that next year’s budgeting is going to be another round of 20-hour sessions and every group that gets state money tubthumping to keep their funding.

What’s likely, and won’t be fun for many, is there will be another ton of cuts and many people will be trying to do more with less. And a lot of people who depend on the state for services would be well-served to figure out another method to get done what’s needed.

We don’t know of one legislative caucus that abides by the Freedom of Information Act laws that extend to their respective governing bodies. Usually, the public finds out about what happens in caucus meetings because of leaks from legislators and staffers. So it struck us as odd and yet apropos that Sen. Lee Bright, who rarely makes a decision that stands up to scrutiny, would announce to the world that he’ll no longer attend Senate Republican Caucus meetings that have more than 23 members attending.

How did this decision come about? Well, he was a part of a three-legislator group that appointed people to the Holly Springs Volunteer Fire Department commission who are in the hottest of water for aggressively conducting government business in secret. Now he’s shocked by the whole ordeal and seemingly flinging darts at the wall to figure out what the appropriate response should be.

Bright said he’s learned a lot about the FOIA during the summer-long Holly Springs controversy — and he now realizes the extent that law is abused.

The FOIA defines “meeting” as the convening of a quorum. “Quorum” is defined as a simple majority.

For the five-member Holly Springs board, three people constitute a quorum, and therefore, must make the proper public and media notices about meetings and make those meetings open to the public.

South Carolina has 46 state senators, which means 24 make up a quorum.

[...]

When asked about how the FOIA cannot apply when a quorum of a public body is present, Donehue produced a 2005 memo from the Senate Research Office. The four-page document concludes the FOIA doesn’t apply because the caucus itself doesn’t fit the definition of a public body.

However, a 17-page opinion from state Attorney General Henry McMaster a year later found otherwise.

Let’s analyze this. Caucuses are not standing committees or special committees, and state party caucuses especially deal with political matters where official government votes are not taken, nor is official state business conducted. And if you apply the law the way it seems it would be applied by McMaster’s opinion, a party caucus with more than half the members of the chamber would be subject to the law, while the minority party, or parties, would have more leeway to skirt it. The whole thing doesn’t make sense.

We — and this is a first — don’t buy the S.C. Press Association’s opinion either, that the caucus could simply go into executive session. It seems that the executive session provisions would also be problematic. And in that light, let’s take Bright’s theory down the road to its logical conclusion.

1. The majority party caucus cannot meet without thorough documentation and openness to the general public.
2. Therefore, an arctic chill will descend on the ability of the caucus to properly discuss its operations regarding political strategy, organization and other such activities.
3. Where the fuck and when the hell is the majority party supposed to conduct its business? Conference call? Listserv? What happens when there needs to be a meeting in the middle of a session?
4. Ergo, this idea is a big bowl of dumbassery.

Laws are rarely perfect and always open to interpretation. The FOIA law isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t take a gaggle of attorneys to see the law was imperfectly written and the current enforcement procedure makes the most sense. Then again, Bright and sense are rarely seen together, so we really shouldn’t be that surprised.

In light of what Sen. Hugh Leatherman wants to do with capping tuition increases, it’s funny to think about the sort of world that would happen if the S.C. Policy Council would get its way. After all, the SCPC has seen little of any government – public sector – spending that it likes. And it seems to have a hard-on for defunding all public education in South Carolina, whether it’s K-12 or higher ed.

Now, we’re pretty sure of our audience. We’re pretty sure y’all trade in argumentative fallacies, logical fallacies, the sort of ways about speaking of one’s position that are easily broken apart by level-headed thinking and basic common sense. But those arguments are the bread-and-butter of politics. They’re what you’ll see in handouts, mail pieces, advertisements, stump speeches and stand-up comedy routines.

So let’s have some fun with the Policy Council.

One big player this year, and probably in the GOP presidential primary race, is former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Newt’s a big fan of alternate history, along with writing partner and author William R. Forstchen. Let’s do a bit of alternate future, aye?

Beginning, the SCPC gets what it wants. Government in South Carolina, as we knew it, is gone. No statewide law enforcement, regulation, everything. The Palmetto State falls into “failed state” status as much as we all learned in early-level political science classes. The federal government, fed up with our antics and devoid of S.C. federal officials who will cooperate with the federal government, gives up on us. We devolve into a weird combination of post-1992 Somalia, 18th century Russia and plutocratic rule and a theocracy.

South Carolina does have a government, at its basic form, but it’s really strange. Ceding to people who have been involved, we have multiple capitals. Amalgamated Industry & Agriculture, the corporate group that handles everything dealing with money and commerce, buys the State House complex and handles disputes in Columbia. The rest of the United States and the world consider this the “Commerce Capital.”

A strong band of armed social conservatives claim part of the power vacuum for itself, establishing a ruling order in the Upstate to handle every vice and everything you do with your naughty, naughty genitals. Originally located in Greenville, a breakaway, fundamentalist group establishes a new religious government in Spartanburg. So now you have two groups of statewide religious police checking up on you. Be careful, brother.

The Grand Strand is ceded to North Carolina, and Hilton Head is ceded to Georgia. Too many people were having trouble figuring how to work Yankee-heavy areas into our new combination of free markets and religious fundamentalism. Yankees who feel like they belong apply, and are given permanent resident status, as long as they absolve all fealty to the Big Ten, the NBA and anything regarding to sports north of Baltimore or west of Austin. Being a hockey fan is considered a capital crime.

Congress, working slowly but worked into a frenzy because of the developments, sends Georgia and North Carolina national guard units to run border patrol. Initially, powered by Twitter and Facebook, many moderates, liberals, intellectuals, artists and other sorts took off for Charlotte and Savannah before the borders close. Rural residents and sportsmen who know the border regions and are friendly to criminals who become known as “RINOs,” “Democrats,” “educators,” “reporters,” “musicians,” “good-time Johnnys” and “those who are too big for their britches” are under special scrutiny from the Upstate moralist squads.

As the situation unfolds from the mountains to the river, Charleston figures out what’s up, organizes a government unto itself and rejoins the United States, a historical irony by itself. A city-state of a fashion, the Commonwealth of Charleston maintains its connection to America, but with an independence that befits the Holy City and its denizens. CC takes within its bounds all of Charleston County, and parts of neighboring cities and counties. The Jasper County port situation, to put it mildly, becomes a little more complicated. And by complicated, we mean issues with all-powerful corporations, multiple governmental entities and firearms. Wait – nevermind. That’s exactly how it is now.

Oh, the more things change….

The Taxation Realignment Commission is in the final stretch of its task to examine and offer common sense changes to the state tax code. Just getting the mission of TRAC through the General Assembly was not unlike pulling teeth when it came up, but it now could be the time that simplifications to the South Carolina tax system are ready to go. Wednesday, TRAC gave approval to a number of changes that will be up for final approval later this year.

For the most part, it’s advocating repealing sales tax exemptions for a whole host of products, including newspaper, groceries, cars, prescription drugs and some Internet sales. Certainly, that’s going to irritate some people, because no one likes to spend money if they don’t have to. But, it all evens out. Actually, the overall sales tax burden will drop, and the state is projected to receive the same amount of revenue. Sounds like a win, right?

Just like this year and the last, tough decisions had to be made in regard to funding, across the board. The idea behind TRAC was to get some of the best minds in the state around a table to take a hard look at our tax structure and make educated, hard decisions. If the commissioners came out with a report brimming with unicorns and lollipops, something would be wrong. Hopefully when this comes to a conclusion, legislators will keep in mind that it’s time for hard decisions and not everything is black and white.

State treasurer candidate Curtis Loftis is trumpeting his plans to do an audit of the department, and crack down on all manner of spending. But, between October 2007 and June 2008, he spent nearly $8,000 on travel as executive director of the Office on Aging. That went to mileage, meals, lodging — the works.

In-state auto mileage: $2,179
In-state lodging: $1,170
In-state meals, non-reportable: $120
In-state, miscellaneous travel expenses: $75
Out-of-state auto mileage: $146
Out-of-state air transportation: $1,481
Out-of-state other transportation: $425
Out-of-state lodging: $1,639
Out-of-state meals non-reportable: $295
Out-of-state, miscellaneous travel expenses: $159
Reportable meals: $121
Agency head business expense: $79

TOTAL: $7,889

Thursday evening, the S.C. Senate Republican Caucus’ Wesley Donehue, S.C. Senate Democratic Caucus’ Phil Bailey, Free Times‘ Corey Hutchins, Winthrop University’s Scott Huffmon and the child got together for “Happy Hour” at Wild Hare. It ended up being pretty funny.

The second edition of “Happy Hour” occurred this week, sponsored by Ragley Public Affairs (thanks for the drinks, J-Dub). The guest for the evening was former The State vice president and editorial page editor Brad Warthen. Then we decided to show up, doing our best to string along a rum and Diet Coke for about 15 minutes.

Some people in the South Carolina political discussion are so ignorant as to come up with polemics whenever government spends one dollar of taxpayer money. However, we believe that certain things that don’t immediately deliver a return on investment are worth investing in. Consider among those the Palmetto State’s historic sites.

In the South, the past is never really past. We love our history. We love our ancestors. We don’t necessarily like the government putting its hand in what’s happening, but corporations aren’t exactly lining up to thoroughly bankroll historic sites. That’s where the government comes in.

Right now, money for work at the Fort Moultrie visitors’ center on Sullivan’s Island is being held up by U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky. The former pitcher for the Detroit Tigers has hurled a wild pitch. The whole idea is under some misbegotten concept of fiscal responsibility.

The action comes as a result of Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning’s decision to block key legislation that would have extended several critical priorities for middle class families. That legislation covered tax credits for COBRA health coverage, unemployment insurance for 400,000 people, as well as the short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund. The Fund supports all surface transportation programs for the nation -– highways, bridges, transit and safety inspections, as well as efforts to encourage seat belt use and to fight distracted and impaired driving.

“As American families are struggling in tough economic times, I am keenly disappointed that political games are putting a stop to important construction projects around the country,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “This means that construction workers will be sent home from job sites because federal inspectors must be furloughed.”

Let’s put this out there, though. Would the Sons of the American Revolution endorse this action? Would the Sons of Confederate Veterans? It’s a fairly good assumption that most members of both fraternal organizations. despite their conservative ideological beliefs, would be against it. That’s because preserving our nation’s history, and making it available to the American public, is one of the things that the Federal government should be doing.

It’s just a shame that it took a post by the S.C. New Democrats on Indigo Journal to bring this to our attention. This is not an ideological or a partisan issue. We’re desperately seeking S.C. Republicans that will take up the banner for our state’s historical sites.

The S.C. Policy Council‘s half-assed attempt at a blog came at a bad time. Granted, back in 2007 when it and the other members of the State Policy Network were brainstorming about hiring “investigative reporters,” it couldn’t be suspected that the SCPC’s political capital would be reduced to a governor who’s been stepping out, some no-count back-benchers in the General Assembly and an overgrown child. Three years sure changes things, doesn’t it?

So, now they’re reporting on people go dumpster-diving at DHEC and God knows where else for news, but that isn’t even the best part. The SCPC has been tubthumping for transparency since forever, acting like it’s the high-and-mighty outpost a block from the State House complex.

Hence, from The Nerve:

Um, then what’s this below that image?

They also don’t want you to know who is funding them, because they’re a non-profit and political speech and blah blah blah. Whatever. Really — if you take the SCPC seriously anymore, you should examine your trustworthy sources.