Some in the South Carolina House of Representatives, where Republicans are in the majority, want to have committee chairman appointed by the Speaker of the House.
That’s the way it is done in most other states.
And there might not be anything wrong with it on one level, but it’s just another way in the long run to keep debate “private” so that voters or discussion on tough issues doesn’t get a real public airing.
As a way of background, when the House was controlled by Democrats, GOP members pushed to get things more out in the open.
Now that the GOP is in the majority, they have already closed their caucus meetings to the public.
That means key decisions are made on bills without the public having the benefit of hearing the debate.
For some that closed meeting is a violation, if not the law, certainly the spirit of the state’s Freedom of Information law.
Right now in South Carolina committee, chairmen are elected by members of the committee itself.
If the speaker gets appointive power, some feel, even Republicans, that it will concentrate too much power in one person’s hands.
“If the speaker gets that kind of authority, it is no longer the House of Representatives,” Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Irmo, told The Associated Press.
“We don’t want anything that implies a dictatorship,” Rep. Nikki Haley, a Lexington Republican told the AP.
Ballentine told the AP an example of the potential abuse surfaced last year on the bill to change regulations on payday lenders.
It was killed in the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee.
“That’s why payday lending didn’t get a final hearing. For whatever reason, leadership said: ‘That ain’t going to come out,’” Ballentine told the AP.
Some say it’s sour grapes on the part of Haley and Ballentine.
Whatever it is, if the move is approved what will really happen is that it’s one more step in closing out the public to real public policy debate.
Republicans used to cry foul when the Democrats did it.
Probably most of them in the House now don’t remember that was what happened.
GOP members just need to keep in mind that what goes around comes around.
Closing off real debate can backfire if they aren’t careful.
They have the majority in numbers but members of that majority may not all have the same opinion on some issues.
Too bad we won’t get to hear a lot of those opinions debated in open.
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