Recent South Carolina newspaper editorials:
The Post and Courier
January 12th
AG Wilson and the Association of Republican Attorneys General
We are pleased to see SC Attorney General Alan Wilson repudiate his former deputy’s efforts to increase participation in the rally that spawned last week’s insurrectionary attack on the United States Capitol and state in no uncertain terms that Joe Biden is the legitimate elected president.
It certainly does not undo your reckless decision to enter a process that went far beyond the effort to get the courts to retroactively reinterpret the United States Constitution and carelessly – or perhaps carefully – spread words like “fraud”, as it trafficked in hints about alleged irregularities in voting. While this process was legally permitted, it was clearly an effort to overturn the votes of millions of Americans and overturn the results of the presidential election.
Still, his comments on Monday are a step in the right direction.
A good next step would be to resign from the Association of Republican Attorneys General.
The problem with the association is not that its now former executive director, Adam Piper, orchestrated a robocall campaign encouraging “patriots” to attend the electoral protest. We believe that Mr. Piper did not think his bosses would object, and therefore he took this action on his own, without consulting Mr. Wilson or other leaders in the organization.
The problem is that the association should never have been created. It all started in 1999, when a handful of Republican attorney generals decided that they needed to tackle “the lack of commitment of their fellow Democrats to defend federalism, comply with the law and apply a common-sense and free market approach to govern”.
Truth be told, we would probably agree more often with the Republicans’ perspective on constitutional issues than with Democrats. But the state’s attorney generals are primarily state officials. And after that, they are prosecutors. While it is difficult to completely depoliticize elected officials, attorney generals need to stay as far away from party politics as possible. They are, at their core, legal officials of the state, not policy makers.
Instead, this organization was close to the forefront of nationalizing our state governments and hyperpolitizing the work of attorney generals – both helped to get us to see everything through party lenses. I was not alone, of course; Democratic attorney generals quickly formed their own association, which should not exist either.
These two organizations – like similar organizations for state secretaries and governors and vice-governors – focus mainly on raising money for their party’s attorney generals to be elected in other states, which, frankly, is none of their business. (We don’t like party governors’ organizations either, but the ship left.) They also serve as network associations that help perpetuate party lawsuits, like the one Wilson supported to try to overturn the election. And they overshadowed the national organization that brings together state attorney generals to learn from each other about creative solutions to common problems.
If Mr. Piper’s name sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because he was the political agent with no legal experience that Mr. Wilson took with him to the attorney general’s office as deputy chief of staff. As such, he attempted to launch a political smear campaign against attorney David Pascoe, who ended up bringing charges of corruption against Wilson’s political confidants.
And that brings us to a broader truth about Mr. Wilson: although all attorney generals have adhered to these destructive party associations, he has had a special difficulty keeping party politics out of the inner workings of his office. He didn’t understand when he hired Mr. Piper and kept him on his team for years. He did not understand when he allowed political activist Richard Quinn to serve, in Quinn’s words, as his “de facto press secretary”, helping him to decide how to distort his decisions, and even what his decisions should be, involving criminal proceedings .
Mr. Wilson did a good job as attorney general. But the more it allows itself to function as a party hack, the more difficult it becomes for us to remember any part of that good job.
The Index-Journal
January 12th
Congressman Jeff Duncan can do the right thing and remain eligible
Please, Congressman Jeff Duncan, put those socks back in the sock drawer. In fact, last week they would have served a better purpose if you put them firmly in the mouth of the man whose surname they carry – Trump.
It is now quite safe and perhaps even legal not only to condemn the actions of those who invaded the United States Capitol on January 6, but also to denounce the man who, at the very least, inspired the sad and tragic events that took place there last week.
Impeachment? The 25th Amendment? We will recognize that any of these hypotheses is difficult and we understand that you have done well for a large part of your constituency, supporting President Trump for the past four years. Certainly, at this point, however, you can leave no doubt in the minds of voters that the president’s rhetoric before the Capitol march was wrong, that even his late reaction to the crowd signaled his support for actions their.
You, sir, were a target on a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, when, on June 14, 2017, James Hodgkinson shot Whip from most of the US House, Steve Scalise, the US Capitol police officer Crystal Griner, congressional adviser Zack Barth and lobbyist Matt Mika. So the question now is how can you not speak harshly against the commander in chief whose own words led to last week’s insurrection act? Lives were lost, lives were in danger. This included some Republicans, even Vice President Pence, among the Democrats the crowd was looking for, some ready with plastic handcuffs.
Seriously, congressman, it is likely that the overwhelming majority of constituents have already put Kool-Aid aside; they will understand and accept if you speak and speak. Encourage the president not to do harm – to no longer do harm – and to leave in silence. You will remain elected and more honored.
But save your socks. They are a memory, perhaps, but they are hardly the right support hose to use today.
The Times and Democrat
January, 10
Proposed bill to create a commission to examine the integrity of federal elections
The violence perpetrated by some again obscured the message of many.
The riot that damaged the United States Capitol and left five dead that grew out of a massive protest in Washington over the 2020 elections was negligible, as was the ongoing violence in American cities against government institutions and officials and private companies.
Those who practice violence hijack the demonstrators’ cause to commit criminal acts – and they should pay for their crimes.
Forgotten in the midst of violence are legitimate messages. In the case of pro-Donald Trump protesters in Washington last week, it was mostly people who believed that the 2020 election that resulted in Democratic Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate. And while most, if not all, realize that President Trump will not be sworn in as president on January 20, they want action to restore their faith in the American electoral system.
It would be a mistake not to interpret such electoral concerns as a call to action – not by protesting, but by pressing elected leaders to act.
US Republican Senator from South Carolina, Tim Scott, made it clear, prior to the confirmation of the Electoral College victory for Biden, that he would not join some of his Republican colleagues in objection to the result. He said he saw no constitutionally viable way for Congress to overturn a state-certified election. But Scott is proposing a way to address concerns about electoral irregularities ahead of the future vote.
He introduced a bill to establish the 2020 Bipartisan Advisory Committee, charged with examining the integrity of the November elections and making recommendations to state legislatures to improve the security, integrity and administration of federal elections.
“The beauty of the American experiment is the ability to freely question our processes and build on the lessons learned. We cannot move forward without looking back and examining the issues that have caused millions of Americans to lose confidence in our electoral system,” said Scott. “While each election has a minimum of fraud, circumstances surrounding the pandemic led several states to make hasty and perhaps ill-planned changes to their electoral systems weeks before the presidential election. Simply put, Congress needs to act in a bipartisan way to examine the steps – intentional or not – committed this year in state legislatures across the country. “
The committee would consist of 18 members: nine appointed by the Senate Republican leader in consultation with the minority leader in the House and nine appointed by the House Speaker in consultation with the Senate Democratic leader.
The committee would study:
– The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on elections.
– Electoral practices adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
– Practices related to entry ballots, absentee votes and postal voting procedures.
– Practices that would have allowed voter registration or improper or fraudulent voting.
– The scope of any improper or fraudulent electoral registration or vote.
– Practices that would increase public confidence in the integrity of future general elections.
The result would be two reports, an initial one including district by district data highlighting any improper and fraudulent voter registration and improper and fraudulent votes that were cast in the 2020 election.
The final report would include recommendations on best practices that each level of local and state government should adopt to manage elections for federal positions during a pandemic and other national emergencies; mitigate fraud and increase the integrity and security of entry ballots, absentee votes and postal voting procedures; and to prevent improper or fraudulent votes from being cast and to prevent improper voters from being registered.
Scott’s plan can do more than produce reports if last week’s events are the wake-up call that pushes Democrats and Republicans in Congress to take the lead in seeking common ground. The more each party goes to extremes, the more extremism the nation will become.
We wrote earlier that a heavily divided government offers the opportunity for those in the midst of maintaining control again. On the vital issue of electoral integrity, Scott is making a common sense proposal to do the research and determine solutions from the results.