Interim State Treasurer Ken Wingate announced Thursday that he will not permanently seek the post in next week’s special election conducted by the General Assembly.

“My first commitment is to my family and to my clients in my law practice,” Wingate said. “Though I’m honored that my name has been mentioned as a permanent state treasurer, I would like to remove my name from consideration.”

Wingate never had a chance to win the election anyway, simply because he is not a member of the General Assembly. And that’s a shame.

It’s a shame not because Wingate is the best candidate, but because next Friday’s special election, which will be held among the state’s 46 Senators and 124 House members, essentially excludes candidates who are not South Carolina legislators. There should be a cooling off period, as is the case with almost every other election conducted within the Assembly, in which candidates must resign their post well before the election.

It is standard practice for all candidates seeking judgeships and public service commission spots to resign from any activities that could unduly influence the outcome of the election a year in advance.

But with at least two members of the legislature seeking the treasurer’s position, the outcome will be nothing short of blatant cronyism. In fact, if they wanted to, those members could actually vote for themselves.

So we issue a challenge — one that will certainly fall on deaf ears — for members of the legislature to take the high road and end their unfair advantage so that the people of South Carolina can get a decent treasurer. Be it by removing their names from contention, rescheduling the election for a later date and resigning, or something else, it would certainly make for a more fair democratic process.