PROSSER USES LOW-LEVEL EMPLOYEE AS SCAPEGOAT
In the wake of yesterday’s huge story — reported first here on The Palmetto Scoop — that the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism used taxpayer money to fund a tourism campaign aimed at bringing gays to the state, things have spiraled out of control.
I wrote earlier that The State reported this morning that PRT terminated the campaign while legislators began calling for audits and more information from the agency. Now, WSPA says that the low-level PRT employee who approved the ad campaign has resigned.
Since PRT has made a complete mess out of this whole thing and completely failed the transparency test, it’s impossible to know who had their fingerprints on approving the project. Freedom of Information requests from The Palmetto Scoop will hopefully uncover that information in the coming days.
But no matter what the result, the buck doesn’t stop with this individual — it goes further up.
If this person acted entirely on their own, without consulting others, it demonstrates the severe lack of oversight in the PRT and possibly other state agencies. If other above them had knowledge of the “So Gay” campaign, then they should admit it.
PRT Director Chad Prosser’s decision to force this person out (err, allow them to resign) and use them as a scapegoat completely violates the spirit of what those like Reps. Rex Rice and Greg Delleney, Sen. David Thomas and others hope to accomplish as a result of this — transparency in state government.
As someone noted earlier today, it’s hypocritical that Gov. Mark Sanford, who has made the issue of transparency a central part of his agenda, would allow his own cabinet to trample all over that concept. Prosser’s actions today show that that’s exactly what they plan to do.
Sphere: Related ContentThis entry was posted on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 6:25 pm and is filed under Executive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
“Huge story?” The only thing big about it is how it made you, RQ&A and South Carolina as a whole look like a bunch of bigoted, homophobic fools.
Huge Story
It was less than $ 5ooo
Less than a peeny per SC taxpayer.
promoting that famed “Southern Hospitality”
Fabu-Lance in Newport, Rhode Island
Fabu-Lance,
It was a huge story in the state — it was in every paper and on every news channel here. And that’s because those pennies (and it’s actually two cents per person as there are only about 2.5 million of us who pay taxes) add up quick.
You wouldn’t know it up there in self-righteous, PC New England, but our bloated state government is loaded with these little programs because “it’s only a few thousand dollars… it’s just two pennies per taxpayer.”
But $5,000 is a lot of money to most people in this state. When classrooms are failing, it’s extra money for teacher salaries or school supplies. And most of these “little programs” don’t cost $5,000; most cost $25,000, $50,000 or more.
A few hundred of these “little projects” later and SC taxpayers are each paying $100 a person just for the pork. That doesn’t include the cost of essential services and other necessary budgetary items.
The point is, the underlying problem here isn’t “teh gays,” it’s the complete failure of oversight in this state. A low-level employee allocates $5,000 here, $20,000 there, $100,000 somewhere else and NOBODY knows about it. If they do, as I believe PRT head Chad Prosser did, they simply look the other way and hope no one notices.
- A.F.
“The point is, the underlying problem here isn’t ‘teh gays,’ it’s the complete failure of oversight in this state.”
Don’t insult the intelligence of people by trying to make that argument; we all know the gay aspect is what made this a story.
Anyone who reads the other thread on the topic can see that.
ADAM FOGLE
TWO CENTS x 2.5 MILLION TAXPAYERS IS $ 50,000 NOT $ 5000
SO IT IS LESS THAN A PENNY (ACTUALY A QUARTER OF A PENNY) PER TAXPAYER
SEND THE GAYS TO RHODE ISLAND…WE WILL TAKE THEIR CA$H–NO PROBLEM
LANCE IN NEWPORT RHODE ISLAND
Ehh, forgot a zero in there. Plus, 2 cents per person sounds better. Point still stands though, $5,000 is a lot of money to the average person here — especially to fund a hidden political program with NO OVERSIGHT that the majority of residents staunchly oppose.
- A.F.
Mayor Quinby said it all.