Recorded Votes - Part Two

I applaud Jane Vaughters for her stance in support of recorded votes at our State Legislature. It is inconceivable that we have Republican leaders in the South Carolina House and Senate who openly oppose the right of South Carolina voters to see how their Legislators vote on critical issues. While Representative Smith took the criticism personally, it was aimed at the entire Aiken delegation. His vote was easy to determine; if he had not supported to increase the power of Bobby Harrell, he would not have been appointed/elected as a committee chair. We know nothing about other members of the Aiken Delegation. Perhaps they could write their own letter to the editor or even better, perhaps the Aiken Standard could start doing what a newspaper should do; report on issues of importance to the Aiken community.

I am always suspicious of politicians with something to hide. I wonder how many of then ran on the slogan “VOTE FOR ME AND I WON’T TELL YOU HOW I VOTED”. Had they done so, they would probably not have been elected.

Voters should realize that a great part of our current fiscal turmoil is caused by our State Legislators who have fought Governor Sanford over budget issues for his entire time in office. Their uncontrolled spending has put us in our current mess. Had they put money in a “rainy day” fund as recommended numerous times by the Governor, our current financial problems would not have been so bad. It especially onerous on our education community and is now beginning to affect nearly everyone in the State. Residents should put the blame where it belongs.

We need to stop the practice of a Legislator voting one way and telling his constituents he voted the opposite way. They need to take the blame and credit for their votes. The best way to accomplish this task is to have recorded votes which are clearly visible to voters throughout the State.