BRACK: The problem with big money in S.C. politics

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher |  The amount of money spent in politics these days is obscene.

But even we were flabbergasted — and kind of sickened —  when one New Jersey man gave $250,000 on March 31 to Gov. Nikki Haley’s new political advocacy organization known as A Great Day SC.  But he wasn’t alone. The new group collected only six donations, five from out of state, for a grand total of $515,000.

Two logical questions arise:  What do these donors expect to receive for massive cash donations and what will the new group do with the money?

The answer to the first is unclear.  We reached out to the big donor, healthcare entrepreneur Vivek Garipalli of Colts Neck, N.J., through his company Clover Health, but we didn’t get a response.  You’ve got to think, though, that any big donors don’t just give that much out the goodness of their hearts.

The second question, however, is a little easier to answer.  When the governor’s political operative, former Chief of Staff Tim Pearson, set up the new political organization in February, its purpose was to shape “the public policy and political debate to support conservative issues and candidates for federal, state and local office in a manner consistent with Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code.” Translation:  It will “target political opponents of Gov. Nikki Haley in this year’s election,” The Post and Courier reported.

With some of the wishy-washiness infecting politics in Columbia and Washington, that actually might sound pretty good to many.  They might initially think it would clean out the deadwood and get people in there who will work.

But they’d be wrong.  Instead, it more likely would put political puppets in office funded to do the dirty work of rich guys who want to reshape the way our government works.  It might actually lead us down a path unthinkable to founding fathers where our democracy is replaced by plutocrats and oligarchs (rich people and elites).

Don’t think it can happen?  Just look a little north to the Tar Heel State, once a beacon for Southern states of balanced state government that sought to improve education, get good roads and join the modern era.

But North Carolina became a “test kitchen” for a conservative takeover, reporter Jane Mayer writes in her new bestseller “Dark Money.”  Millions of dollars in quiet political money from unelected rich guys changed the state dramatically.  Not only has the state gotten a huge black eye recently by starting the whole “bathroom bill” movement that sucked away jobs, business and its reputation, but it has suffered in recent years due to a plethora of narrow-minded reforms.  The North Carolina General Assembly has approved everything from huge tax cuts for the wealthy to massive cuts in unemployment benefits when jobless workers were really hurting, crippling cuts to public K-12 schools and budget raids on its nationally-recognized university system.  In short, Tar Heels got stuck in a crummy tar-hole of state government — all thanks to the conservative claptrap fueled by rich guys.

So now maybe you can sense the red flags that rise when an unelected, out-of-state individual gives $250,000 — or $100,000 or $50,000 — to an organization that has the express purpose of advocating to get rid of political opponents.  Instead of change inspired by lots of people acting through the elected representatives or candidates, the rich-guy version of change is simply to buy it — purchase negative television ads touting narrow points of view, buy it through advocacy that tears down opponents, acquire it through stealth and new kinds of smoke.

What’s really scary for South Carolina is that it wouldn’t take too much money in the larger scheme of things — maybe $5 million or $10 million coordinated through shady advocacy groups and puppet organizations fueled by the wealthy — to take control of the South Carolina General Assembly.

This kind of new political advocacy won’t create a great day for South Carolina.  Instead it could become a constricting Brave New World — something simply not envisioned by our founding fathers who were fueled by hope and the need to escape rule by people from “off.”

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Last week’s column by Andy Brack on local primary races included two errors.  First, Senate 42 candidate William Cogswell no longer lives on Wadmalaw Island, but moved recently into the downtown district.  Second, U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford’s first quarter donations totaled $122,382.  We apologize for the errors.

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