WE MUST DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNMENT

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Shane Massey today released the forth part of his 5 Point Plan to Shake Up Columbia. Shane’s forth point addresses the concerns about the lack of accountability in government. Massey believes that accountability will increase if we cut spending, restructure our outdated state government, and hold public officials responsible for their actions.

“People have lost trust in government. I plan to change this through the values of hard work and honesty I’ve lived by my entire life” said Massey. “If elected I will try my best to restore the public’s faith in Government.”

SHANE ON CUTTING SPENDING

Columbia is spending too much money and getting few results. Reducing spending allows us to cut taxes, giving families more money to spend, spurring our economy, and creating jobs in private industry. Our state’s spending has increased by nearly forty percent in the past three years. Increases of that nature are not only irresponsible but they are also unsustainable.

“As your State Senator I will work hard to pass measurers limiting state spending to the formula: population plus inflation” said Massey.

SHANE ON RESTRUCTURING STATE GOVERNMENT

“We must continue Governor Carroll Campbell’s legacy by adopting Governor Sanford’s restructuring proposals” said Massey.
Our state government is duplicative and unaccountable. According to studies by the Governor’s Office:

For every 10,000 South Carolinians, there are 234 state employees. That’s 34% more than the U.S. average. Additionally, South Carolinians currently spend 130% the national average of the cost of government, due in large part to an inefficiently structured government. Add to this the fact that in South Carolina more than 18% of our personal income goes to pay for government. The national average is less than 14%.

Those figures are unacceptable. We must restructure, streamline, and consolidate the 50 independent agencies and departments that make up our redundant state government. Cutting waste and making government more accountable will reduce spending, creating the ability to cut taxes.

SHANE ON CLEANING UP GOVERNMENT

Scandals are rocking government at all levels. $90,000 was found in a Congressman’s freezer. A Senator admitted to having used a DC “escort service.” A Congressman was caught sending explicit sexual emails to a teenage boy. A high powered lobbyist has been sent to jail and numerous Congressmen and staffers are in trouble after being linked to his firm. All those violations of our trust have happened in Washington in just the past couple years.

Here in South Carolina two statewide constitutional officers have been indicted on federal charges in just the past three years.

“It’s time to shake up the status quo and clean up government. I promise that I will never betray your trust as your State Senator” said Massey. “I will also demand stricter ethics laws cracking down unethical and immoral behavior by elected officials.”

Posted September 14, 2007 

Comments

2 Responses to “WE MUST DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNMENT”

  1. Desiree' Council on September 21st, 2007 8:26 pm

    I like the part about eliminating waste in State Government, however that does not always mean cutting the budgets of the agencies that are mandated by law to provide certain services and have a legal mandate of time restriction. DSS is mandated by law to investigate all child abuse reports that come in and do so within 24 hours. When DSS has to sustain a budget reduction we lose workers. In small counties that only have 1 investigator and we get 4 reports in one day. Losing workers becomes a problem.
    I have tried to find the budget page to see how much Foster Care Review Boards(FCRB) budget is so I could give a definative savings. FCRB is a legislatively mandated agency. It was formed over 30 years ago to prevent children from being lost through the cracks. Since that time we have more Judicial oversight and the need is not there for FCRB. They have no authority over cases but we have to present each child to them every six months as long as the child is in our custody. Prior to the review we have to prepare packets of information on each child that takes a few hours and then we go present the case to a Citizen review panel. The panel is made up of volunteers but the agency does have employees, director and attorney. This would be a big savings in the state budget and that money could be spend directly for the children.

  2. Daniel on October 17th, 2007 8:22 pm

    I couldn’t understand some parts of this article ST DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNMENT : Shake Up Columbia with Shane Massey, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

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