Afew weeks back, this column wrote about government dysfunction in Columbia, to wit, top elected state officials loath to talk to each other even when separated only by the width of a table. Even when the state's -- hence, the taxpayers' interests -- are at stake.

There's an update to this tale.

A couple of them were communicating by letter earlier this year. So far, so good, except that one duly elected state official told a second duly elected state official that he shouldn't comment to certain people without his permission.

The centerpiece of all this is the state's credit rating, dropped from its lofty AAA in July.

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Before your eyes glaze over, this really means something to you. Downgrading the state's credit rating because of a lagging economy is the big government-high finance equivalent of the bank raising your credit card interest rate over a late payment. There's a cost

In both instances, it costs you more, as a consumer and as a taxpayer.

Back in February, state Treasurer Grady Patterson, a Democrat, wrote to state Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, a Republican.

In no uncertain terms, Patterson told his fellow Budget and Control Board member it wouldn't be "prudent" to continue talking with the bond rating agencies -- without his permission.

Citing his 35-year relationship with the rating agencies, Patterson admonished his peer that he did "not need anyone to follow-up on my conversations. Furthermore, it is inappropriate and does not help South Carolina when dueling conversations with the rating agencies transpire."

Patterson went on point to a state law that he said made the treasurer the constitutional officer empowered to talk to the New York bond crowd.

And I thought we had a governor.

Presumably, Eckstrom knows both of the state's financial offices. He ousted Patterson in 1994 and was defeated by a resurgent Patterson in 1998. He was elected comptroller general in 2002.

In his reply, Eckstrom said that while state law "requires" the treasurer to provide information to the agencies, there's a little thing called the First Amendment that "permits the governor, the comptroller, any other constitutional officers, any legislator and any of the 4 million other South Carolinians" to offer their own comments. Precedent set

Eckstrom pointed to established and successful precedent for wide-ranging talks with the rating agencies, noting that "this open communication should never be discouraged."

There are shades of gray here.

Patterson wasn't trying to muzzle anyone, says his spokesman, Trav Robertson.

The treasurer was concerned that in the run-up to Standard & Poor's bond downgrading, too many people were talking and not with the same voice, getting in the way of solutions to the agencies' concerns about the state's economy.

"Mr. Patterson was simply expressing his frustration over the various and numerous conversations some appeared to be having with the rating agencies at a time when the state Treasurer's Office was trying to go about its statutory and constitutional business of selling bonds," Robertson said.

As for Eckstrom's constitutional right to speak with the rating agencies, Patterson has no problem, Robertson said.

"Mr. Patterson does not believe anyone should be limited in their conversations, however, he does believe that at that particular time when we were concerned with being put on a credit watch and possibly lose the credit rating that we speak with one voice," Robertson said.

So why not sit down, talk it over and work out a unified front.

That opportunity may present itself in the future, Robertson said, without elaborating.

Nice. The taxpayers might appreciate the folks who oversee the billions they send to Columbia talking with and not at each other. Odds & ends

The Clemson Tigers and Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham came out on the short end of last Saturday's game with Boston College.

Clemson lost the game, Graham lost a bet with Massachusetts colleague Teddy Kennedy.

"Now I'm going to have to buy him lunch -- and that could get expensive," Graham said last week before boarding a flight back to Washington to pay up. More...

State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin has created his own political action committee, for many, a precursor to running for office.

No so, the Greenville advertising executive says.

He set up Citizens United for South Carolina last year and has "made only a couple of donations out of it" so far. Erwin said there's approximately $21,000 in the bank.

Leadership PACs are commonly used by U.S. senators, senior House members and presidential aspirants to spread money around among elected officials as a means of generating support for their own political futures.