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Hunley issue reveals funds misuse
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The State newspaper in Columbia published an important series of stories last week called "The Hunley: Government by Stealth."
It's important because it shows in great detail how the General Assembly is out of control.
It shows Glenn McConnell, president pro tem of the state Senate and chairman of its Judiciary Committee, orchestrating the system to benefit his personal pet project: preservation of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley. Yet some of McConnell's workmanship is "obviously outside the framework the state has provided for disbursement of public funds," said state Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom.
Writer John Monk spent six months connecting dots that show nearly
$100 million devoted to the submarine from many sources. About $20 million has been spent to date, with the rest in proposed allocations of cash or land. About 85 percent of it is from the taxpayer, Monk reported.
That means the Hunley has become "one of South Carolina's biggest financial undertakings in modern times," Monk writes.
It means preservation and display of a Confederate submarine is among the state's highest priorities -- yet no elected body set that priority and no elected body even knew it was that high of a priority.
Monk found actual and proposed spending for the Hunley scattered like buckshot among numerous federal, state, university, municipal and private entities -- with policymakers lacking the big picture and the line items. They don't know how much money is involved or where it's coming from.
The extravagant spending surprised even penny-pinching Gov. Mark Sanford. He's famous for poring over every detail in the state budget, but when it came to spending planned for the Hunley, he said, "I don't have a clue."
Neither did many others who should know, including a member of the Hunley Commission who also is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
One thing everyone knows is that McConnell, a Charleston Republican, is a Civil War buff, to put it mildly. For example, he dressed as a Confederate general and delivered the main eulogy in the histrionic 2004 burial of the Hunley crew in Charleston's Magnolia Cemetery.
Most would agree that a rare relic like the Hunley should be preserved and shown to the public. It was lifted from the ocean floor near Charleston in 2000 --
136 years after it became the first submarine to sink an enemy ship in wartime, then disappeared.
But what's it worth compared to other priorities, and shouldn't there be a public discussion before huge sums of money are spent on it? Accountability can't be torpedoed. The General Assembly is supposed to be a better watchdog for the public.
Tax dollars aren't the only
consideration.
The series revealed a splintered higher-education system beholden to legislative politics, with officials at Clemson University getting involved for the sake of obtaining a higher ranking in a national magazine's list of the best colleges.
Clemson is planning a Hunley-centered campus in North Charleston at an initial cost of $35 million in cash and land. It is to focus on various types of restoration. Under a proposed contract, Clemson also will pay up to $800,000 per year to preserve the sub, and no one knows how long that will continue. Meanwhile, tuition for students is soaring.
You can find the series at
thestate.com. It's also linked on my blog at islandpacket.com.
You'll learn that (quoting directly from The State):
• "Clemson's deal to take over the Hunley's preservation amounts to a financial bailout of a cash-strapped project, according to a Clemson review. ... Clemson stepped in just as federal grants, private donations and visitors to the lab (where the Hunley is stored) are declining."
• "Clemson's job projections for a new Hunley campus didn't undergo an outside, objective review."
• "Clemson agreed to muzzle its professors from writing or speaking publicly on the Hunley without approval of the Hunley Commission."
• "Crucial market and site studies to determine whether a sufficient number of visitors will travel to the North Charleston site (for a proposed $42 million museum) apparently have not been done."
• "Already, a $3 million Hunley exhibit in a hot tourist market (Myrtle Beach) has failed to attract sufficient visitors and closed (after only two years)."
We need a General Assembly with the curiosity to ask questions, the initiative to find answers and the courage to challenge powerbrokers like McConnell. The General Assembly needs to demand an independent performance audit of every aspect of the Hunley hosing.
Earlier this month, the Statehouse hosted an exhibit called "But What About Us? Student Photography from the Corridor of Shame." The pitiful scenes are from seven rural South Carolina school districts that are begging for a fair shot at state money to wipe out the images of neglect. These images -- including a current school building that dates to 1896 -- are out in the open for all to see.
Now zoom in on this poor state's "stealth" priority to preserve and promote a Confederate submarine.
What you see is a sad picture.
What you see is a General Assembly out of control.
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• http://www.corridorofshame.com/
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