The budget problems in Columbia are significant, but the cost-cutting response from the Commerce Department shows they aren't necessarily insurmountable. Commerce Secretary Bob Faith reports that staff cuts and agency reorganization will save $2.3 million next fiscal year. Mr. Faith has reduced the agency by 23 staffers.
Of course, critics might say that those cuts will diminish the effectiveness of Commerce, as it seeks to attract new industry to South Carolina. It will take time to assess the success of Mr. Faith's administration. But Commerce's revised policies on behalf of openness and accountability should provide the public with more information about the state's economic development program than has been heretofore available. That should eventually allow for an informed assessment of Commerce's efforts.
On Wednesday, Gov. Mark Sanford called Mr. Faith's restructuring of Commerce an example for the rest of state government to follow. Economic forecasts for continued revenue problems underscore the governor's admonition.
The agency's rapid restructuring and cost-cutting demonstrate how an agency director operating within the Cabinet form of government can quickly respond to fiscal reality. It should encourage further restructuring of state government to include agencies that operate under the diffused authority of legislatively appointed boards and commissions, instead of the state's chief executive.
It also should encourage a reorganization plan to eliminate superfluous state offices, such as the secretary of state, and to give the governor authority over the state Department of Education, by making the superintendent an appointive office, a proposal endorsed by its current occupant.
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