SC Policy Council promotes its ethics reform plan

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A desire to reform state government has aligned South Carolina’s tea party activists and environmentalists.

Leaders of the libertarian South Carolina Policy Council, its tea party allies, and the Coastal Conservation League are promoting the council’s eight-part reform plan with stops in Charleston, Columbia and Greenville.

Council president Ashley Landess says proposals announced last week by Gov. Nikki Haley don’t go nearly far enough. State senators and House members have been working on their own plans to tighten ethics laws.

But the groups say the current system is corrupted, and structural change is necessary.

The council’s proposals include removing legislators’ appointment powers to boards and commissions, letting the governor pick judges, strengthening the state’s open records law, and requiring companies seeking incentives to publicly apply for them.