Postings this week have been about a letter South Carolina State Senator Wes Hayes, Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, sent to his colleagues early last month imploring them to stop breaking the law.  As a public service (and for the fun of it), I took a look at the submitted campaign expense accounts of several state senators just to show that the emperors have no clothes.

These are questionable expenditures that may well warrant investigation to determine if the laws highlighted by Senator Hayes have, indeed been violated.

But why is this coming from me?  I have a smaller audience than Lady GaGa at a Mormon nursing home.

Is the Senate Ethics Committee, which clearly recognizes that violations have occurred, going to pursue these accounting curiosities?

Whether or not the State Ethics Commission or Senate Ethics Committee pursue, what about Attorney General Henry McMaster?  Surely HE isn’t oblivious to the Senator’s letter.  Oh, wait.  Oblivious… yeah, well, never mind.

Is this silence a tacit admission that what applies to the governor doesn’t apply to members of the legislature?  Is the governor being hunted or is the general assembly being protected?  Or both?

And then there is The State newspaper.  It took a stinkin’ blogger to open their eyes to Senator Hayes’ letter only to have the paper screw up the lead.  I have been advised by State reporter Gina Smith that she is continuing to pursue the circumstances of Senator Hayes’ letter.  To what degree of scrutiny will have to be determined by time.

I hope they or other media outlets DO pursue.  After all, what good is any of this if it just rattles around the blogosphere?

Nonetheless, as for oversight and accountability, somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.