WE’RE NOT going to claim that it was fascinating to watch, but it was an important step for public access last month when ETV streamed the Budget and Control Board’s monthly meeting live on its website.

The board is a one-of-a-kind five-member body designed to make sure that the governor is not allowed to oversee the central administrative functions of the government, as his counterparts in the other 49 states do. This was the meeting where the two legislators who are so offensively part of this allegedly executive board joined with their handpicked state treasurer to (appropriately) tell Gov. Mark Sanford that it would be up to him to find that $25 billion that he insisted the agency by the same name would have no problem replacing after he vetoed its operating budget.

The webcast was the brainchild of Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom — who along with Mr. Sanford has been coming up on the losing end of 3-2 votes on the board throughout the Sanford administration, with the brief exception of the time before we knew that then-Treasurer Thomas Ravenel was a coke-head — and we appreciate his initiative. Whatever the outcome of this fall’s elections, this practice should continue for as long as this constitutionally odious board remains in existence.

We also appreciate Treasurer Converse Chellis’ attempt to one-up Mr. Eckstrom the following week. Not his proposal to take the Budget and Control Board meetings on the road to allow more people to “directly witness their government up close and personal,” which strikes us as strangely populist rhetoric coming from a guy who doesn’t face any opposition in November since he lost his election bid in June.

CONSIDERING the pitiful turnout for the Columbia City Council District 2 special election two weeks ago, chances are slim that the showing will be better for today’s runoff.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Voters could — and should — determine that they are not going to cave to apathy, are not going to allow the few to decide for the many. Instead they could exercise the wonderful right and privilege our country affords us: the ability to choose those who govern us. Every registered voter of District 2, regardless of race, gender or socio-economic status, has the same opportunity and power when it comes to determining who will serve in the position held by E.W. Cromartie the past 27 years.

If more than 90 percent of voters stay home again today — only 1,476 of the district’s 15,053 registered voters cast ballots on July 13 — their absence will send an unsettling message. It will say that they do not care who leads them. It will say that they do not care about how they are led or where they are led. Worst of all, it could give the eventual representative the idea that he has to concern himself with only the few engaged citizens; he can ignore those sitting on the sidelines.

While we understand that unusual demands have been placed on District 2 voters this election year — today marks the sixth time they’ve been asked to go to the polls since April — it’s imperative that they respond.

SOUTHWEST Airlines’ rejection of the Midlands might be the best thing that’s happened to this region — in terms of motivating elected leaders to work together.

The bitter taste of rejection has become a galvanizing force. Following the snub and the airline’s embrace of Charleston and Greenville, Richland County and Columbia officials met with county legislators to talk about how they can work together to be more competitive and improve the county. In addition, mayors in the Midlands have begun meeting regularly to talk about regional efforts.

While Midlands local governments have had some notable successes — think Columbia Metropolitan Airport, the zoo, Midlands Technical College and the convention center — they have never been able to develop the level of comfort and trust to work together consistently. Even if they had a real shot at Southwest — or some big industry for which they had to compete — there’s no guarantee they would have had their act together to land it.

The necessary foundation of communication and cooperation simply aren’t there, let alone the unity and nimbleness to take quick action. That comes with planning, familiarity and commitment. While they shouldn’t have needed such incentive, the airline’s snub seems to have lit just the right fire under Midlands leaders. The question is whether they’ll actually do something or simply talk about it.

AS UNFORTUNATE — and unsettling — as it is, it is no great surprise that questions are being raised about what happened to millions in public dollars for the James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center at South Carolina State University.

It’s disheartening even to be able to make such a statement. But the truth is that because of the way S.C. State is being run, particularly from the board level, we’re learning to expect ineptitude — if not worse. Not only has the university endured financial shortfalls and enrollment drops, but it has been dogged by infighting and power struggles among board members, some of whom appear to want to run the school as their own personal fiefdom.

The questions about the state and federal funds come at a time when some of S.C. State’s top supporters already are raising concerns about the direction of the school and the effectiveness of the board. Those concerns were sparked by the pitiful way the board handled the firing and rehiring of president George Cooper. First, it fired Mr. Cooper with little notice and without openly, clearly communicating why. It was the second time the board had fired a president in three years. After new members joined the board, the panel not only rehired Mr. Cooper, but took the wrong and ill-advised action of rewriting history by expunging his firing from the minutes.

The last thing the university needs now is serious problems surrounding the disposition of funds for its transportation program, which includes a center that is to bear the name of Democratic Congressman James E. Clyburn, a graduate of the university. Although the program was launched 12 years ago, nothing sits on the transportation center site. The (Charleston) Post and Courier reported that no transportation research is under way, the center has lost its federal designation and, more importantly, the university can’t account for all the funds. The newspaper reported that more than $50 million has been directed to the center since 1998; about half was to be spent for the first phase of a new transportation complex and the remainder for programs. The university has on hand most of the $26.3 million for the new building, but school finance officials have been unable to account for millions for transportation-related programs.

“Are we taking the language of the Constitution that stood the test of time and putting a political standard in the place of a constitutional standard? Objectively speaking, things are changing, and they’re unnerving to me. The court is the most fragile of the three branches. So while it is our responsibility to challenge and scrutinize the court, it is also our obligation to honor elections, respect elections, and protect the court.”

— Sen. Lindsay Graham

THROUGHOUT the first two centuries or so of our nation’s history, what Sen. Lindsay Graham did on Wednesday when he voted to confirm President Obama’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court would have been thoroughly unremarkable. What would have been remarkable would have been for a senator to do otherwise — to vote against confirming a nominee who did not have serious ethical, legal, mental or intellectual problems.

But as Sen. Graham told the Judiciary Committee, things are changing. The voters no longer care about the fundamental values that made our country great. What matters today are individual agendas, and punishing anyone who doesn’t agree with their every opinion.

THE ARCHITECTS of South Carolina’s landmark Beachfront Management Act would not recognize the coastline two decades on.

The law was supposed to prompt a gradual retreat from the beach. Seawalls, which protect the property immediately behind them at the expense of the beach in front and any ungirded land nearby, would go away. New construction would be built a few yards farther inland. As erosion ate away at existing foundations, structures would be rebuilt farther back from the ocean.

Positioned safely back from the waves, the new structures would be less susceptible to storms — putting taxpayers at less risk for having to rebuild them. Over time, the public would pay less to subsidize private property and have greater access to the beach that always has been considered public property. A protected beach would be more attractive to the tourists who fuel our economy.

But lawsuits, hurricanes, amendments and tepid enforcement eroded the erosion-control plans, and a national rush to the coast, fueled by an avalanche of money in the booming 1990s, made the beachfront of 1988 seem quaintly underdeveloped. After taxpayers funded a massive renourishment effort, regulators remeasured the beach and allowed builders to erect high-rise condos along the particularly erosion-prone Cherry Grove oceanfront that once had been deemed suitable only for small cottages; Hilton Head officials were so infuriated by this policy that they enacted their own (legally questionable) limits on building.

THE JULY 27 RUNOFF for the Columbia City Council District 2 seat comes down to which of the two candidates is best equipped and would be the best fit on a newly configured council intent on moving the city on a bold quest to grow from good to great.

While Puff Howard and Brian DeQuincey Newman both come from well-known and respected families, their pedigree isn’t what’s important. In a diverse city thirsting to improve the fortunes of its people, the only pedigree that matters is that they are Columbians.

Mr. Newman is better suited for the challenge of moving Columbia forward. He would be a solid addition to a council led by a new mayor, Steve Benjamin, pushing a bold, new agenda focused a unified Columbia. Mr. Newman’s optimism and openness to new ideas would serve the city well.

The attorney and great-nephew of the late civil rights activist and state Sen. I. DeQuincey Newman says that over the years City Council has lacked energy and progressive ideas, both of which he pledges to bring to the council. His top concern is improving safety and security by strengthening the Columbia Police Department. He also wants to develop a strategy to lure new businesses to town. Instead of being boisterous or heavy-handed, he says he would rely on his intelligence, work ethic and ability to stay focused to push his agenda.

20 years later: Operation Lost Trust

Twenty years ago today, federal agents arrived at the offices of 17 state legislators with subpoenas and questions about the wads of crisp $100 bills they had accepted from a shady lobbyist hawking horse gambling. Over the next 17 months, prosecutors would roll out grainy black-and-white videos that showed legislators selling their votes; a tenth of the members of the General Assembly would be convicted on corruption and drug charges, along with another 10 lobbyists and top government officials; the Legislature would pass one of the toughest ethics laws in the nation; and Gov. Carroll Campbell would use the scandal as a launching pad for his campaign to restructure the government. The massive corruption sting dubbed Operation Lost Trust would change our state forever. Or so it seemed at the time.

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SOUTH CAROLINA hasn’t seen a lot of victories in the nuclear waste wars, so it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate the decision by an internal panel at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop President Obama from deep-sixing the only plan this nation has ever been able to agree to for storing the deadly byproducts of the Cold War and of our peacetime energy appetite.

The panel, under challenge from S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster and the state of Washington, rightly ruled that the administration could not ignore the law requiring it to site a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert. Opening that site, which the Congress agreed to do nearly a quarter-century ago, is important not just because South Carolina has 37 million gallons of deadly high-level waste stored precariously at the Savannah River Site but also because a necessary ingredient for a significant nuclear energy renaissance is a place to store the waste.

But the NRC ruling hardly means it’s time to load up the 18-wheelers with casks of depleted plutonium and head west. There’s a huge difference between not killing a project and actually moving forward with it. Multiple presidents and Congresses have dilly-dallied for decades, and it’s hard to imagine when the site would open even if the president supported it. He doesn’t, and too many in the Congress have decided that the issue isn’t the nation’s nuclear waste policy but rather a contest between embattled Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (of Nevada) and the president on one side and the evil Republicans who want to unseat Mr. Reid on the other. That’s disturbing. This is much more important than the political fate of one lawmaker.

The fact is that no members of Congress are likely to welcome a nuclear burial ground to their state, and understandably so. Decaying uranium and plutonium are deadly; simply hauling in the waste will expose the state to some danger. And unlike the weapons programs that produced the deadliest waste, storing it for hundreds of thousands of years will not employ thousands of local citizens and prop up the local economy for decades.

WHAT ON earth is going on at South Carolina State University?

Beats us. If you’re depending on the school’s governing board to shed light on matters, good luck. The board totally botched the firing and rehiring of president George Cooper, casting a cloud over the president’s ability to lead at a time when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is preparing to begin its re-accreditation examination.

With a couple of trustees rotated off and new ones aboard, a newly configured board had an opportunity to turn the corner and lead openly and above board as it considered rehiring of Mr. Cooper. Instead, it blew the chance. Spectacularly. It wasn’t enough for board members to rehire Mr. Cooper and get on with the business of righting S.C. State’s rocky ship; they chose to rewrite history by expunging his firing from the minutes.

With the whole state already aware of the firing, this head-in-the-sand maneuver would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. But it is serious. And it’s wrong.

IRMO TOWN Council’s continued resistance to a workplace smoking ban threatens to slow momentum toward making Lexington and Richland counties a largely — if not completely — smoke-free community.

While there are a number of municipalities that have not adopted bans, Irmo is a key part of the puzzle because it is the largest community in the area without a ban. Also, the town of 12,500 straddles the two counties; if Irmo goes without a ban, workplace smoking will continue in both counties even if every other entity adopts restrictions.

As disappointing as it is that Irmo hasn’t joined the growing number of governments that have adopted bans, there is still hope. Lexington County Council spent substantial time debating this issue before concluding that this is a considerable public health matter that it simply couldn’t leave to individual businesses to decide. The U.S. Surgeon General has said there’s no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Many opponents argue that government should leave this up to businesses. But government has been protecting workers for years — and for much less hazardous reasons than preventing exposure to carcinogens found in cigarettes.

ALTHOUGH they’ve made four trips to the polls to vote in city races in April and state primaries in June, Columbia City Council District 2 voters owe it to themselves to go out once again today — this time to elect the person who will represent their district.

Despite this being their fifth time at the polls in the past few months — and they’re very likely to have to return for a run-off in two weeks — district voters shouldn’t even think about sitting out this historic and important election. They will choose a new representative for the district for the first time in nearly three decades. There are eight candidates on the ballot, and the only way voters will ensure they get the right person is by showing up.

There might be a temptation to play it safe and elect a life-long resident who would serve in the mold of E.W. Cromartie, who focused almost exclusively on bringing tax dollars to the district but resigned the seat he had held for 27 years following federal tax evasion charges. But District 2 — and the city of Columbia — needs more than a caretaker who would uphold the status quo.

Nor should voters simply choose a neighborhood leader; that’s the job of community associations. Columbia City Council is charged with improving the city’s financial ship, improving infrastructure, offering quality police and fire service and steering the city toward a better future. It’s important that voters choose those leaders most committed and able to capitalize on the city’s strengths as well as correct its weaknesses.

IT ALWAYS seemed absurd to suggest that Rep. Nikki Haley’s House e-mail account would contain a smoking gun to prove a sleazy blogger’s claim that he had an affair with the Republican gubernatorial candidate three years ago; if it did, then surely he as the recipient could have produced those e-mails himself. The idea became even more absurd after House officials said messages are routinely erased after 180 days.

That’s what makes Rep. Haley’s refusal to release her public e-mails to the public so disturbing.

Ms. Haley, after all, is not just someone who thinks government transparency is a nice thing. Her one claim to fame as a legislator is her crusade to bring sunlight to a legislative process that for too long has protected lawmakers from accountability rather than giving the voters information they deserve. Her entire campaign for governor is built on that push for openness, for letting the public in on the Legislature’s secrets, for eliminating the special perks and privileges legislators give themselves and their friends.

Does that apply only to the direct expenditure of public money?

AS THE STATE Mental Health Commission renews negotiations with a developer for the potential sale of the old State Hospital property on Bull Street, it should do so with more in mind than simply getting a big payday.

While Mental Health officials have said their priority is to get the most money possible for the treatment of patients, they also have an obligation to turn this property over to someone who will work well with Columbia and who knows and respects the city’s expectations. This is the largest undeveloped tract in Columbia, and its development could affect the city — positively or negatively — for decades to come. Mental Health should engage Columbia in the process, with the two agreeing on rules and parameters for the sale and potential use of the land.

Some city officials have expressed concern over how the property would be developed, and specifically over what might happen to historic buildings. Despite the concern, the council backed away from talk of imposing a historic-preservation overlay, which would require approval of a city commission before buildings are torn down, to avoid holding up a potential sale. Still, it remains important that Columbia have ample input into how the land is used and whether due consideration is given to saving historic buildings. The long-term success of this property is paramount. While Mental Health certainly needs the money, it must not carelessly rush this process.

Yes, it has taken quite a while to get to this point. The sale has been discussed for years. It was renewed by Gov. Mark Sanford in 2003 as a way to bring needed money into the state’s coffers by unloading unused inventory. It took a court fight to determine who owned the property and who, in the end, would benefit from a sale. Mental Health won that argument, and rightly so. That said, whatever Mental Health receives from the sale will be a one-time infusion that won’t solve the underfunded agency’s operational problems; the best use of it would be to pay for facilities, not ongoing care.

WE DON’T fault Rep. Nikki Haley for failing to report $40,000 in consulting fees from the engineering firm Wilbur Smith Associates on her 2008 and 2009 state ethics disclosure reports.

Although we believe that her self-described role as the champion of government transparency obliges her to do some explaining about why she earned those fees, we find her explanation — that it is only over time that she has come to understand that more reporting is needed — completely legitimate.

And we don’t disagree that, under current law, a legislator has no obligation to report income from a state contractor as long as the contract is not awarded by the House or Senate itself. We think that was an illogical way to write the law, but that’s how it’s written.

What concerns us is the Ethics Commission’s position that consulting fees aren’t income. That not only opens up a huge loophole in our current income reporting requirements but absolutely defies logic.

AFTER HAVING already made four trips to vote in city races in April and state primaries in June, Columbia Council District 2 voters are being asked to be poll warriors and venture to cast ballots yet again on Tuesday — this time to choose a new representative from their community for the first time in 27 years.

E.W. Cromartie, who resigned from the council following federal tax evasion charges, had owned the seat for nearly three decades. Oftentimes, voters who’ve lost a long-time elected leader play it safe and elect a caretaker from among the most familiar names on the ballot. But District 2 voters must not sell themselves or the city short in making this important decision.

While several among the eight-candidate field assert that their life-long experience in the district makes them the best choice, the fact is that the best among the group is the one who left Columbia, fought to defend our country, traveled abroad and came back home to try to serve the community he grew up in and loved — Gary Myers, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. What makes Mr. Myers the best choice is his distinguished military career, followed by years working as an international executive in this hemisphere’s most troubled spots. He’s prepared to lead right now, something City Council is in need of as it looks to get off to a fast start under newly elected Mayor Steve Benjamin, who has promised bold, new leadership.

Mr. Myers said his first priority would be to rebuild District 2 from the ground up — socially, economically and otherwise. He stresses that the transformation can come without putting undue stress on the city’s coffers, which is welcome news. He would call on individuals, agencies and organizations with expertise and funding to engage areas of distinct needs, from job creation to gang intervention. While that’s certainly a challenge, we believe he can deliver.

WE WERE glad that the campaigns of Rep. Nikki Haley and U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett rose to our challenge and reported the donations they received during the final 20 days before the primary and the two weeks leading up to the Republican gubernatorial run-off.

That allowed voters to learn, for instance, that donors were sticking with Mr. Barrett even though he didn’t have a prayer of overcoming a 27-point deficit, and that Ms. Haley had picked up her fund-raising after her near-win in the primary. It also allowed anyone who wanted the opportunity to see just who was bankrolling the candidates.

But this was voluntary. State law requires only that the campaigns make their records available to public inspection during those critical final days before an election. That means individuals have to take it upon themselves to get in touch with the campaigns and make arrangements to look at the records. And as attorney general candidate Alan Wilson discovered last month, that law doesn’t mean a lot if the campaigns don’t want you to see the information.

After a shadowy new group calling itself the “South Carolina Truth Squad” purchased $60,000 worth of TV ads attacking Mr. Wilson, his professional campaign staff spent more than a day trying to get in touch with the group in order to find out where its money was coming from. The staff left numerous messages at the single phone number listed on the group’s statement of organization and tried to find out who had purchased the post office box that was listed as its address, but to no avail. With the clock ticking down the weekend before the runoff, the campaign got the ad briefly pulled off the air, before the Supreme Court overturned that lower court order.

WHEN IN THE Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. -Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good … .

He has refused to pass … Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

THE UNIVERSITY of South Carolina baseball team’s amazing and unprecedented run to claim the College World Series is a great achievement not only for Gamecock nation, but for our entire state.

From the adroit coaching of Ray Tanner and his staff to the players’ out-of-this-world pitching, timely hitting and clutch defensive work, the baseball team proved more than up to the task as it scrapped and clawed to the championship round and then outclassed the Bruins of UCLA.

The process swept away a lifetime of frustration for USC’s athletic program and fan base, and injected new hope for the possibilities of every Gamecock sports team. The win over UCLA wasn’t just the school’s first NCAA baseball championship. It was the first national title of any kind for the men’s sports programs and only the second national title in the school’s history; the women’s track team won the other.

The College World Series is a grueling two-week challenge, with the last team standing taking the spoils. South Carolina had made it to three previous title games — twice under coach Tanner — but came up short each time. But not this year. Not this time. The Gamecocks showed guts and grit after losing their first game — going unbeaten the rest of the way. The team showed mental toughness and relentless effort in dispatching foe after foe — including taking two straight games from Clemson, which also represented the state well.

WE BELIEVE in you. That’s the emphatic message a yet-to-be-identified Florida couple sent recently when they pledged $30 million to the University of South Carolina.

The gift would be one of the largest in USC’s history. It’s the size of gift that can be a game-changer in the life of a university, as has been the case at USC with similar-sized gifts from Wall Street financier and school trustee Darla Moore and Houston Texans owner Bob McNair, a former USC student body president.

Ms. Moore’s $25 million gift in 1998 helped the School of Business Administration upgrade its facilities and academic reputation. Since that time, Ms. Moore has given roughly $70 million to the university. The Moore School soon will move into a $90 million facility that will anchor USC’s research campus.

Mr. McNair’s $20 million pledge in May 1998 supports the McNair Scholars program, which is used to recruit some of the nation’s brightest out-of-state students. At least one McNair award out of the roughly 25 extended each year must be from Mr. McNair’s home county of Rutherford, N.C.