By Andy Brack
The title of a bad network sitcom from the 1990s seems to be coming to life in today’s politics.
Men Behaving Badly, on the air for just 15 months on NBC in the mid-1990s, was the offbeat story of two college friends living a second childhood. Based on a six-season British comedy of the same name, the blip of the American version was considered too risque and racy for the day.
The series ended in December 1997. A month later, news broke of an alleged affair by President Bill Clinton and an intern, Monica Lewinsky. And that was the scandal that knocked decency guardrails off the political tracks.
The show had nothing to do with politics, but today, public life often seems to be one long episode of Politicians Behaving Badly – as if they continually try to top one appalling behavior with something worse.
Just in the last few days, the state’s budget debate devolved into a discussion involving crap. A congresswoman disparaged some of her constituents. And a state lawmaker felt so violated that he gave an impassioned speech upbraiding White lawmakers for treating Blacks differently.
As reported last week in Statehouse Report, the House budget debate seemed to devolve into a feud between uber-right Freedom Caucus members, who submitted outrageous amendment after outrageous amendment, and more traditional mainstream Republican members. As reported by bureau chief Jack O’Toole:
“Members of the chamber’s Republican supermajority took turns denouncing each other’s proposals as “crap” from the well of the House. “Can you say ‘no’ to the budget?” Freedom Caucus Rep. April Cromer (R-Anderson) demanded. “I can, because it’s chock full of crap.”
“The ‘crap’ she was referring to? A billion dollars in so-called “wasteful” state spending that she and her Freedom Caucus colleagues claimed their amendments would cut from the budget.”
The problem: Their amendments weren’t worth anything close to $1 billion in cuts and instead were a 10th the size, which led GOP House Majority Leader Davey Hiott to retort, “I’m sick and tired of this crap, coming up here and making a farce out of what the state of South Carolina deserves and needs. That’s all this is — it’s a show.”
Also during budget discussions during a proposal to cut funding for diversity measures, Black state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, called out hypocrisy that got noticed on social media.
“You don’t like being called racist in here. You hate when we use the word racist,” he said, as highlighted in a YouTube video and reported in Black Enterprise. “You hate being attacked. You hate when we bring up race and everything. But then, when we have an opportunity to show that we’re not racist, you let me down every time.”
In short, it wasn’t a shining budget week for South Carolina. Just like a comment this week by 1st District GOP U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace didn’t do much to heal. In a minute-long social media rant about how people were calling her office with disruptive, nasty messages (and yes, they were nasty) over her not attending a town hall to which she was invited, she branded some of her constituents as “a**holes.”
“So stop blowing up our lines, stop being a**holes and start letting real people get their calls through.”
Whew. Not what you expect from someone reportedly thinking of running for governor. Most candidates would be trying to build coalitions, not push people away. Calling constituents names seems to be the very epitome of someone who’s tired of public service or is in it for the wrong reasons.
So yes, it’s a time of people behaving badly. Perhaps legislators should use a grandma filter – determine whether they would say or do something as if they were running by their grandmother – before opening their mouths.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send it to feedback@statehousereport.com.
