Thursday, June 19, 2008
SC CHIEF JUSTICE RAISES OBJECTION TO VETO OF LEGAL DEFENSE FUNDING
On June 3, 2008 The Post and Courier reported:
The chief justice of South Carolina's Supreme Court said Monday that Gov. Mark Sanford's vetoes of millions of dollars for legal defense programs for the poor will clog state court dockets.
Chief Justice Jean Toal also said the vetoes of $6.3 million to aid in indigent defense will increase the likelihood of appeals and saddle taxpayers with more spending to keep poor defendants in jails waiting for trials.
"The reasoning is not something I can understand," Toal told the Associated Press as the governor finished a campaign in North Augusta and Greer to convince people that lawmakers should uphold the $72 million he vetoed from a proposed $7 billion spending plan last week. (Read the remainder of the article at Toal raises objection to Sanford's vetoes.)
What strikes us as odd about this veto was that Governor Sanford has been complaining that shortfalls in funding for the prisons may result in prison closures. So why in the world would he want to increase the prison populations by reducing the budget for the Indigent Defense Fund?
Our prediction is that if something is not done about restoring this funding more people will have to represent themselves in Court, more innocent fathers will be jailed for non-support, and the Court dockets, and case backlogs will increase. This lack of insight on the part of the Governor and the Legislature is a prime example of the "Law of unintended Consequences."
