As South Carolina has maintained a negative political aspect, being considered one of the most corrupt Political States in the U.S., you have to ask yourself are there any South Carolina Legislators who have any ethics or moral codes?
The answer is yes there are still unicorns in the forest.
This past year has shown that there are some South Carolina Legislators who truly do still care about right and wrong, and have the moral and ethical standards we seek in our government officials. These legislators believe in our Constitutional Rights and truly take the time to listen to the people of South Carolina.
One of these Legislators is House Representative Jonathon Hill (R-District 8 Anderson). Rep. Hill was first elected to his position in 2015, since then he has fought for change in the State House. Rep. Hill is truly a people’s Legislator, he takes the time to speak with South Carolinians even outside his district who seem to get the runaround from their own legislators and truly does try to help resolve their issues.
Rep. Hill is perhaps best known for attempting to bring Constitutional Carry to South Carolina with House Bill 3456. Rep. Hill is fighting to protect South Carolinian’s Constitutional rights to carry firearms openly. Rep. Hill also introduced House Bill 5485, which would limit the Governors ability to declare a state of emergency and given it to the General Assembly. This bill would also outline the duties of certain agencies in South Carolina during a State of Emergency, and given clear timelines on such actions.
Rep. Hill also co-sponsored several bills such as House Bill 3070, which would have placed the appointment of Supreme Court Justices, Appeals Court Judges and Circuit Court Judges with the Governors Office and remove these appointments from the General Assembly.
Rep. Hill co-sponsored many more such as the “Personhood Bill” an anti-abortion bill, H3295 the “Equal Custody or Shared Custody” Bill which would have given children the right to have both loving and fit parents in their lives equally after a divorce or separation; this bill would have also instituted a “rebuttable presumption” that this is in the best interest of a child.
For his moral and ethical standards Rep. Hill has endured many backlashes from even his own party, who it would seem attempted to remove him during the elections by endorsing his opponent. Hill was even earlier suspended from the House GOP Caucus, for calling out one of the members on their actions. Rep. Hill can often be seen on his Facebook page keeping the citizens of South Carolina aware of what is taking place in the State House.
Dan Harvell, who is the state executive committeeman for the Anderson County Republican Party stated, “Hill is one of the most ethical legislators he knowns. And that Hill goes against the status quo in Columbia, which always upsets the apple court.”
Another such Legislator is Rep. Steward Jones (R- District 14, Laurens). Rep. Jones was elected into office during a special election in April of 2019, to replace Micheal Pitts, who resigned. Since his arrival at the State House much like Rep. Hill has shown a moral and ethical standard to uphold the rights of South Carolinians. It is not uncommon to see Rep. Jones and Rep. Hill together at the State House and on several of the same bills.
Rep. Jones sponsored bill 4704 the “Second Amendment Preservation Act”, another Constitutional protection bill to prevent state government from interfering with a South Carolinians right to bear arms. Among other bills sponsored by Rep. Jones are H4716, which prevents any person under the age of 18 to undergo a gender reassignment medical treatment. Rep. Jones also sponsored several bills in the State House to prevent the Legislative body from overstepping their powers during the Covid-19 closedown.
Rep. Jones has co-sponsored several ideal bills for South Carolina such as term limits for the General Assembly, Shared Parenting for South Carolina (which protects our children’s rights to both loving and fit parents), the “Personhood Act”, and many others.
Rep. Jones has also taken to Social Media to show the going on’s in the State House and the issues that face South Carolina on his facebook page.
A third Legislator who follows his moral and ethical code is Rep. Adam Morgan (R-District 20 Greenville) who is also an Attorney/Legislator. Morgan has sponsored such bills as H5027 which would have prevented the Geneal Assembly and the Judicial Merit Selection Committee from playing games with Judicial elections, by having candidates withdraw simply because they didn’t seem to have enough votes at a stage in the process. This would have tied the hands of the old system of you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours in the election of judges.
Rep. Morgan also sponsored H5090 which would have prevented immediate family members from being elected as judges if they are related to anyone in the General Assembly. Rep. Morgan wants to stop the long practice of favorites in the Judicial Election Process that exists in South Carolina.
Rep. Morgan also co-sponsored the “Heartbeat Bill”, bills that would enact term limits for legislators, the “Personhood” Bill, the “Shared Custody” bill and Open Carry bills.
Rep. Morgan as the before mentioned legislators want to bring South Carolina out of the “Dark Ages” and afford it’s citizens the freedoms they deserve.
These are only the forefront legislators that we want to highlight in this article. There are more such legislators and future legislators that we want voters to be made aware of this election year. It is these moral and ethical legislators that will bring much needed change to South Carolina.