COLUMBIA, S.C. - Democratic senators on Wednesday called it ludicrous to require all candidates get tested for drugs when there’s just one known South Carolina politician with a drug habit, and he was a Republican.
“If it’s a Republican using cocaine, then Republicans take the test,” Sen. Brad Hutto said as senators began debating a proposed constitutional amendment that all elected, appointed or judicial candidates get screened for illegal drugs before being put on the ballot.
“I don’t know why y’all want to bring this up,” said Hutto, a Democrat from Orangeburg. “I don’t relish in his tragic downfall.”
Hutto was referring to former state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, who pleaded guilty last year to a cocaine distribution charge. The once rising Republican star — and son of a former state senator and congressman — was sentenced two weeks ago to 10 months in federal prison.
The Senate postponed voting on the proposal that would let voters decide in November whether to require the testing. The results would not be made public unless a candidate who tested positive still wanted to run, said Sen. Jim Ritchie.
Voters “need confidence decisions are being made without undue influence of drugs or other intoxicants that impair our judgment,” said the Spartanburg Republican, adding that the measure would spare voters the “headlines of the past year.”
Republicans called the bill an opportunity for politicians to set an example.
But Democrats called it nothing more than political showmanship. Even a hardened addict could stay drug free long enough to pass one test, said Hutto, who facetiously suggested testing once a month.
In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar Georgia law. Three years later, it rejected a Louisiana law that required random drug testing of elected officials.
Hutto said any legal battle caused by South Carolina’s proposal would be costly for taxpayers.
Sen. Kay Patterson, a Columbia Democrat, said he’s seen a lot in his three decades in the House and Senate, but nothing that should require he get drug tested.
“I don’t know anything about anybody getting high in these chambers on cocaine,” said Patterson, a former Marine first elected to the Legislature in 1974.
The measure would require two-thirds approval in the Senate and House before going to voters.