Many SC small towns are on a "Roster of Shame" for corruption, mismanagement and infighting

Tony Bartelme, senior projects reporter for the Charleston Post and Courier talked with podcast host Frank Knapp about his latest series of investigative reports called Townfall. He created a Roster of Shame list of 120 South Carolina towns and municipalities that have experienced various problems ranging from embezzlement to corruption to misconduct to mismanagement.Bartelme said that the common theme in most of these towns is they are not doing their basic financial analysis and audits in spite of state law requiring towns to do independent auditing and submitting these to the state.Towns included in these “accountability deserts”, resulting largely from mismanagement, allow for corruption, waste, questionable conduct and infighting. Bartelme talks about Elloree, SC, as an example of the problem.He points out that 23 states monitor and respond to their local governments in fiscal distress. But South Carolina does not. He illustrates how North Carolina’s Local Government Commission has done a good job helping their towns in trouble get back on track.Bartelme believes that good governance at the local level is essential for economic development in these rural and underserved communities.