Saluda Broad

Small business owners and all who want accountable public officials are losing a friend at the Statehouse. Rep. Mac Toole has decided to retire. Before his 17 years at the Statehouse, Mac serve on the Lexington 2 school board and on the Lexington County Council. Mac hinted to us last year that he was disillusioned with some of the behind-the-scenes actions of his fellow officials. He said he was “ashamed” of lawmakers’ passage of the Base Load Review Act. It cost SC Electric & Gas customers more than $2 billion on a criminally mismanaged and abandoned $9 billion nuclear project. He told us of a Statehouse colleague who complained of being forced to vote for laws he disapproved of. Mac said the man lacked the guts to do what he knew he should do. After Mac recovered from a health scare last year, his wife Linda said, “God has answered our prayers and we have seen miracles and the hand of God on Mac.” We’ll miss Mac at the Statehouse.