It took time but we finally have 2 Democrats, both senators, in our county’s legislative delegation. If you are a Democrat, you may get down on hands and knees and thank God. If not, you may think it’s bad news. Democrats? May God save us. Let me tell you why you may be wrong. As a conservative, I too am generally skeptical of Democrats. But I see the grip Republicans have on our legislature with the same skeptical eyes I had when the Democrats controlled the legislature. We need delegates from both parties challenging each others’ assumptions. The latest Democrat to join our county’s delegation has brought a refreshing point of view to legislative deliberations. If you did not already know, outspoken Dick Harpootlian, a former prosecutor, now represents the Irmo and St. Andrews area in the state Senate.

In his 1st session as a senator, he has blocked a bill to give the Carolina Panthers football team owner $115 million in tax incentives over 15 years. All he has to do is put a $150 million headquarters, practice field and training complex in our state. The state Commerce Department claims this will be worth $3.8 billion and produce 5,715 jobs over 15 years. Sen. Harpootlian produced an independent analysis saying the deal would be worth only $1.1 billion and 208 jobs. I don’t know who’s right but the Commerce folks have been put on the spot.

pundit Barton Swaim recently met the senator for breakfast. Harpootlian was profane about the state’s power brokers, he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “It’s the nail that sticks up that gets hammered,” he told Swaim. The senator doesn’t mind being the nail but he prefers being the hammer. After the Richland County Board of Elections made a mess of last year’s voting by failing to count more than 1,000 votes, the senator chastised them. The next day, at his recommendation, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster fired the board.

Harpootlian has gone after the Airport Commission, too. He filed a Freedom of Information Act request for their expenses. He found the commissioners had a 3-year contract for a Colonial Life Arena hospitality box that cost $457,000. Allegedly the box seats were for clients but the FOIA request revealed it was used mainly for commissioners, their families and friends. Lawmakers appoint friends and donors to boards and commissions that govern everything from airports to ballot boxes. It’s political favoritism and payback. Of the airport commission, he says he hasn’t “finished with those guys yet.”

About lobbyists wining and dining lawmakers, he said, “Neither a ham biscuit nor a glass of wine improves my ability to understand any piece of legislation.” Even conservatives love this. They love seeing fat cats of any political persuasion exposed.