So, uh, 49 wrongs make a right?”
That was powerful Cherokee County Republican Sen. Harvey Peeler asking exactly the right question in a Statehouse hearing room last week.
The issue? Whether South Carolina should allow public colleges like Clemson and the University of South Carolina to shield the big bucks they’re paying their football players from disclosure under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
After all, proponents insisted, every other state in the country is doing it. And if we don’t join them, it might put our teams at — horrors — a competitive disadvantage.
Hence Peeler’s question. And the emphatic answer he received a few moments later when his committee colleagues voted YES! on the measure.
Senate leaders then rushed the bill onto the floor this week where it prevailed early 30-13, but it still faces questions.
Because, football. Or as some of the more optimistic members might put it . . . National championship, baby.
Of course, senators should be congratulated for slowing down long enough to have a hearing at all — even if they did skip the normal subcommittee meeting where members of the public would have been allowed to speak.
Last month, the S.C. House quarterback-sneaked the bill over the goal line in a 111-2 floor vote without a committee huddle of any kind.
Which is exactly the way S.C.’s semi-pro football franchises — er, flagship universities — drew up the play, after Mount Pleasant resident Frank Heindel had the temerity to request anonymized player payment information from USC under the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) late last year.
USC denied the request, Heindel sued, and now, here we are — with lawmakers scrambling to hide the ball before a judge orders the school to turn it over.
And yes, at one level, it’s more than a little amusing to watch a fully engaged legislature swing into action on an issue that politicians really care about — as opposed to, say, Medicaid expansion, which still hasn’t gotten a simple up-or-down vote more than a decade after it was first introduced.
But here’s the thing: Peeler was trying to make a serious point before his fellow committee members advanced the bill. And it’s worth taking a moment to unpack it.
Under current law, players are allowed to sign contracts with private companies — the local car dealer, for instance — for the use of their name, image and likeness in advertising and promotions. And those contracts are shielded from FOIA because they’re between the player and the company.
But now that a 2025 federal court settlement allows state schools to pay their players a total of up to $20.5 million a year out of their shares of TV rights fees and ticket sales, we’re no longer just talking about private contracts between private individuals.
Those are dollars controlled by a public institution. And regardless of the source, you have a right to know how they’re being spent — just as you would if they were controlled by your local mayor’s office or police department.
That’s the larger principle that Gov. Henry McMaster — a proud USC alum — was espousing last week when he made his position on the issue clear, telling reporters:
“It ought to be public.” And it’s the principle he should now use to veto the bill if it gets to him.
Because as the senator from Cherokee County could no doubt tell him — two wrong Statehouse chambers don’t make a right.
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