A Most Peculiar Libertarian

You know what's nice when you're a state senator? What's nice when you're a state senator is that when you pick an expensive hobby, you can get taxpayers to foot the bill. In the case of South Carolina and senator Glenn McConnell, the tab is now 97 million dollars and counting.

The cost of preserving and promoting the Hunley submarine has soared to nearly $100 million — thanks largely to a powerful politician’s behind-the-scenes work to steer public money toward his pet project. The Hunley is one of South Carolina’s biggest financial undertakings in modern times. Not counting university expansion projects, the Hunley ranks behind only a few large road and bridge projects. It even exceeds the $62 million State House renovation in the 1990s.

Glenn McConnell, president pro tem of the state Senate, is the Hunley’s biggest booster. He also has been the driving force behind the spiraling price tag for the preservation and promotion of the Confederate sub. ... [H]e has personally authorized much of the spending of the project’s public money in an arrangement the state’s comptroller general says is “obviously outside the framework the state has provided for disbursement of public funds.”

When McConnell, a Confederacy buff and Civil War re-enactor (that's him in the picture), started his pet project, he predicted that it would cost five to 10 million dollars, most of it to be financed with private donations. His high estimate turned out to be almost 90 million dollars off, and a local newspaper discovered that more than 85% of the cost will have to be borne by taxpayers.

The kicker? According to the same newspaper, "the 58-year-old McConnell [is] a libertarian who often criticizes government spending."

Of course, this guy's no libertarian — he's just your regular porkin' politico who'll do you expensive favors if you promise to reciprocate.

McConnell protected other senators’ pet projects in exchange for favorable votes on Hunley issues. Crossing McConnell on Hunley funding, one lawmaker says, “is not worth the scars.”