Great things could happen in 2016. Let’s do it.
Thanksgiving is almost here – it’s next week! – and here at The Nerve, we’ve been reflecting on what’s happened over the last year.
Nearly a year ago, a powerful lawmaker resigned a day after The Nerve began enquiring about his use of campaign cash for personal use.
In May, The Nerve revealed a trend in which top staffers at the Department of Transportation were leaving their jobs and going straight to companies that maintain large DOT contracts. The potential for conflict were obvious, and so the acting head of DOT announced new ethics requirements stopping the practice.
In August, the Legislative Audit Council published a report fully supporting a story previously broken byThe Nerve that the Department of Agriculture had purchased a parcel of land at an inflated price from a well-connected politico, Ports Authority chairman Bill Stern.
At the local level, one Nerve story sent Lexington town councilors into a tizzy, and another provoked Richland County councilors into sending out a bizarre memo equating “unethical behavior” with talking to the media.
I won’t go on tooting The Nerve’s horn – you’ve seen what our reporters have done. You already know (at least I hope you do!) that this website has led the way to a revival of investigative journalism in South Carolina.
If anybody doubts that, consider: Within the last twenty years, how many powerful legislative leaders – in other words, how many of the politicians who actually ran South Carolina – were ever the subject of corruption-related investigations by the news media? And how many can we count since 2011, the yearThe Nerve started?
And that brings me to the point I wanted to raise. It’s this: The Nerve is free.
There’s no subscription cost, there’s no paywall, there are no annoying ads, and there never will be.
We rely instead on the generous support of our readers – readers like you.
Just think about what The Nerve does from day to day, with a tiny staff. And think what we could accomplish if, instead of one or two full-time reporters, we had ten or twelve.
If you’d consider helping with a tax-deductible year-end contribution – a contribution that will move us closer to fulfilling The Nerve’s potential – we would be honored and grateful.