ANDERSON COUNTY — This week’s brouhaha over a “misunderstanding” about how Anderson County proposes to spend $900,000 would be funny if it didn’t remind us about the county’s poor record on transparency.

As it turns out, the money set aside in a pending general obligation bond will build a Broadway Lake pavilion at McFalls landing, a favorite spot for county residents who want to enjoy a day by the lake but don’t want to drive all the way to Hartwell.

Based on Gracie Floyd’s misspeaking in a public meeting, some right-wing partisans jumped to the conclusion the intended beneficiary was the shadowy Johnson-Broadview Estates Community Organization, for which the Council’s lone Democrat has served as a government-funded benefactor, as her late husband did.

In a newspaper report, one of the organization’s leaders acknowledged it had no records about how it spent nearly $100,000 it received over the years in appropriations from council discretionary spending accounts -– something which should concern anyone who cares about safeguarding the public trust.

Anderson County requires that any organization receiving public money must possess federal 501(c)(3) status. Ironically, it grew out of a controversy over an attempt by Anderson County’s right-wing darling, Cindy Wilson, to give money to a Honea Path flower shop for tourism promotion.

It’s unclear whether JBECO is so chartered, or whether it received any money since that regulation was put in place. But it wouldn’t have much mattered anyway.

Anderson County requires nothing further to verify that the money was used for a public purpose, meaning the only taxpayer protection in place is whatever controls are required by the federal government’s own (rarely audited) regulations.

The conservatives sweeping into office this January would do well to plug this loophole by demanding receipts for all expenditures, including detailed explanations.

But the most recent drama over the poorly defined Broadway Lake project reminds us of the ease with which bonds leave way too much “discretion” in the hands of elected and non-elected officials.

Once a project is mentioned in a bond, that’s all the authority an administrator needs to spend money to pursue it. The council isn’t asked about it and doesn’t have to authorize the project size or scope.

A few years ago, you may remember that several council members professed no knowledge that Anderson County had committed to a several hundred thousand dollar project to renovate the old stitchery building in downtown Anderson as an open, walled courtyard.

Other projects accomplished over the years with little in the way of public or council knowledge include the construction of a living history exhibit at the Anderson County Museum as well as the purchase of land for a public park in Powdersville.

Many, including me, are ambivalent about the extreme right-wing takeover of Anderson County government.

If the new council writes more robust regulations for authorizing and accounting for government spending, it will have accomplished the single most important thing everyone on the left and right agree is needed for true progress: A restoration of trust in government.