Charleston County votes no to mandating the Charleston Library Board of Trustees taking a constitutional oath

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) Thursday night Charleston County Council heard from the county library board of trustees regarding a controversial oath of office.

A concern that came up earlier this year was whether the board could require their members to take an oath of office, pledging allegiance to the constitution. The oath reads below:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am duly qualified, according of the Constitution of this State, to exercise the duties of the office to which I have been elected, (or appointed), and that I will, to the best of my ability, discharge the duties thereof, and preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of this State and of the United States. So help me God.

Some members of the library board of trustees spoke to the council asking for them to make a decision as they believed they needed to county’s approval to require an oath.

“From our perspective, the issue had always been whether the board it was in our purview to make such a decision. This addition of the new trustees, the topic came up about the oath. Looking at our bylaws they weren’t helpful in providing us direction, our next look was to county council,” said Rob Byko, the chair of the Board of Trustees for Charleston County Public Library.

The council voted 7 to 2 in their committee meeting to not require library board members to take an oath and leave it up to the state general assembly. They cited in their reasoning that is not required for any of the other 46 library boards in the state to take an oath.
Councilmembers Honeycutt and Kobrovsky were the 2 who voted no, explaining their desire to follow the Attorney General’s opinion that was requested by State Senator Matt Leber.

That statement reads in part:

“Members of the Charleston County public library board of trustees are officers within the meaning of article iv section 4 of the South Carolina constitution. they are therefore required to take an oath of office prescribed in the article vi section 5 of the South Carolina constitution”

“My position was simply when you have the opinion of the top legal officer of the state saying you have to do it, I take that as we have to do it, and it shouldn’t be a problem to affrim or swear allegiance to the United States. That was simple issue, and I think most people in the county would want that,” said Larry Kobrovsky, the vice chair for Charleston County Council.

State Senator Leber who brought this issue to Attorney General Wilson said in a statement following the county’s decision that reads in part:
“All this energy spent in order to not take an honorable oath. It’s a disgraceful shame. I have no problem insisting on the law being followed. Loving america is easy for me.”

In their motion, the county requested that the decision be made by the general assembly where state lawmakers can decide if they require an oath of office.

“Whatever county council instructs us to do we as a board will follow that instruction enthusiastically, we all love our country we love our state we love our community the people on our board love the public library,” said Byko.

The final vote will come at the Charleston county council meeting on Tuesday.